Faeria Review

At first blush, Faeria could easily be mistaken as a throwaway, F2P title with little to offer. However, like many things in life, the more you dig into the game’s superficial exterior, the more interesting and fascinating the core concepts begin to take shape. This is a deep CCG (Collectible Card Game) intermixed with some traditional board game mechanics, with enough neat twists to the formula to keep the experience feeling fresh, particularly in the early game. 

The gameplay revolves around 1v1 matches that take place on a small tile-based board. Players take turns building up their empire using a variety of tiles, that range from grass, mountains, deserts and forests. The various zones can be used to summon minions of your choosing enabling you to strategically move them around the board, collect Faeria (more on this later) and battle your opponent’s units in simple, Top Trumps-esque turn-based combat.

Each turn allows players to pick a random card from their deck. Most of the time, these cards come in the form of mythical monsters, warriors or simple farmer folk, that can be used to apply pressure, strengthening your battlefield dominance. There are also a handful of long-range, offensive cards that help mix things up, which can be used to strike individual units of your choosing.

The moment-to-moment gameplay is a constant power struggle, with your main overarching objective focused solely on defeating your competitor’s leader, who sits at the opposite end of the board. This continual ebb and flow of battle is where the game shines brightest and it’s satisfying delivering the final blow to a particularly taxing foe’s commander.

Choosing a card to play costs a certain amount of the titular Faeria, a rare magical blue energy that acts as the in-game currency, and, like I mentioned before, this can be harvested by your units. There are usually four Faeria pools on a board and simply placing a unit adjacent to the magical blue orbs will automatically collect it as each turn plays out. Employing weak support units to accumulate the mysterious magical power and creating an army of more powerful units to lay siege to your opponent’s base is a simple, yet effective tactic that laid waste to most of what the early game threw at me. However, there are added levels of depth and tactical nuances explored throughout the single player campaign that really help spice things up.

It’s clear that the developer Abrakam SA has put a lot of love and effort into both the visual and audio design of the game. The art-style is bold, bright and enhances the otherworldly high-fantasy setting. The score is also worthy of note, featuring subtle and dramatic symphonic audio cues that add to the overall experience. 

Faeria is a refreshing CCG/board game hybrid that plays very much to the strengths of both its genres. It straddles the thin line between familiar and unique, with aplomb. It is the very epitome of easy-to-pick-up but tough to master, and is an absolute joy to play.