''Hero Realms'' is a 2016 fantasy card-based deck building

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Rob Dougherty Robert R. Dougherty (born August 9, 1969Rob Dougherty 2007 Pro Player card) is a professional Magic: The Gathering player from Framingham, Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. sta ...

and Darwin Kastle and published by Wise Wizard Games. In the game, the player has to defeat opponents by purchasing cards using gold coins that deal damage points until the opponent's

health points Health is a video game or tabletop game quality that determines the maximum amount of damage or fatigue something takes before leaving the main game. In role-playing games, this typically takes the form of hit points (HP), a numerical attribute ...

reach zero. The game features four factions of cards, colored red, green, blue, and yellow. Its rules are similar to those of ''

Star Realms ''Star Realms'' is a card-based deck-building science-fiction tabletop game, designed by Rob Dougherty and Darwin Kastle and published in 2014 by Wise Wizard Games. The game started out as a Kickstarter campaign in 2013. The goal of ''Star ...

'', '' Ascension'', and ''

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

''. Additionally, there are five character packs, wizard, cleric, thief, ranger, and fighter, and a

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video game for

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, and Android platforms. The game received positive reception from critics; it was also nominated for two

Golden Geek Awards Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

and won the

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for the category Fan Favorite Card Game.

Gameplay

''Hero Realms'' is a fantasy card-based deck-building

with

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

elements, which can be played between two and four players. Each player starts with 50

and 10 cards; additional cards can be bought from the market throughout the game with gold coins. The game features four factions of cards, colored red, green, blue, and yellow. Each player can attack another with cards dealing damage points, such as a

shortsword The English language terminology used in the classification of swords is imprecise and has varied widely over time. There is no historical dictionary for the universal names, classification, or terminology of swords; a sword was simply a single- ...

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or stabbing, thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or ...

, or a card bought from the market. When a player's health points reach zero, they are out of the game. Besides cards that deal damage points, there are also cards that offer gold coins and health points. Another type of cards are champions, divided into guards and non-guards, which when drawn remain in play indefinitely until another player takes the card down. The game's rules are similar to those of ''

'', '' Ascension'', and ''

''. The player can form several strategies, such as obtaining a build with combat cards with high damage points, a defense build with champions, or a same-faction build. Besides the base game, there are five additional character packs, wizard, cleric, thief, ranger, and fighter. Depending on the class of the character, each player starts with health points ranging from 50 to 60, and with a different set of card abilities. The game's age range is set to 12 and up. A game of ''Hero Realms'' typically lasts about 20 minutes. In the ''Hero Realms'' video game, there are several gamemodes available, such as player vs. player, player vs. enemy, and

co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

. A player can also earn

experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...

s after each game and level up. By leveling up, a player can improve their character's abilities. Although the game is

, it features

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Development and release

''Hero Realms'' was designed by

and Darwin Kastle and published by Wise Wizard Games (formerly White Wizard Games). After developing ''Star Realms'', Wise Wizard Games started a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign for ''Hero Realms'' in 2016. The game was released the same year. Expansion to the game titled ''The Ruin of Thandar Campaign Deck'', ''The Dragon Boss Deck'', and ''The Lich Boss Deck'' were released in 2017. In 2021, Wise Wizard Games started a Kickstarter campaign for the video game version of ''Hero Realms''; a

beta version The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...

of the game was released in August 2021, while the full game was released in 2022 for

, and Android platforms. A spin-off, titled ''Hero Realms Dungeons'', was released in 2024.

Reception

''Hero Realms'' received positive reception from critics. Jerry Williams of ''RPGFan'' described it as "a wonderful entry-level investment", while James Floyd Kelly of ''GeekDad'' considered it "very fun to play". The game's additional character packs were also commended. Raven Winters of ''GamingTrend'' commended the fighter pack for being easy to learn and the thief and wizard packs for their art style. Winters, however, disliked the base game's art style, but called it "a perfect introduction" to deck-building games.

Accolades

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://herorealms.com/
Hero Realms
on

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Card games introduced in 2016 Kickstarter-funded tabletop games Origins Award winners