A fresh take on the TCG genre
🌀Altered is the newest hot trading card game on the block! The first thing that might jump out is the stunning illustrations. 🎨 The game's BGG page actually lists Miyazaki and Dixit as inspiration for the artwork. 😮 This is immediately a huge plus, but we are here to talk about the gameplay!
This is a 1v1 TCG ⚔️ in which you and your opponent are playing with pre-crafted decks of cards, just as you might expect, but actually you’re not trying to deplete each other’s life points. 🧭 Instead, Altered is about expeditions on Earth, after it was completely changed by a strange event. Players each have 2 pawns on the two ends of the laid out expedition card track and the goal is to have your tokens meet in the middle before your opponent does.
On your turn you’ll play a character card or spell into one of the 2 areas in front of you, then at the end of the round you’ll check icons of your character cards in each area to see who gets to move forward on the track, taking the current terrain type into account.
Similar to Star Wars: Unlimited, the game uses alternating activations 👉 One card played equals one turn! In comparison you do have some free actions when you activate card effects, but you can’t do 10 minute combo turns like you would in Magic: The Gathering. So Altered has a bit of a eurogame-like round structure.
You also keep having to choose which cards to sacrifice to act as your spendable currency, and which cards to actually keep for playing. 🧐 A fun dilemma that could be influenced by the opponent’s deck or the current situation.
There is another big innovative feature, which I am not sure how to feel about yet. 🤔 Altered is a kind of hybrid “phygital” experience, as you can scan your cards into your digital collection. On the plus side you can sell ownership digitally or have cards printed and sent to you, on the other hand every card has an unsightly QR-code on it. I guess it is a matter of personal taste. This new concept surely brings new opportunities for players to get their favorite cards easier. All in all we enjoyed our first plays with the starter decks and we are curious to see how the game evolves!
