Valve will release Artifact, its first game in two years, on November 28.
A trading card game (TCG) based on the world of Dota 2, Artifact will be released via Steam for PC, Mac, and Linux. It won’t be free – US pricing has been set at $20. Android and iOS versions of the game are also in the pipeline and are likely to arrive in 2019.
Valve describes Artifact on its Steam store page thus: “A collaboration of legendary card game designer Richard Garfield and computer game and technology maker Valve (Dota 2, Steam), Artifact is designed to give Trading Card Game (TCG) enthusiasts the deepest gameplay and highest fidelity experience ever in a fantasy card game. It features more than 280 cards in the shipping set, including 44 heroes. Players will be able to buy and sell cards on the Steam Community Marketplace.”
According to VG247, the $20 version of Artifact will come with two pre-made decks of 54 cards each; each set of 54 cards will include five hero cards, nine-item cards and 40 “other” cards. In addition, players will get ten sealed card packs, each containing 12 cards. It will be possible to purchase card packs for $2 each.
Since it was announced at last August’s International Dota 2 Championships, Artifact has attracted plenty of negativity, mainly because it isn’t Half-Life 3, Portal 3 or a new version of any of Valve’s other much-loved franchises. Valve’s last game, 2016’s The Lab, was a collection of mini-games designed to showcase HTC’s Vive, and you have to go back to 2013 for its last proper games, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike Online 2. But at least the company is making games again.
