When two of your favourite hobbies collide, it usually makes for a great day! For me, The Witcher 3 has to be one of the best video games ever made. Part of that experience was playing the addictive mini‑game Gwent, where you collected cards of different rarities, built decks, and faced off against opponents across the Continent. It combined strategy, deck‑building, and the thrill of hunting for the next card to improve your game. When No Loading Games announced a physical version, it felt like a no-brainer to bring Gwent into my living room.
Muster Your Forces
Gwent is a game where you pick a faction, build a deck, and draw ten cards to last up to three rounds. Before you even play, the real focus is on deck building, which is at the heart of the game. There aren’t many restrictions, just a minimum number of unit cards and a cap on special cards. You could easily build a core deck of forty or more, but the more you add, the less chance you have of drawing the cards you really want.
Each faction plays differently, so you need to think about your style and how to counter your opponent. When facing Monsters, it’s smart to include weather cards like Frost. It sets the attack score of all enemy units in the close combat row to one, and many of their muster abilities add more units there. Believe me, you’ll want that.
Every faction also has leader abilities and built-in perks. For example, Northern Realms gain an extra card when they win, providing additional resources for the next round, while leader powers can save you in tight situations.
With every card in the game available to choose from, deck building can take time, but it’s easily one of the most enjoyable parts of Gwent. Once your deck is ready, setting up is simple. Shuffle your cards, pick your leader, draw ten, and flip a coin to see who starts.
Before the first round, players can discard and redraw up to two cards. After that, you’re ready to step into the world of The Witcher and put your strategy to the test.
Toss a Card to Your Witcher
The aim of the game is simple: win two rounds of Gwent. Each round, players take turns placing a card into the arena, either in the close combat, ranged or siege area. Every time you add a unit, you move your score marker on the board so your opponent can easily see how far ahead or behind you are. Alongside unit cards, players can also play weather cards in the weather area, which can affect one or more rows in the arena. There are also one-time cards like Scorch, which destroy the highest value card on the board, though they can target your own as well. On top of that, there are plenty of other fun cards to experiment with, such as the Spy or the Decoy.
Unit cards often come with their own abilities, such as Tight Bond, which boosts the base power of matching cards, or Medic cards, which can revive fallen units. With only ten cards per game, strategy is key, you must know when to push for victory and when to pass for the next round.
Sometimes the odds just aren’t in your favour. If your opponent draws ten powerful heroes while you’re stuck with a handful of ghouls, there isn’t much you can do. It can be frustrating, unless you’re good at bluffing and can trick your opponent into overcommitting in the first round.
Games are usually quick, lasting around ten to fifteen minutes, so you can easily fit in a few matches with the decks you’ve built.
In the two-player setup, you can play casually or add extra rules for a more competitive tournament style match. I prefer the tournament style because it balances the game and prevents Monster players from overwhelming the board. The Monster deck benefits from its size and many Muster abilities, which let you summon all matching cards from your deck. Drawing just one Vampire can bring them all into play, and used well, this can completely turn a match.
Choose Your Contract
Outside of the two-player game there’s a solo mode, a team mode and a free for all mode. Each one adds more variety and gives you new ways to open Gwent up to more players or enjoy it alone when no one else is around.
The solo mode is not the best addition to the game, but it’s fine for what it is. You set up as normal, but your opponent plays with their entire deck, and you must remove all weather cards apart from Clear Weather from your own. The opponent takes the first turn, and once you pass, the AI gets one extra move. To make things even harder, if you’re still winning, they draw their top leader ability and apply its effect. In this version, the AI also gets an additional turn whenever it draws a weather card from its deck.
The solo mode is decent and helped me refine my skills against less familiar factions. Give me Northern Realms and Monsters any day. Still, it feels a bit flat, like going through a tutorial rather than facing a real opponent.
The team mode is enjoyable. It doubles the chaos and it’s great to work with another player to take down the opposing team. With four out of five factions in play, you can build up some wild scores. Coordinating strategies with a partner adds an extra layer of fun and unpredictability. I preferred this mode to both the solo and free for all versions.
Free for all is a faster, lighter experience for three to five players. Each player draws ten cards, but instead of three rounds, play continues until a set number of points is reached. For example, in a four-player game, you need five points to trigger the end game. On your turn you play one card or pass. Once you pass, you are out of the round until everyone else has passed. At the end of the round, scores are calculated based on how many players you defeated, meaning how many opponents you outscored. The player with the highest score that round starts the next one.
It’s a fast-paced mode and muster abilities often steal victories, as playing a single card can suddenly bring several more into play. It’s fun and quick, offering a slightly different tactical challenge where you need to think carefully about how to make those ten cards last.
Spoils of War
When it comes to the aesthetics of Gwent, all five hundred cards are absolutely beautiful. The artwork is outstanding and perfectly captures the look and feel of the video game. Finally, real life Gwent. Holding some of my favourites and seeing them in action felt exactly as I had imagined, especially with the Gwent tavern music playing in the background.
Unfortunately, the production quality stops there, which was a huge disappointment and really affected my overall opinion of the game. Inside the box, the main game board is a poster. Yes, a poster. Even the cheapest games rarely go that low. The folded paper looks terrible and refuses to stay flat. The publisher seems to have known this, including a cardboard score tracker so the poster isn’t necessary for play. The score tracker works, but it is fiddly, and the cardboard tokens used for the round gems, first player coin and point markers are thin and flimsy. A sturdier material would have made a big difference and wouldn’t have added much to the cost given how few pieces there are. For the free for all variant, there’s not even a dedicated board, and then there are the rulebooks.
These are some of the worst board game rulebooks I’ve ever read. Without prior knowledge of Gwent, I would’ve been completely lost, and even with it, the rules were unclear and offered little guidance on deck building or the different modes. I had to consult online guides just to start my first game and understand the variants. It was a major let down and makes the game far less accessible for new players. I don’t think I’ve ever complained about a rulebook before, but in this case, they might have been better off leaving it out altogether.
Final Thoughts
I love Gwent as a game, I really do. This version from No Loading Games has its highlights. The cards feel as if they’ve been lifted straight from the digital version, and with plenty of variants and the option to include more players, there is more than just traditional Gwent to enjoy. Sadly, that’s where my praise ends.
Gwent is ultimately a game for fans of The Witcher. For those new to the series, unclear rules and a reliance on luck can make it hard to get into. Cheaper components, including the need to pay extra for neoprene mats, and poorly written rulebooks add to the frustration. Having all the cards unlocked from the start, although nice, removes the sense of progression that made the digital version so addictive, leaving the gameplay feeling a bit dull and static for anyone who isn’t already a fan.
Overall, Gwent: The Legendary Card Game is a beautiful but flawed adaptation. Fans of The Witcher will find plenty to enjoy in the art and nostalgia, but newcomers may find the rough edges hard to overlook
* Sophie is a gamer, blogger, podcaster, and book lover with a passion for solo narrative video games. When she’s not immersed in games or writing, she’s probably out hiking. Her favourite board games feature worker placement, nature themes, and smart tableau-building mechanics.
