The New Gwent Card Game: How to Play and What’s New?

This year, the video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt celebrated its 10th anniversary. The game lived up to its title perfectly, as it sent players on several wild hunts! For example, chasing question marks on the map, pursuing ladies in the Passiflora, and, of course, the most important one – hunting for Gwent cards!

Players could also get these physically through DLC expansions released later. However, there were very few of them, and it wasn't a complete game, but rather a collector's edition. That changes this year.

CD Projekt Red, in collaboration with No Loading Games (and distributor Xzone in the Czech Republic), has released the game in a full version titled Gwent: The Legendary Card Game.

We already introduced the game in this article. Now that it's out, let's take a closer look!

This game might differ slightly from the Gwent we know from The Witcher 3, and it also depends on when you last played it. Several updates were released, the last one in December 2022, which added, for example, the Roach card and her arrival to Geralt and Ciri. The physical version brings a few small tweaks, but overall, the game remains the same (the biggest novelty is the rulebook and game modes), which brings both pros and cons.

The positive is that if you already know Gwent from the video game, you don't need to study the rules much and can jump straight into playing!

The negative is that this game was originally created as a collectible game within a video game, where the goal was to collect better and better cards to defeat stronger opponents. This logically led to the weakest cards becoming useless. Therefore, even in the Gwent card game, you will find power 1 or 2 cards with no abilities, which are almost unplayable. Each faction has an interesting number of cards to choose from at first glance, but it's an illusion that fades upon closer inspection.

Likewise, the game was not originally designed for 2 human players, but for a human against a computer. This fact (including the collecting aspect) heavily impacts the balance of individual factions and their cards. Spy cards still lead the way, allowing players to draw more cards. The game is primarily dominated by the Nilfgaard and Northern Realms factions, which have spy cards. However, the luck factor still plays a huge role.

But this is where the newly created book of game modes comes in. It provides certain "recommendations" for tournament play. These rule adjustments include limiting deck composition, the number of specific card types, or the total power of all cards in a deck, which helps balance the game and at least partially introduces the missing deckbuilding element. Those who really love the game and want to play it more than occasionally can customize it with their own rules or try the recommendations from the included modes book.

The book also introduces new modes – it expands the game for up to 5 players or provides instructions for solo play. Such an adaptation of a game that wasn't even made for 2 players sounds very ambitious, but the 5-player mode, at least, is very fun – it brings new tactics, sabotage, and new challenges.

The game is complemented by other elements – in the box, you'll find a paper playmat, which is a must for the game. You can also buy a neoprene version with nice illustrations from the game. You'll also find coins for choosing the starting player, life tokens, and counting boards – these seem practical, but the game is inherently math-heavy, and most players quickly reach for calculators. The game would greatly benefit from a counting app. The last addition, besides card sleeves, are mainly collector's cards – booster packs containing 10 foil cards of neutral characters that can be purchased for each faction; they are shiny and feature alternative character art.

The stumbling block, however, is the rulebook, which has quite a few flaws. Missing mechanics or errors in texts and names sometimes cause confusion. The only solution is to turn on The Witcher 3, challenge the nearest innkeeper to a game of Gwent, and try to replicate the problematic situation to find a solution. And that is quite an unprecedented thing in the board game industry.

The Czech version of the game has one big advantage over others – the local Witcher community. They have been playing this game since 2016 and have seasoned card players among them. They are already diligently working on fixing the rule flaws and creating their own adjustments to improve the gaming experience. They are also involved in the aforementioned counting app or organizing their own tournaments, including the championship – which will take place on May 7th – 10th, 2026, at the Con Morhen festival in collaboration with Xzone. Most importantly, they run clubhouses across the country where you can play the game or just try it out. You can find more information on the website of the Společenstvo Gwintu association, whose goal is to support the activities of the Witcher community in our country.

So don't hesitate and give Gwent a try!

author Společenstvo Gwintu