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Eternal

Eternal is a CCG that features an intricate resource and combat system. Players can freely construct any type of deck and battle with other players in colorful animated environments.

Publisher: Dire Wolf Digital
Playerbase: Low
Type: CCG
Release Date: November 19, 2016
Pros: +Free-to-play. +Deep resource and combat system. +Ability to play counterspells and skills. +Open deck-building.
Cons: -RNG-based resource system. -Lengthy matches. -Expensive card packs.

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Overview

Eternal Overview

Fight complex card battles in Eternal, a CCG with rules reminiscent of the widely-popular trading card game, Magic: The Gathering. Shuffle and draw resource cards from your deck, block attacks with your creatures, use counterspells, and have your units regenerate every turn. Choose to play any of the five unique deck types or create your own without limitations on what cards you can use. Just make sure you have enough Influence to use them. Play against AI and other players in highly competitive ranked matches or challenge yourself in the Arena-like Forge and Draft modes where you get to keep the cards that you pick. Build up your collection from a steadily growing roster of cards to create the ultimate deck and steamroll the competition.

Eternal Key Features:

  • Complex Resource System – draw Power cards from your deck and play them to gain resources and Influence needed to summon cards.
  • Classic Combat Rules – cards regenerate all of their health at the end of a turn and can be used to block attacks much like traditional trading card games.
  • Fast Spells – counter enemy attacks with spells and abilities that can be used even on your opponent's turn.
  • Forge and Draft Modes – build your deck from random cards and compete with AI and other players for big rewards. And, you also get to keep the cards.
  • Not Pay to Win – all content can be unlocked with a little elbow grease. No real-cash required.

Eternal Screenshots

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Eternal Featured Video

First Eternal Gameplay Video

Full Review

Eternal Review

By, Marc Marasigan

Eternal is a fantasy-themed online CCG set in the mythical world of Myria, where five ancient families, represented by the five basic deck types, fight for the right to sit on the Eternal throne. While the aesthetics are nice, it doesn’t quite compare to Hearthstone and other big name CCG’s like The Elder Scrolls: Legends and Shadowverse, all of which feature amazing card art as well as voice overs which are unfortunately missing in Eternal.

Your First Deck

Eternal requires players to complete both tutorial missions and the single player campaign to introduce them to the basics of the game, and unlock the basic deck types in the process. The first part of the campaign rewards players with a basic red Firestarter deck, after which the player can then choose any of the remaining four campaigns and play them in any order.

Each campaign rewards them with a basic deck for that color. While it may be tempting to just rush into a PvP match right after receiving your first deck, I highly recommend completing the entire single player campaign before doing so. It might take a few hours to finish but the rewards are well worth the effort. Not only do you get five starter decks, you also receive a theme deck, a card pack, some gold, and a free Forge ticket. All of which will come in handy when you start building your deck. Rewards are your bread and butter in the game, considering how stingy Eternal is when it comes to card packs.

Just Like Magic

Eternal follows the basic premise of CCG’s: two players face off against each other, alternately playing cards on the board until one player’s life points are reduced to zero. But, instead of a progressively increasing resource (mana) pool, Eternal follows the traditional land-based system used in classic trading card games like Magic: The Gathering. And, like Magic, players can also block attacks using their creatures, and use Fast Spells (Instants) to counter them.

Creature health also regenerates every turn. These make for deeper and more strategic card battles compared to other CCG’s such as Hearthstone, Elder Scrolls: Legends, and Shadowverse. Unfortunately, this also means that matches in Eternal tend to last longer as players weigh their odds and decide on which might be considered as favorable trades.

Power and Influence

Resources in the game are called Powers, and, like land cards in Magic, are shuffled into the deck and drawn along with other cards. Power cards can only be played once per turn but there aren’t any limits imposed on how many you play per match and how many you have in your deck. Luck of the draw, however, plays a far bigger role in Eternal compared to CCG’s with an automatic resource pool. Drawing an entire hand of Power cards, or not drawing any at all, is a real possibility, both of which can quickly tip the scales in your opponent’s favor.

Aside from being a resource pool, Power cards played also determine the type, or color, of cards that can be played. Power cards come in five different types, or sigils: Fire (Red), Time (Yellow), Justice (Green), Primal (Blue), and Shadow (Purple). The number of Power Sigils that a card needs to be played is called Influence. A General Izalio card, for example, costs 6 Powers but requires the pool to have at least 2 Fire Sigils in it before the card can be played. A powerful card in your hand is useless unless you have enough Influence to play it. Not a problem if you’re rolling a single color deck, combination decks, however, are a different matter.

Eternal even allows players to create decks with all five types, six if you count neutral cards. These decks need a fair number of sigils from each color to not only be usable but also be effective. Luckily, decks in Eternal are capped at 150 cards so players have a lot of space to work with.

Game Modes

Eternal features competitive Ranked matches with other players, as well as Arena-like Gauntlet, Forge, and Draft modes. In Gauntlet, players choose any one of their available decks. They’ll then use that deck to play against AI in a series of six matches. The more wins they get, the better the rewards. Lose twice and it’s game over. Easier said than done considering how good Eternal’s AI are.

The Forge and Draft modes basically follow the same rules. Players build a deck on the fly by picking one card from a random set until they have enough cards. The difference between the two is that Forge is played with 25 cards (excluding Power cards) against AI, while Draft is played with 48 against other players. Forge also only allows two losses while Draft players get three. What’s great about these two modes is that, unlike other CCG’s, you get to keep the cards that you pick. Entering Forge and Draft modes, however, isn’t free and requires a fairly large amount of gold or premium gems, but they are the most efficient way to come by much-needed cards for your deck.

Cash Shop

Like most good online CCG’s, Eternal’s cash shop is as balanced as they come, if a bit limited in its offerings. Players can purchase card packs using either in-game gold, or premium gems, which, aside from Totems, is the only other item offered in the cash shop. No card backs, avatars, or any other cosmetic items for that matter and nothing that can seriously affect the game’s balance either. Personally, the card packs are a bit too expensive and cards harder to come by than I would have liked but it makes the deck-building aspect of the game that much more satisfying.

Final Verdict – Good

What Eternal lacks in production value, it more than makes up for with a depth and complexity that card enthusiasts all over the world will definitely enjoy. That being said, the game isn’t for everyone, especially casual gamers who prefer fast and fun Hearthstone-like matches without the need to dwell too much on strategy, favorable trades, and the RNG nature of a draw-based resource pool. If you’re the type of gamer who enjoys just that, then you’ll love this game. If not, the game is free-to-play and there’s no harm in trying it out. Just be prepared to invest a whole lot of time.

Screenshots

Eternal Screenshots

Videos

Eternal Videos

Links

Eternal Online Links

Eternal Official Site
Eternal Steam Page

Eternal Facebook Page
Eteral Reddit
Eternal Google Play [Not Yet Available]
Eternal iTunes Store [Not Yet Available]

System Requirements

Eternal System Requirements

Minimum Requirements for PC:

Operating System: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
CPU: Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 (256 MB) or ATI Radeon X1600 Pro (256 MB)
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 3 GB

Recommended Requirements for PC:

Operating System: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ or better
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (512 MB) or ATI Radeon HD 4850 (512 MB) or better
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Disk Space: 3 GB

Minimum Requirements for Mobile Platforms:

Operating System: Android 4.1 or later / iOS 8.0 or later

Music

Eternal Music & Soundtrack

Coming Soon...

Additional Info

Eternal Additional Information

Developer: Dire Wolf Digital
Publisher: Dire Wolf Digital

Platforms: Android, iOS, PC

Closed Beta Date: April 18, 2016
Open Beta Date: November 19, 2016
Steam Release Date: November 15, 2018

Development History / Background:

Eternal is a digital CCG developed and published by Dire Wolf Digital, a gaming company based in Denver, Colorado. The game was first shown at PAX South 2016. Closed beta testing began in April 2016. Eternal went into open beta on November 19, 2016 and is available for PC on Steam. The game is also planned to be released for Android and iOS devices in the future.