Artifact

 PC
User Score
2.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 622 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 111 out of 622
  2. Mixed: 23 out of 622
  3. Negative: 488 out of 622

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. iwannatwirrl
    Dec 20, 2018
    6
    It's fine.
    By far the best-looking digital card game. Oozing with excellent animations and smooth UI interactions. Just looks and feels great all around.
    Not overly complicated--coming from many hours in Magic: the gathering, it's complicated in a different way, but in no way MORE complicated. Harder than Hearthstone, sure, but so is tying your shoes. Monetization is a pain as you must    It's fine.
    By far the best-looking digital card game. Oozing with excellent animations and smooth UI interactions. Just looks and feels great all around.
    Not overly complicated--coming from many hours in Magic: the gathering, it's complicated in a different way, but in no way MORE complicated. Harder than Hearthstone, sure, but so is tying your shoes.
    Monetization is a pain as you must pay into the system to play, and it can be hard to decide to do so when the free content runs out so quickly. However, it is worth a purchase if it sounds interesting because you can turn around and sell all of your rares on the steam market and make most of the $ you invested back.    … Expand
  2. chuminh320
    May 4, 2019
    7
    This is a good game with bad handle by Valve,get bash by Valve community,noone want to see it succeed ,you can clearly see from all these 0 rating.Even tho it have flaw, it still is a very interesting game, I write this one to speak the truth, give this game some credit it deserve, and give some justice to it.
    A.pros:
    1.Best competitive card game out there if you only count gameplay. The    This is a good game with bad handle by Valve,get bash by Valve community,noone want to see it succeed ,you can clearly see from all these 0 rating.Even tho it have flaw, it still is a very interesting game, I write this one to speak the truth, give this game some credit it deserve, and give some justice to it.
    A.pros:
    1.Best competitive card game out there if you only count gameplay. The card game where better player always win.
    2.Gameplay is good,easy to pick up what happen,still, deep strategy focus. It's like starcraft but card game. The amount of time i'm sweating when play this game is countless. You really have to challenge your mind to win and the win feel good.
    3.The only card game where draft mode is competitive viable. And you can play it without the need to buy card.
    4.constructed mode is very good and amount of deck that constructed viable is huge.It is half a year since launch-more than 1 year for beta tester-and the meta is not set yet.every month,there is some new deck come to the top and i love it.
    5.Quite good graphic- animation,card artwork,board design,menu,etc,good UI-very clear,informative .Music and voice over is god-tier quality. It add some interesting lore to dota 2 universe.
    Cons:
    1.monetization is on full greedy mode.No religion discount, no sale on any event, paying upfront but still have to pay for card to play constructed,pay for ticket to play at highest competitive environment,and pay for loot box.A trading card game but you can't trade with other player,you only can trade through the steam market which valve take 10% every tranfer.You can get full collection with way easier than other card game,but that still not make this one right.
    2.RNG factor is small impact(except for ogre magi) but feel bad af.ogre magi multi-cast is the worst,you can straight up win game if ogre magi multi-cast right.it is 25% and you have atleast 34 chance to do it. attack arrows is a feel bad RNG too-it serve as wave to balance out high attack power hero,make them cant attack tower ,aka your win condition,50%-75% of the time. but it feel so bad when you sure you win and suddenly a curve and your hero attack a creep on his left instead of tower.then you lose.
    3.Mana ramp and overpower card.In this game ramp is overpower since you can get some mana back when you start to ramp make it have way higher impact than other card game.it make late game card come too early like Time of Triump which is a turn 6 card, come at turn 2.And speak of time of triump,why the f does it have so many stat in it.it make hero basically unkillable and deal massive amount of damage.Why bolt of Damocles deal half of a tower max hp,why axe stat and signature card is way too good. Still,even though this game have some problem with card power,it is quite balance.
    4.A true brain stomper. You will be drain out in 4 hour of play non-stop.And it might be frustrated sometimes.
    5.A competitive card game with out a competitive ladder,no support from valve to help esport scene grow,there is no reward to play after lvl 16,there is no reason to drive people play more.
    6.Lack of update and communication from dev. At this point,it is clear that re-launch will happen and there is no update until then.    … Expand
  3. Valmk
    Nov 30, 2018
    6
    Всё бы хорошо в этой игре, если бы не анально-принудительная система доната и отсутствие игрового прогресса как такового. Добавьте банально ту же стату винов-лузов, уровни профиля, ранкед, достижения и т.п. Замотивируйте людей играть в вашу игру. И добавьте в игру возможность получения карт без доната. Тот же гринд на дейликах. Пусть даже карты из купленных за золото паков нельзя будетВсё бы хорошо в этой игре, если бы не анально-принудительная система доната и отсутствие игрового прогресса как такового. Добавьте банально ту же стату винов-лузов, уровни профиля, ранкед, достижения и т.п. Замотивируйте людей играть в вашу игру. И добавьте в игру возможность получения карт без доната. Тот же гринд на дейликах. Пусть даже карты из купленных за золото паков нельзя будет продать на торговой площадке. Дайте возможность людям полноценно играть и наслаждаться этой игрой. А так геймплей мне очень понравился… Expand
  4. Nightiscold
    Dec 3, 2018
    7
    (played 45h before writing)

    Sadly, many negative reviews about the pay to win system and gambling elements are true. I will concentrate here mostly on the negative sides because they may be most important for some of you. There are around 300 cards in the game now and for 17.95€ you will get 2 starter decks with 54 cards and 120 random cards. This sounds good but is by no means    (played 45h before writing)

    Sadly, many negative reviews about the pay to win system and gambling elements are true. I will concentrate here mostly on the negative sides because they may be most important for some of you.

    There are around 300 cards in the game now and for 17.95€ you will get 2 starter decks with 54 cards and 120 random cards. This sounds good but is by no means enough to be competitive. More interesting to understand the game are time limited event decks with strong cards that introduce into different play styles. However, as the name says they may only be available from time to time.

    To build you first competitive deck you will need to invest at least 5-10€. The auction house is very well implemented into the game (lock here for Diablo 4 Blizzard^^). It is a joy to use as long as you don’t think about the money. Most cards are very cheap for 4-15 cent now and prices will most likely fall. A good deck needs a minimum of 49 cards. The most expensive card “Axe – a rare red hero” was sold for 16-20€ last weekend, the second most expensive card was for 12€. That means you decks may realistically cost everything between 5-100€. Indeed, the most expensive rush deck that hit me completely unprepared was close to 90€. The game gives you a one click option to buy your opponent’s deck or to safe all the information for later analysis.

    The card prices are by far not the most negative aspect of the game. Most hardcore card game players will not mind about the prices. The main problem are the entry tickets (0.95€) for competitive expert play or arena. After 3 wins you get a new entry ticket and card packs when you win more. However, it is the best way to play for experienced players because you will learn here the most and the matches are very enjoyable. The people mostly know what they are doing, and they will fight until victory or death. The free competitive play is more for tinkering around and learning the decks, but perfect runs are not difficult to accomplish for more experienced players here.

    In conclusion, Artifact is a freshly new card game in a unique mooba style. The game mechanics are pay to win, but they are very good and it takes long to understand the underling mechanics. It is something for people that like to customize their decks for a unique plays style. After 30 h of play I did only encounter two decks that were similar but not identical to my cheaper dark assassination siege deck. On the other hand I did encounter quite often variations of 2 very powerful decks that were most likely copied from some website, this does not mean that they always win (after a while you know exactly what to expect and how to counter; luck plays also an important role), more dangerous are unique custom decks that can surprise.

    In the end, the question is what you would like to enjoy most with you money. A visit to the cinema, unhealthy food at a fast food restaurant, or better a good book. Artifact is somewhere in between as long as you can keep it under control.    … Expand
  5. Edmundo
    Dec 3, 2018
    5
    I personally quit CCGs. All of them require a lot of money to get all of the cards, too expensive. An Artifact is not an exception. Greedy CCG developers. It is enough for me to pay 60 $ and get full AAA game like RDR2, but to get all of the cards in CCG I should spend hundreds of dollars, every quarter...

    Besides, after three games, I do not want to play it anymore. Dunno why... maybe    I personally quit CCGs. All of them require a lot of money to get all of the cards, too expensive. An Artifact is not an exception. Greedy CCG developers. It is enough for me to pay 60 $ and get full AAA game like RDR2, but to get all of the cards in CCG I should spend hundreds of dollars, every quarter...

    Besides, after three games, I do not want to play it anymore. Dunno why... maybe because it is too complexed, maybe because I personally do not like arts and card view design, these ugly rectangles, no charisma. Gameplay seems interesting, but the whole game feels like soulless to me...    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

20
#20 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
60
#60 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 20
  3. Negative: 1 out of 20
  1. PLAY! Zine
    Mar 5, 2019
    75
    Complex and challenging card game, but with some fundamental flaws and bad monetization system that basically killed the game even before it went out.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Feb 6, 2019
    80
    Innovative mechanics designed by Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering), rules that you can grasp after just a couple of minutes, clear interface – Artifact is a great game. It’s a shame that it’s huge esports potential can be squandered, because Valve doesn’t seem to care for it enough to implement progression systems, leagues, rankings or means to comfortably communicate with rivals outside an invitation-only friendly tournament. [01/2019, p.58]
  3. Games.cz
    Jan 15, 2019
    50
    In theory, a brilliant card game for a demanding audience. In reality, a concept heavily damaged by bad balancing and a truly terrible monetization system. It may yet prove to be a success in the future - but right now, this is a game for wealthy masochists only.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »