What if Hearthstone Battlegrounds was inspired by Chinese myths? Check out this awesome deck-builder

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SHOULD I PLAY YI XIAN: THE CULTIVATION CARD GAME?

Play it, especially if you like card games. Yi Xian: The Cultivation Card Game merges the complex, deck-building fun of card games with the strategic gameplay of auto-chess titles to create an experience similar to Hearthstone’s Battlegrounds mode. While a few localization issues might make Yi Xian a little hard to understand, its terrific deck-building, auto-battler gameplay is more than enough to make up for it.

TIME PLAYED

I played Yi Xian for four hours. I’ve completed nearly a dozen matches with each one lasting anywhere between ten to thirty minutes. I’ve acquired three of the seventeen characters so far and I’m currently trying to climb the ranked ladder.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT YI XIAN: THE CULTIVATION CARD GAME?

• Auto-battling, deck-building action. Yi Xian reminds me a lot of Hearthstone’s Battlegrounds mode, except with cards attacking and defending against a single opponent instead of a board full of minions. The rules are pretty basic: During the planning phase, I had to place cards down, and then when the auto-battle round began, the cards would activate from left to right. Tactfully planning my way through each round was a blast. I loved how many different strategies I discovered to counter other players and win matches. And perhaps most impressive of all, it all feels very balanced.

• So much replayability. With seventeen characters that all have different play styles and talents, dozens of unique cards with all kinds of status effects and descriptions, and many other features like side jobs and fortunes, Yi Xian offers a buttload of replayability. I was blown away by the sheer flexibility offered by this game’s range of character-card synergies and strategic combos. On top of that, there’s just an absurd amount of content on offer here—three PvP modes, three PvE modes, and an event mode.

• Fair monetization. The way Yi Xian navigates monetization is quite interesting and actually pretty fair compared to other free-to-play card games. Yes, Yi Xian has a shop filled with microtransactions, but it only features paid cosmetics, account accessories, and extra resources. All of the characters and add-ons are purchased via an in-game currency that is earned by playing the game, which means I didn’t have to overcome any paywalls to play however I wanted to.

• Chinese influence and visual art. Everything in Yi Xian looks extremely polished and beautiful. The entire game is inspired by Chinese mythology and Taoism, and its elegant art style emphasizes that theme. The gorgeous card art alone is worth taking some time to check this one out.

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT YI XIAN: THE CULTIVATION CARD GAME?

• Not beginner-friendly. I’m lucky that I have a lot of experience with card games, so it was pretty easy for me to pick up and understand the different card effects and combinations in Yi Xian. While the tutorial taught me the basics, there was so much outside of that quick twenty-minute walkthrough that I had to learn myself—mechanics that wouldn’t immediately make sense to anyone who wasn’t used to this genre. If I didn’t have any prior knowledge of how card games worked, I would have had a much harder time enjoying this one.

• Localization. The translation work in this game could use some serious improvement. Yi Xian has terrible localization, with English dialogue and text that’s often confusing or unclear. I often had to reread sentences to understand what the game was trying to say.

PLATFORM TESTED

PC via Steam.