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In our last blog post, we introduced Gwent Solo Mode which has some rule and ability changes that probably made some of you wonder, why? In today's blog post, we bring you some game design answers! We sat down with the designer of Solo Mode, Martin Montreuil, to learn about the process of bringing The Continent's favorite game to life as a single-player experience on tabletop. Martin Montreuil is an aficionado of board games, host of La société des jeux on YouTube and De l'autre côté du plateau podcast. Could you share your process of adapting the digital playing Gwent experience into a single-player card game for tabletop? Martin: It was really important to create the most authentic experience possible for players who loved Gwent in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Fortunately, Gwent was already designed as a proper card game within the video game and it’s a single-player experience there. Designing a solo mode for tabletop didn’t require a major overhaul, just some adjustments to make it work without a computer or second player. How did you decide what modifications to make for rules and gameplay? Martin: Lots of trial and error. In solo mode, we want to minimize the amount of decisions players make on behalf of the opponent while keeping the game engaging. With that in mind, I sat down and played Gwent, changing one rule at a time to test how it affected the flow of the game. After comparing every possible outcome on each card, I chose the modifications that enable solo players to experience a similar challenge to a standard duel. For example, part of the fun in Gwent is the element of surprise when your opponent’s next move is revealed. Solo mode captures this by revealing certain cards at the end of a round which can deliver a shocking fatal blow (see Ability Clarifications and Leader Variants). What do you like about playing Gwent solo? Martin: Solo playing was my entryway into tabletop gaming from video gaming, so I have a soft spot for it. Playing solo makes it easy to pick up a game, because I can play it anytime I want. The set-up for Gwent is relatively simple so I can set it up quickly on the table and start playing pretty fast. Plus, playing in solo mode allows me to play at my own speed and slow down when I want. When I play, I like to consider the different moves and weigh them out in my head. I can take my time, analyze each move, and anticipate the opponent’s responses without the pressure of another player. It’s a different kind of challenge with solo mode. You’re not just outplaying another person, but mastering the game itself.   Do you have any advice for players who might find solo mode too difficult? Martin: If you feel it’s too difficult, it’s a good sign! You have the chance to learn something every time you play Gwent. After every game, you become a better player with stronger card playing strategies. In Gwent it’s also sometimes a matter of luck, so keep at it! You might get a better hand next time through luck of the draw. A game of Gwent can be pretty short, so you can easily keep playing and eventually there will be a balance between your number of victories and defeats.   In your opinion, what makes Gwent such a special game? Martin: There’s a lot of cross-overs between tabletop games and video games, where we see either a video game being made into a tabletop game or a tabletop game being added into a video game. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was no exception and I think Gwent is able to hold its own weight because it encapsulates so much of The Witcher universe. If you love the world of The Witcher, you’re probably going to like Gwent.  It’s also very hard to get bored of playing Gwent. There’s an interesting asymmetry brought on by factions having their own play style and unique powers. Every time you play, depending which faction you’re playing as and which one you’re opposing, is inevitably going to be different. When we love a game, we want to keep playing it and get better at it. Gwent understands this and gives its players various challenges to try and beat every time we come back to the game.   Got more questions for Martin or want to hear him talk about board games? Follow him at @lasocietedesjeux on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, and subscribe to his podcast De l’autre côté du plateau wherever you get your podcasts.

When you play a game of Gwent Solo (our nickname for solo mode in Gwent: The Legendary Card Game), you will face an old enemy. Your old opponent from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, computer AI, is transformed into an unpredictable foe that plays by its own rules. Playing this card game solo on tabletop will require a few changes in the rules and set-up of a classic game of Gwent, but it’s guaranteed to create a battle that keeps you on your toes! If you have any queries, post it in the comments below and we'll answer in our next blog post with the help of Martin Montreuil, creator of Gwent Solo! SOLO MODE SET-UP To set up a game for Gwent solo, choose one faction for yourself and one faction as an opponent. Unlike other game modes, you will use the whole faction deck for you and your opponent, with some exceptions like Bovine defence force and Skellige’s side deck. From your deck, remove all Weather Cards except the Clear Weather cards. Place the enemy faction deck on the other side of the battlefield and your deck next to you. Choose your leader and for the enemy faction, shuffle the enemy leaders and form a leader pile face down, next to their deck. Note: you can also play this mode with standard Gwent deck building rules, but Weather cards still cannot be part of your deck. Refer to board layout.   SOLO MODE GAMEPLAY For solo gameplay, you will respect all standard rules for yourself. However, your opponent will sometimes deviate from these rules (more on that below). The game will start as normal: start by drawing 10 cards. You can choose to discard up to 2 cards and replace them, one card at a time. Reshuffle the discarded cards in your deck. Your opponent will always take the first turn of a round and always take a turn after you. Your opponent will play the top card of its deck for each of its turns and there is no limit to the number of cards your opponent can play in a turn. If they play a Weather Card, they apply the effect and immediately play another turn. Every time your opponent plays a card, make sure they play it in the most effective way. If you decide to pass, your opponent will take one final turn to end the round. Once you have passed and your opponent has taken their last turn, calculate the scores. Leader Variant At the end of a round, if your total Strength beats the opponent, reveal the Leader at the top of your opponent’s Leader Card pile and apply its effect in the most effective way possible. If your total Strength still beats your opponent, you win the round!   ABILITY CLARIFICATIONS FOR OPPONENT’S LEADERS Monsters Eredin Destroyer of Worlds: The opponent draws a card and plays it immediately Eredin King of the Wild Hunt: Find the first Weather card in the opponent’s deck and play it immediately. Shuffle the deck afterwards. Eredin Bringer of Death: Find the card in the opponent’s discard pile that would give it the greatest advantage and play it immediately. This cannot include Hero Cards. Nilfgaard Emhyr var Emreis Invader of the North: Pick a Unit Card (excludes Heroes) from the opponent’s discard pile at random and play it immediately. Emhyr var Emreis the Emperor of Nilfgaard: Choose a card from your hand to discard. Emhyr var Emreis the Relentless: Choose a card from your discard pile that gives the opponent the greatest advantage and play it immediately to the opponent’s side of the board. Emhyr var Emreis the White Flame: You have no Leader ability for the rest of the game. Scoia’tael Francesca Findabair Daisy of the Valley: The opponent draws a card and plays it immediately. Francesca Findabair Hope of the Aen Seidhe: Every “Agile” Unit Card the opponent controls gains one Strength. Skellige Arnjolf The Patricide: Find in the opponent’s deck the “Tight Bond” Unit Card that gives the greatest Strength boost to the opponent. Play it, then shuffle the deck. Harald an Craite the Cripple: Find in the opponent’s deck a Mardroeme and play it immediately on the row which would grant the greatest Strength increase. King Bran: The opponent’s Unit Cards lose only half their Strength from Weather card effects.   ABILITY CLARIFICATIONS FOR OPPONENT’S CARDS (Solo Mode Only) Commander’s Horn: Place on the most optimal row. In case of a tie, place to the row with the most cards. Scorch: Applies only on the player’s side of the battlefield. Muster: Search for the first specified card in the deck, play it, and shuffle the deck. Spy: Place the card on the player’s side as normal. The opponent draws and plays two cards immediately. Agile: Can move as a free, additional action during the opponent’s turn if a card effect (e.g. Weather card or Commander’s Horn) makes a different position more optimal. Medic: Select in the discard pile the Unit Card that will add the most Strength. Decoy: It will not replace a card. Instead, without looking at it, place the top card of the opponent’s deck under the Decoy. This card and any abilities it has will come into effect when the round ends.   Do you have any questions about Gwent Solo? For our next blog post, we're going to be interview the person who helped us create this game mode, Martin Montreuil. Your question could be featured in the next blog!

Seasoned Gwent players know that the battlefield of Gwent is ever-changing. Outsmarting an opponent in a round of Gwent is one thing—but surviving the chaos of multiple decks and opponents is another challenge entirely. In today’s post, we unveil three new game modes for those bold enough to face them: Tournament Mode 2 vs 2 Mode Free-For-All Mode As a bonus, stick around until the end to see the poster board that will be included in every box of Gwent: The Legendary Card Game. For those wondering about point tracking, you’ll definitely want to see this!   Tournament Mode Tournament mode is for those looking to triumph as the ultimate Gwent winner. Rules will follow advanced mode with a twist: you will have to prove your mastery by playing multiple decks. Before starting a tournament battle of Gwent, each player must build 3 decks from 3 different factions (for this reason, we recommend each player have their own copy of Gwent: The Legendary Card Game). Each deck must be composed of: 22 Unit/Hero cards (minimum) 5 Special Cards (maximum) 2 Spy (maximum) 2 Medic (maximum) The total power of each deck cannot be over 130. To start, toss a coin to decide which player chooses their deck first. Once both players have chosen, proceed through the game with all the standard rules. For the second and third game, the winner of the previous game must change their deck and will select it first. The loser can choose to keep or change the deck. The person who wins 2 out of 3 full games is the tournament winner.   2 VS 2 Mode Have you ever wished you could bring a friend to help you during a game of Gwent? When playing 2 vs 2, you can! Team up with a player and battle against another duo.   2 vs 2 match from Festival des Jeux Cannes 2025. The team on top is playing Monsters and Northern Realms; the team on the bottom is playing Nilfgaard and Scoia’tael.   There are some advantages to playing with a teammate. When playing in a duo: Your teammate cannot play the same faction as you. You will share the same army on the board. You will also share a discard pile and gem counters. You can look at your teammate’s hand. What strategic play will you discuss together? Every card played adds to your team’s total power.   When turntaking, teams will alternate between turns and each team plays one at a time. For example, A1 and A2 are a team battling against B1 and B2. A1 plays first. It is then B1’s turn. A2 plays the next turn, followed by B2. If a player passes, their teammate can keep playing.   Some abilities will also be used differently in this mode. Medic: Can be used to recall a Unit from your team’s discard pile. This means you could revive someone from either of your faction’s! Commander’s Horn: Affects all the team’s Units on the line. Decoy: Can target a Unit played by you or your partner. Monster Ability: The card that stays in play must be a Monster card or an enemy spy. Nilfgaard Ability: If Nilfgaard is used by both teams, this power is null. Scotia’tael Ability: If Scoia’tael is used by both teams, flip a coin among the Scoia’tael players to decide who chooses the starting player. Skellige Ability: The cards brought back into play must be Skellige cards or enemy spies. Emhyr var Emreis The White Flame: Cancels all leader abilities.   Free-for-all Mode (3-5 Players) Let’s say you’re a group of friends getting together to play Gwent. Why wait to play a round of Gwent… when you could battle everyone at once! Example of a free-for-all game with 5 players. All five factions are in play at the same time.   All standard rules apply, with the following clarifications for these abilities: Spy: You choose which opponent gets the spy card. Unit’s Scorch: Affects every enemy individually. Nilfgaard: If 2 players using Nilfgaard end in a tie, they score the highest position. Scoia’tael: If 2 players use Scoia’tael, choose randomly among them who will choose the first player. Northern Realms: If you have the bigger score than at least 2 opponents, you draw a card. To win in a free-for-all, a player must win as many points as there are total players, plus 1. A point is earned for every player defeated at the end of a round. At the beginning of a new round, the player with the most points in the last round plays first. In the event of a tie, tied players score the same number of points as opponents bested. However, ties do not count as victories (unless you play Nilfgaard).   Board Reveal You will undoubtedly be asking yourself, with so many possible gameplay options, how will we keep track of points during each round? Let’s answer this common query (it’s in the name of the blog after all) by revealing the poster board! It might look overwhelming at first, but it will make sense as we break down each section: 1 (on the bottom right for each player) is your discard pile 2 is your deck 3-5 are the battleground, representing close combat, ranged combat, and siege combat 6 is where Commander’s Horn will be placed if used during battle 7 is the scoring ladder. You will have two scoring tokens, one for each row, so that you can easily track points after every turn. 8 holds the two gem counters that will also be included in the box. These track the number of rounds lost. At the start of a game, place the two gems on the circles below your scoring ladder. After each round, the losing player removes a gem. When a player runs out of gems, they lose the game.  A closer look at the scoring ladder and counter. 9-10 are Player Aids, where you can place Unit Cards with special abilities 11 is your Leader card 12 is where Weather cards go To sum up, every box of Gwent: The Legendary Card Game will include the illustrative poster, four score tokens and four gem counters. Players can use score tokens to update their scoring ladder after each turn and the gem counters to track rounds lost. As mentioned in the previous blog post, there will be accessories for those who want sleeves or a neoprene mat. Questions, comments, feedback? We’re open to all of it! Let us know in the comments what you think of the new game modes!

Choose between three game modes for a duel battle in Gwent: The Legendary Card Game. Read more about differences in deckbuilding for initiation, classic, and advanced card playing.

Blog post updated on February 13, 2025 Before we get started, thank you for the enthusiasm you have shared with us, your friends, future opponents, and possibly even shopkeepers on the news of Gwent: The Legendary Card Game. You are now part of our adventure in bringing this game to tabletop and we’re so happy you’re here. Welcome to Queries on Gwent, our new series where we address your most frequently asked questions about the game. Today, we’re addressing your top queries since Friday’s announcement. Let’s get into it!   1. Which version of Gwent is this game based on? This game is based on the Gwent game from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It’s why we’re releasing this in 2025 - to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s release!   2. I already have the DLC packs released nine years ago. What is different about this game?  Even if you already have physical cards for Gwent, and especially if you have enjoyed playing with physical cards, we believe Gwent: The Legendary Card Game will have a special place in your collection. This release is optimized for immediate gameplay.  Here’s how we’re preparing for a ready-to-play round of Gwent: You will have cards for all five factions (Monsters, Nilfgaardian Empire, Northern Realms, Scoia'tael, and Skellige), instead of only four incomplete factions to choose from. These cards are formatted in Trading Card Game standard sizing (63x88). This makes them smaller, easier to hold, and compatible with sleeves and accessories, compared to previous releases. The box includes a detailed poster for tabletop play like in Gwent. You will be able to play in several modes, ranging from initiation, regular, and advanced (even a solo mode is in the works!). More on this down below.   3. Is this a Trading Card Game? Will I have to continuously buy packs to be able to play? This is not a Trading Card Game (TCG). It is more like a Living Card Game (LCG). With one box, you will have everything to play a round of Gwent against your opponent of choice. The free booster pack we are offering to subscribers will feature alternative artwork from the Ballad Heroes DLC. These will complement the cards already included in the box and you will get to show off your beautiful Legendary Foil cards.   4. Will this game be translated? Gwent: The Legendary Card Game will be available in English, Polish, French, Spanish, German, Czech, Ukrainian, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. We’re looking into possibly adding more languages in the future.   5. Will this game be available in my country? We want to make Gwent: The Legendary Card Game available for everyone, so we are working with our distributing partners Hachette Boardgames UK and US, Asmodee GER, Randolph, GIGAMIC, VR Distribution, Xzone, Rebel and many more to make Gwent: The Legendary Card Game available to your country. We will share a final list of countries closer to the launch date. 6. Can I pre-order today? We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has already signed up and expressed interest in buying Gwent: The Legendary Card Game. As soon as we have pre-orders available worldwide, around May 2025, we will share the links to our newsletter subscribers. Subscribers who have received the promo code for a Ballad Heroes booster pack can only redeem it on our website. That said, your local retailer may have already opened up pre-ordering. You can support them today!    7. How are you going to adapt this into a tabletop game? We have much more to share on this in the coming months. For now, we can give you this preview: Gwent: The Legendary Card Game is going to have multiple play modes to help introduce beginners to the game and offer a challenge to seasoned players.  You will be able to choose between Initiation, Regular, and Advanced/Tournament modes. As a commitment to our core value of creating easy-to-learn but hard-to-master games, it’s important to us that everyone can play and enjoy a round of Gwent, regardless of experience going into it. You’ll have to stay tuned to see what each mode looks like - but rest assured, we know the challenge of those pesky Spy cards… (make no mistake, they will still be in the deck!).   We expect you will have more questions. We want to hear them! Comment below so we can answer your queries in the next blog post. If this blog post was helpful, consider sharing!

ANNOUNCING THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT OFFICIAL GWENT THE CARD GAME No Loading Games will release the first official physical card game for Gwent, based on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, in 2025. [MONTREAL, QUEBEC, Dec 6] — The Gwent game loved by Geralt of Rivia and millions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt players will be released as a tabletop card game in 2025 by No Loading Games in celebration of the 10th anniversary of CD PROJEKT RED’s acclaimed RPG. Officially licensed by CD PROJEKT RED, Gwent the Legendary Card Game will stay true to the in-game experience of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which has sold over 50 million copies and won over 250 Game of the Year awards since its release in 2015. Designed for both seasoned Witcher fans and newcomers alike, this deck-building card game will bring the tactical depth and beloved lore of The Witcher universe to your tabletop. Gwent the Legendary Card Game will be released as a complete base game with the five core factions (Monsters, Nilfgaardian Empire, Northern Realms, Scoia'tael, and Skellige). Each faction deck will come with beautifully illustrated cards featuring iconic characters and abilities from the Witcher world. The game will use Trading Card Game (TCG) standard card size of 63mmx88mm, ensuring compatibility with sleeves and accessories designed for collectors and competitive play. No Loading Games plans to release Gwent the Legendary Card Game to international markets with the support of key publishing partners. To celebrate the exciting news, No Loading Games is offering a booster pack of Ballad Heroes Legendary Foil Cards to players who subscribe to their newsletter. The Legendary booster pack features alternative artwork from the Ballad Heroes DLC, so players can “make your Gwent deck legendary.” Visit No Loading Games’s website to subscribe and secure your copy of the booster pack, which will be redeemable at purchase when the game launches in 2025. "It’s an honor to bring The Witcher 3’s legendary card game to the tabletop and mark the 10th anniversary of the game in collaboration with CD PROJEKT RED. This is more than just a game; it’s a tribute to the strategy, lore, and community that has kept Gwent alive for a decade. No Loading Games is dedicated to delivering the ultimate product and experience for fans, combining the highest quality components with meticulous attention to detail for an unforgettable Gwent experience. Whether you're a longtime fan or a first-time player, how about a round of Gwent?" - Arnaud Perez, CEO and Founder of No Loading Games “I'm thrilled about this collaboration with No Loading Games! As a huge GWENT: The Witcher Card Game fan — and a TCG enthusiast — it's a dream come true. One of the things I'm most excited about is that the cards will be in the popular standard size, making sleeving your favorite deck incredibly easy! Previously, the decks (Monsters, Nilfgaardian Empire, Northern Realms, Scoia'tael) were only available in the collector's editions of the expansions for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. The Skellige deck was never even officially released to the wider public, making it a highly sought-after item for the community. The opportunity to finally get these cards, especially the Skellige deck, and crack at the Ballad Heroes Booster pack has me incredibly excited! I know players around the world will appreciate this release.”-   Paweł Burza, Senior Communication Manager, CD PROJEKT RED