So for some reason I never played Age of Rivals despite buying it at launch because it was 99 cents and because I really like deck-building games.
I think I just was never really in the mood to sit down and learn a new ruleset for a card game, I play a lot of card games as it is.
Well, finally got around to it last night. This shit is really good. This is one of the more unique takes on the DBG genre I've played in awhile. It's basically Age of Empires: the card game. No doubt that's why they named it what they did.
The app is really polished (probably because they've updated it like every week since launch) and the art is really good. My only disappointment is that there is no unique art for each card, only unique art for card types. That's totally understandable for a small game like this, though, since that is a massive workload for an artist. But it would be cool if they updated the game with an art package, I would even pay for it as DLC.
The game would also work in physical form and I'd love to buy it if they ever printed it. It would be a little obnoxious to juggle tokens ala Ascension, which is why I prefer these games digital, but I'd still want to have a real copy to play with people IRL.
After the launch period the game bumped from $1 to $4. Right now it's on sale on iOS and Android for $2 and I can't recommend it enough. Grab it for a great price right now!
Unfortunately, Age of Rivals does not follow Star Realms' example where the game unlocks on all devices for one in-app purchase. The Steam version is $9.99. I'm not saying the game isn't worth $10 but the mobile pricing disparity will never not upset me.