Hero Realms

Hero Realms is a fantasy-themed deck-building card game where 2 to 4 players start with a basic deck and health points, strategically purchasing cards from a shared market to deal damage, restore health, or gain coins, with the goal of reducing opponents’ health to zero. Set in a realm of four distinct factions—red, green, blue, and yellow—the game incorporates role-playing elements through character classes like wizards and fighters, offering quick, tactical gameplay in a vibrant fantasy setting.

Hero Realms: The Digital Throne of a Deckbuilding Dynasty

Introduction: A Seamless Conquest of the Digital Realm

In the crowded field of digital deckbuilders, few titles have managed to capture the lightning-in-a-bottle essence of their physical predecessors as successfully as Hero Realms. Released in 2022 by Wise Wizard Games, this digital adaptation of their acclaimed 2016 tabletop game does more than merely translate cards to screen; it thoughtfully expands the core experience with features impossible in a boxed game—persistent character progression, cross-platform multiplayer, and a suite of co-op campaigns. Yet, its greatest triumph lies in preserving the razor-sharp, fast-playing strategic heart of the original. Hero Realms stands as a testament to how a free-to-play model, when executed with respect for the player and fidelity to the source material, can democratize a beloved game without sacrificing its soul. This review will argue that Hero Realms is not just a competent port, but the definitive way to experience this fantasy face-off, seamlessly bridging the gap between tabletop tradition and digital convenience.

Development History & Context: From Star Realms’ Shadow to a Spotlight of Its Own

The genesis of Hero Realms is inextricably linked to its predecessor, Star Realms (2014). Created by Rob Dougherty and Darwin Kastle and published through their Wise Wizard Games (formerly White Wizard Games), Star Realms had become a modern classic in the deckbuilder genre—a minimalist, space-themed Masterpiece that won the prestigious Origins Award for Game of the Year in 2015. Its success was built on a brilliant, asymmetrical core mechanic: a shared central market of cards representing two rival space empires (the Star Empire and the Trade Federation), with players using coins to buy cards that generated combat to attack the opponent’s “Authority” (health).

With this引擎 proven, the designers turned to a fantasy setting, a genre with broader mainstream appeal. The 2016 tabletop release of Hero Realms was a direct evolution, swapping spaceships for swords and adding a crucial layer: faction-based RPG elements. Where Star Realms had two sides, Hero Realms introduced four distinct factions (Imperial, Guild, Necros, Wild), each with unique playstyles and champion cards that could persist on the battlefield. Furthermore, it incorporated character classes (Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, Thief, Ranger) with unique starting decks, and later, campaign decks that introduced a rudimentary RPG progression system between games.

The jump to digital was a natural, if ambitious, next step. A Kickstarter campaign in July 2021 funded the development of the digital version, which entered beta in August 2021 and had a full release on June 6, 2022, for Windows (via Steam), iOS, and Android. Developed in Unity, the digital version was built from the ground up to support the core tabletop loop while leveraging digital advantages: automated health and market tracking, global matchmaking, and a persistent account system that saved character levels and unlocked content. The release strategy was modern: the base game was free-to-play, with a one-time purchase (the “Base Set”) unlocking the full character roster, campaign, harder AI, and co-op missions. This model lowered the barrier to entry spectacularly, allowing anyone to experience the core duel before committing financially—a sharp contrast to the physical game’s upfront cost.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive: A City of Thandar and a Void of Plot

The narrative framework of Hero Realms is its most famously thin element, a point of both criticism and, for some, liberating simplicity. At its core, the base game provides no canonical story. Players are simply “heroes” battling in the trade city of Thandar for unspecified glory or profit. This “Excuse Plot” has led to community speculation, as seen in Reddit threads, about who these combatants are: are they guild lords, members of the character classes, or independent mercenaries? The rulebook and official lore blogs (like the “Citizens of Thandar” series on the official website) paint Thandar as a melting pot metropolis founded by a peaceful empire, now rife with political strife, criminal guilds, and demonic cults—a perfect adventurer’s playground. Yet, why these heroes are fighting each other remains unexplored in the basic PvP modes.

The true narrative depth is unlocked through Expansion Decks and Campaigns, which transform the game from a pure arena fighter into a cooperative RPG-lite experience.
* The Ruin of Thandar Campaign Deck (2017) and later Four Journeys (2024) provide a story-driven sequence of missions. Players take on scripted scenarios against specific AI opponents, earning experience points (XP) between missions to permanently upgrade their character’s starting deck with new skills, equipment, and abilities. This creates a tangible sense of character progression and ties victories to a larger narrative, however lightly sketched.
* Boss Decks (The Dragon, The Lich) pit 1-4 players against a single, monstrous AI opponent with its own deck, focusing on epic, cooperative storytelling.
* Character Packs (Cleric, Ranger, Thief) implicitly flesh out the world by presenting themed starting decks and unique art, suggesting personal histories and motivations.

Thematically, Hero Realms explores the mercenary reality of the fantasy trope. The four factions represent a moral and political spectrum:
1. Imperials (Yellow): The “good” order—militaristic butTrade-focused, healing-oriented, and protective.
2. Guild (Blue): The pragmatic underworld—criminal syndicates that provide gold, stunning effects, and card manipulation. “An Offer You Can’t Refuse” is their modus operandi.
3. Necros (Red): The unambiguous evil—demon-worshipping cultists focused on raw damage and sacrificial deck-thinning. Yet, players can freely hire them, highlighting the Mercenary ethos.
4. Wild (Green): The untamed frontier—elves, orcs, trolls, and beasts focusing on aggressive damage, card cycling, and forced discards.

This faction system brilliantly mirrors the moral ambiguity of a bustling trade city where “every man has his price.” A hero might use holy Imperial priests to heal one turn and hire a Necrotic vampire assassin the next. The art and card names reinforce this: you might find “Cristov, the Just” (a Paladin) alongside “Rake, Master Assassin” from the Guild in your deck. The setting, as described on the official site, is an “Adventure-Friendly World“—a place of constant conflict where heroes-for-hire can always find work, regardless of alignment.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems: Refined Chaos in a 20-Minute Burst

At its mechanical core, Hero Realms is a non-collectible deckbuilding game with direct player combat. The genius lies in its brutal efficiency and player-driven conflict.

The Core Loop (The “Main Phase”):
1. Draw: Start your turn with 5 cards from your personal deck.
2. Play & Buy: Play action/champion cards from your hand to generate Gold (currency) and/or Combat (damage). Use accumulated Gold to buy cards from the shared Market Row (5 cards from an 80-card central deck). Bought cards go directly to your discard pile, to be shuffled into your deck later.
3. Attack: Use generated Combat to attack. You can attack the opponent’s Health directly, or you must first defeat any Guard Champions they have in play (a “Red Shirt” mechanic). Champion cards placed in play have Defense; they must absorb all damage in a single turn to be discarded (“stunned”).
4. End Turn: Discard your hand and all played cards. Next turn, you draw five again. When your deck and discard are empty, you reshuffle.

Key Systems & Innovations:
* Four Faction Synergies: Each faction has a distinct “feel.” Imperials heal and scale with more champions. Guild focuses on gold, stunning, and card manipulation (putting cards on top of your deck). Necros deal damage and sacrifice cards from your deck for powerful effects (“Make Them Rot”). Wild excels at damage bursts via card cycling (draw/discard).
* Character Classes: The free version starts with Fighter (more Health, weapon-focused) and Wizard (spell-focused, card draw). The Base Set adds Cleric (healing), Ranger (card advantage), and Thief (gold/combo potential). Each class has a unique starting deck, altering opening strategies.
* Leveling & Progression (Digital Exclusive): After games (PvP, PvE, co-op), you earn XP. Leveling up (to a cap of 12 with Base Set) unlocks Reserve Treasures—powerful cards that start the game in a special “Reserve” area, mitigating the late-game swing of starting deck draws. This is a crucial digital addition that adds long-term strategic goals.
* Game Modes:
* PvP Duel (Free): The pure, timeless experience.
* VS AI (Free/Paid): Play against a basic or “Hard” AI.
* Co-op Missions (Pirate Lord free; others paid): Two players team up against a Boss Deck or scripted scenario.
* Campaign (“Welcome to Thandar”): A series of scripted missions with a loose story, AI opponents of increasing difficulty, and permanent character upgrades via XP.
* Free-to-Play Economy: The model is exceptionally fair. The free version is genuinely playable and fun for years, offering two classes, PvP, vs. AI, a partial campaign, and one co-op mission. The Base Set purchase is a one-time fee (~$10 on Steam) that unlocks the entire rest of the content (3 more classes, full campaign, all co-op missions, hard AI). There are no “pay-to-win” cards; purchases are for content access, not power. This builds immense goodwill.

Flaws & Quirks:
* Arbitrary Equipment Restriction: Weapon cards can only be used when in your hand, a nitpick from TV Tropes that feels odd for “heroes.”
* “Death is Cheap”: Discarded (“stunned”) champions return when the deck reshuffles, a necessary deckbuilder abstraction that slightly breaks immersion.
* Balance Shifts: The digital version has seen several balance patches (documented in the blog’s update history, like the January 2022 reset), which can temporarily disrupt established metagames but ultimately show active developer care.

World-Building, Art & Sound: Functional Fantasy

Hero Realms inhabits a functional, not foundational, fantasy world. The setting exists primarily to justify the factions and card types, not to tell a story. The lore is delivered in drips: through card names and art (“Cron the Berserker” is a Conan homage), the “Citizens of Thandar” blog posts that detail factions like the Sisters of Thandar or Tournament of Champions, and the campaign books. It’s a port city setting where empire, crime, wilderness, and evil cults clash—a classic, serviceable backdrop for tactical conflict.

Visual Direction & Art:
This is the most divisive element. The base game’s art, particularly for the character classes, has been widely criticized as generic and uninspired. As reviewer Raven Winters (GamingTrend) bluntly stated, “I like to have a touch more complexity in my deck builders, but it really is a fantastic party game… I find the art style to be extremely ugly.” The Imperial faction uses bright, clean, quasi-Roman/medieval European aesthetics. The Guild has a grimy, urban feel. Necros are suitably demonic with facial tattoos. Wild features robust barbarians, elves, and beasts. While conceptually distinct, the execution is often seen as lacking the epic grandeur of, say, Magic: The Gathering or the gritty appeal of Ascension. However, many expansion packs, like the Thief and Wizard Character Decks, feature significantly improved art, suggesting a learning curve for the illustrators.

Sound Design:
The digital version’s sound is functional and atmospheric. Card-drawing sounds, the clink of gold, the thud of combat, and a subdued, fantasy-tinged background track create a pleasant, unobtrusive atmosphere. It never distracts from the strategic thinking, nor does it particularly elevate it—it’s competent tabletop ambiance.

UI & UX:
The digital interface is a major strength. Market rows are clear, health is tracked digitally (though players can opt for pencil-and-paper, as noted in a review), and card effects are icon-driven with text tooltips. The real-time timer update (March 2022) added a gentle pressure to prevent analysis paralysis. The transition from a tabletop game to a clean, click-driven digital experience is remarkably smooth.

Reception & Legacy: A Niche-Conquering Success

Critical & Commercial Reception:
The physical Hero Realms (2016) was a critical darling. It was nominated for two Golden Geek Awards (Best Card Game, Best 2-Player Board Game) and won the 2018 Origins Award for Fan Favorite Card Game. Critics praised it as “a wonderful entry-level investment” (Jerry Williams, RPGFan) and “a perfect introduction to deck-building” (Raven Winters, GamingTrend), with the caveats about art mentioned above.

The digital version’s reception has been similarly positive, though with a more mixed user base. On Steam, it holds a “Mostly Positive” rating (73% of 360 reviews as of early 2026), with a Steambase score of 74/100. Positive reviews consistently highlight its accessibility, fast playtime (~20 minutes), and excellent free-to-play implementation. Negative reviews often cite the art, perceived lack of depth compared to heavier deckbuilders, and occasional matchmaking frustrations. The mobile versions (iOS/Android) have followed a similar reception pattern.

Legacy & Influence:
Hero Realms’s legacy is twofold:
1. As the Evolution of Star Realms: It proved that the elegant, two-player Star Realms engine could be expanded into a multi-faction, class-based, 4-player fantasy game without losing its fast, punchy appeal. It became the go-to recommendation for a “next step” deckbuilder after Star Realms or a lighter alternative to Magic.
2. As a Benchmark for Digital Adaptations: Wise Wizard Games set a high bar for how to handle a physical-to-digital transition. Their model—generous free version, one-time purchase for full content, active post-launch support (new campaigns like Four Journeys, mechanics like Reserve Treasures), and cross-play—has been studied and emulated. The success of Hero Realms Digital directly funded and promoted their later tabletop projects and the Hero Realms Dungeons spin-off (2024).

Its influence is seen in the proliferation of accessible, digital-first deckbuilders that prioritize quick sessions and low barriers to entry. It solidified the “app-supported board game” as a viable and popular category.

Conclusion: A Worthy Heir to the Deckbuilding Throne

Hero Realms is not the most narratively rich or artistically groundbreaking game in the digital deckbuilder pantheon. Its world is a scaffold, and its base art is, for many, a hurdle. But to judge it on these grounds alone is to miss its monumental achievement: perfecting the translation of a supremely elegant tabletop experience into a frictionless digital format. It captures the addictive “one more turn” loop of its genre, condenses a full strategic duel into a lunchbreak, and democratizes access through a fair, respectful free-to-play model.

The addition of persistent character leveling and co-op campaigns adds meaningful long-term goals without bloating the core gameplay. It is, as Topping the Table scored it, a 4.7/5 experience for what it sets out to be: an engaging, strategic, and infinitely replayable party game that works as brilliantly on a phone as on a table.

In the history of video games, Hero Realms will be remembered not as a revolutionary title, but as a masterclass in adaptation and live service done right. It respects its roots, embraces its new medium’s strengths, and builds a community around shared, accessible fun. For anyone seeking the distilled essence of competitive deckbuilding—the thrill of the market, the pain of a bad draw, the glory of a perfect combo—Hero Realms is an essential, throne-worthy conquest.

Final Verdict: 9/10 – The definitive, most accessible version of a modern deckbuilding classic.