It’s been eight years since the original Halo Wars landed its dropship onto Xbox 360s back in 2009. Since then, the gaming landscape has changed quite significantly and the huge success of titles such as Hearthstone and Fifa’s ‘ultimate team’ mode have shown that players have a lot of love for virtual cards. The next contender to step into this arena is Halo Wars 2’s blitz mode, which is currently free-to-play for anyone who has a PC running Windows 10.
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Blitz sits on the exact mid-point of collectible card battling and real-time strategy. Players select from a random pack of cards, attempting to balance offensive and defensive choices, before battling it out with an opponent. The mode is aimed at bringing players who are new to the RTS genre into the fold, whilst providing a quick hit of action to the more experienced players. The card selection is intended to replace the more traditional resource gathering aspect of the genre, effectively streamlining the whole process.
The demo is available until January 30 and can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft store. The full game won’t be with us until February 21, but you can pre-order it now from its store page for $59.99/£47.74.