Second Look—Hero Realms

For those who missed the incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, Hero Realms is a fantasy version of White Wizard Games’ Star Realms. More than just a reskin, Hero Realms also has Character Packs that can be purchased to customize each player’s starting decks and play styles. These come in the form of Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Thief, and Wizard. Boss Decks can also be purchased that let’s one player control a powerful monster that other players have to overcome. Last is the Campaign Deck, one of the coolest sounding additions to the game. It contains rules for solo and cooperative play, comes with 3 missions, and has gear for upgrading your hero over time

White Wizard Games was kind enough to send a copy of the base game and Character Packs over for me to take a look at and I have to say I’m thoroughly impressed. I’ve played with my oldest so far, since he’s the most familiar with Star Realms, and we were both able to pick up the base game and play right away. We then each tried a different character and took a bit of time to learn how they play. This was a great step up from Star Realms and I can see Hero Realms pushing Star Realms out of our play rotation once we get some more of the add-ons.

You can check out the full rules and print-and-play version from White Wizard’s site. While I can’t recommend the game enough, you still may want to try the print-and-play if you’re not familiar with Star Realms or don’t know if you want a fantasy version of the deckbuilder to replace your sci-fi one. Personally, I think it’s great to have both, but Hero Realms is definitely the more enjoyable version.

A copy of Hero Realms and 5 Character Decks were provided free for review by White Wizard Games.