Gods Unchained
Summary
Gods Unchained is a free-to-play digital trading card game built on Ethereum. The game is free to download and includes a core set of 250 cards that can be unlocked by progressing through the game in both single player and multiplayer modes. Card expansion sets, called 'seasons', are available for purchase. The first of these seasons is called Genesis and includes 380 cards. Paid cards are verifiably scarce and have their stats and ownership history recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. Gods Unchained also features other collectibles that grant special cosmetic benefits and can be displayed in matches against other players.
All Gods Unchained gameplay occurs off-chain and incurs no transaction fees.
Activating and Trading Cards
Purchased Gods Unchained cards can be trustlessly traded using the 0x Protocol. When a card set is first introduced, trading is disabled during an initial balancing period where each card is checked to ensure it doesn't upset the balance of the overall game. The first set of tradable cards in Gods Unchained is the Genesis set.
To trustlessly trade Gods Unchained cards, cards must first be 'activated' using a special transaction that turns them into ERC-721 tokens. Activating cards is not necessary for playing the game, nor is it necessary for trading a card purchased from a marketplace. Activation is only necessary for players wishing to trade a card for the first time.
Game Mechanics
Gods Unchained builds on the classic gameplay mechanics made famous by Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone. New to Gods Unchained is an innovate new mana system that forces players to begin engaging on turn 1.
The game also supports a massive variety of possible matches by giving each player the choice of up to five special god powers at the start of each match. Of these powers, four are always regular and one is an ultimate. Regular powers can be activated once per turn while an ultimate power can only be used once per match. Since the game has six gods to play with and each god can use one of five powers, there are 7776 possible match combinations in Gods Unchained. This enables more gameplay variety than has been possible before.
Other gameplay features include a Rune system (i.e. special small spells), an Anim system (i.e. special small creatures) and a special mulligan and first/second turn system.
Gods Unchained also supports Battle Royale style elimination tournaments and is expected to include more gameplay mechanics than any other trading card game at launch.
History
Open Beta
Gods Unchained is currently in open beta. Downloading the apollo client and creating an account will get new players signed up and new beta players are being added daily. The global launch is expected late in Q3 2019.
Etherbots crossover
Etherbots, by the same studio Fuel Games, was originally launched in March 2018 and included battling completely on-chain. To promote interoperability Etherbots holders were rewarded with exclusive Gods Unchained cards for their early contributions. Etherbots 2 is expected after Gods Unchained is fully launched.
CryptoKitties crossover
On January 10th, 2019, a partnership between Gods Unchained and the kitty-breeding collectible game CryptoKitties was announced. Between Jan. 10th to Jan. 21st, 2019, CryptoKitty owners were able to forge statues in Gods Unchained, including a special Talisman based on a new fancy cat called Tally the Furrocious. 380 Special-Edition Gods Unchained Aeoncat Kitties were made available for purchase. Each Aeoncat granted its owner a chance to win the exclusive Hypurrion kitty, modelled after GU's Hyperion.