Having just finished The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the second time (this time on the Nintendo Switch), any time that related news appears we get rather excited.

Now the game's spin-off card game, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, is available to download for free on Steam. It had previously launched for PC, PS4 and Xbox, but the latter two formats have since closed so the game's developer, CD Projekt Red, can focus on the mobile (Android & iOS) and PC/Steam versions.

What is Gwent?

Gwent is a turn-based card game, player versus player (PVP), where each contender is dealt various cards that they can play over three rounds.

Each round you can choose to play a new card type into a relevant position on the battlefield, or pass your turn tactically to save play for future rounds.

There are various decks, with each belonging to a different faction that offers different leaders, play types and, therefore, tactics.

The goal is to win two of the three rounds. A round is won by scoring more power points than your competitor. Different cards affect these points.

New Rules

Gwent in The Witcher 3 is less complex than this separate game of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. The latter, which embodies changes released with Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, brought a number of changes, including:

The leader is no longer a playable card, it now grants an ability.

Decks can be built with various cards - there are bronze, silver, and gold - which have different costs associated. A deck can only hit a recruit cap of 165 in total.

There's no cap to how many silver and gold cards you can use, but these will put a larger dent in your recruit cap.

Ranking & Rewards

The more you win the more that goes towards your daily rewards, as a card pack (called a keg). These kegs deliver five cards. You can buy additional ones through microtransactions.

Keg contents include scraps, used for crafting cards; meteorite dust, used for crafting rarer cards; and ore, used for buying new kegs.

The more premium cards you tender, the better a deck you can likely create. Hardcore players will have more rare cards and be tougher to beat, hence the want to craft and procure better cards overall.

Players also rank, throughout a month-long season. At the end of the season you'll obtain rewards based on your rank position. These rewards, in turn, will help you improve your deck to aim for higher rank and tier position season on season.