The influx of randomized loot boxes into games like Shadow of War and Star Wars Battlefront II has kicked off a discussion about their inclusion in games. Discussions of multiplayer imbalance and blocked off game content ignore an important truth: loot boxes are an ethical problem. They exist largely to exploit…

Unearthed Prophecy, the game’s fourth expansion, came out earlier this week and after spending several hours fiddling around with the latest cards, I’m already in love with it.

Opening Overwatch loot boxes or Halo 5 REQ packs adds a special drama to a gaming session. The crate shakes. A jingle chimes. Lights peek out from the cracks. It swells with potential. Game developers make subtle design decisions that stoke the hope that keeps players opening mystery boxes, crates and packs. And not…

In video games, frustration is often viewed as a dirty word. If you’re feeling frustrated—like you’ve hit a wall and can’t find a way over, under, or around—the designers must have made a mistake. That’s not always the case, though. Sometimes, game makers try to make you feel irritated, or even livid.

Duelyst is a very pretty little strategy game. So pretty, in fact, that we’re going to feature it twice here on Fine Art. In 2014 we looked at some of its environments, but today we’re looking at Christophe Ha’s (Overwatch, Diablo III, World of Warcraft) character design.

Duelyst, a very pretty tactical game, is out today. It’s got a competitive focus and mixes in elements of collectible card games. It’s smartly designed, which is no surprise given that it comes from people who worked on Diablo III and Rogue Legacy. You can try it for free here.

Earlier this year, we took a look at a very pretty strategy game called Duelyst. Anton Fadeev is one of the artists working on that game.