Completely out of the blue, Capcom announced a secret project they had been working on.
At about 7 pm CT, videos started popping up on YouTube that showed various influencers playing a “mystery card game” that had something to do with Capcom.
This game, titled Project Battle is an extremely early build of what will mostly be a Capcom version of Hearthstone that is mixed with some mechanics of the growing auto-battler genre.
Like Hearthstone, players will collect cards based on Capcom properties like Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, and Monster Hunter. Characters like Ryu, Dante, and even a Rathalos from Monster Hunter will act a deck’s avatar and be able to use different powers called a Hero Art to help the cards on the battlefield.
Each Avatar has three different Hero Arts that each have different abilities and costs, all with unique art in the style of the game. Project Battle uses new art to create each card, background, and Avatar – giving the game a clean and very distinct feel from other Capcom projects. It is incredibly refreshing to see characters like Megaman X drawn in the same art style as Wesker from Resident Evil.
As for the auto-battle influence, instead of each player taking turns, every move takes place in real time.
Players have both an AP and energy bar that is used to place cards on the board and supplement that with action cards that can do anything from deal direct damage to the opposing player or give a unit a second attack. There is a slow-moving bar that will start moving across the board whenever a new unit is set, that line shows how long the opposing player has until it either hits them directly or damages the card directly across from it.
The card health is done precisely like Hearthstone, where each unit has an individual cost and both an offensive and defensive number. Once a card’s defensive number is taken to zero, it will be destroyed. Some cards have special effects that can boost their attack speed, give other units a boost, or deal damage when they are summoned.
Capcom also brought the iconic voice actors for its characters back to portray them through special voice lines and banter. This, along with the use of classic Capcom music and a deep pool of characters and games being used for the cards, is making for a spectacular reveal for this project.
As of now, Capcom is exceptionally selective with what information it releases about the game. Streamers and YouTubers who got to play the game, are playing an extremely early build on a custom emulator that is correctly set up to show what Capcom wants to be shown.
Before today, no information about Project Battle was out in the public eye. Fighting game and Capcom fanatic Maximilian Dood only learned about the existence of the game a week ago. While streaming the early build of Project Battle, he told his viewers that he and a few others got to play a similar build, but didn’t know anything else about the game going in.
This announcement comes as a shock, but it is a cool one that shows Capcom is working on new and exciting titles. There is currently no release date set for Project Battle, but considering how most influencers are talking, it is likely still pretty far from an official roll out.
Published: Jun 25, 2019 04:52 am