Ethereum Strategy Game 'Shardbound' Open Beta Hitting Steam, Epic Store

Strategy card battler Shardbound—which is built on Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Immutable zkEVM—will enter open beta on Steam and the Epic Games Store on October 9, Immutable Games announced Wednesday.

This open beta period will run for an undefined period of time as the developers look to rapidly improve the game and “handcraft” its Web3 strategy before a full-fledged release.

Shardbound is touted as Hearthstone meets Fire Emblem, blending elements of deck-building and card-collecting games with turn-based battlefield fighting, all while sprinkling in role-playing elements along the way.

Each match can be won in a different way; players can craft decks focused on all-out war to gun for a military victory, or prepare for something sneakier to achieve an economic victory. This mechanic is very similar to the classic strategy series Sid Meier's Civilization, in which players can take multiple routes to reach the end game. 

The open beta will run for “as long as it needs to,” as the team behind Shardbound, Bazooka Tango, looks to quickly learn from feedback provided by the community.

“We’re all about learning and iterating, so it really depends on the feedback we get and how quickly we can adapt,” Bazooka Tango co-founder and CTO Stephan Sherman told Decrypt, “It’s all about creating the best experience, and we’ll run the beta for as long as it takes to make that happen.”

Bazooka Tango confirmed that the game will allow cards to be traded as NFTs, built on Ethereum scaling network Immutable zkEVM, with room to upgrade cards to adjust to play styles. But this Web3 implementation is just scratching the surface of what’s planned.

“I can’t reveal all the details just yet, but let’s just say it’s going to be a game-changer,” Sherman said. “If you want to dive in and take your deck to the next level, the option’s there—and it’s badass.”

“We’re going to blow your mind,” he added.

But the planned launch on Steam is an intriguing wrinkle in the rollout, as Valve’s popular PC gaming storefront has banned NFT games.

That could jeopardize the studio’s plans to fully integrate NFTs and crypto elements, though some other game developers have opted to launch crypto-less versions of games on Steam, or relegate the NFT integration to an external website without enabling direct interactions within the game itself.

An Immutable representative clarified to Decrypt that Shardbound will lack NFT integration across both stores when it launches in open beta next week. Players will get NFTs that are identical to their in-game cards, either sent directly to a connected Immutable Passport wallet or claimable via an emailed redemption code.

Bazooka Tango will share more details about future in-game NFT integration in the coming weeks.

“We want to make sure every gamer that plays Shardbound has the same experiences and opportunities no matter what platform or storefront they find us,” Sherman told Decrypt. “We are handcrafting our Web3 strategy with each platform and storefront in mind to make sure that the game is both compliant with their rules, but still an identical experience.”

Shardbound was originally funded via a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in 2017, only resulting in an incomplete “Early Access” release that never went any further. The original version on Steam, created by Spiritwalk Games, did not use NFTs. Bazooka Tango and Immutable Games acquired the rights last year and began working on adding Web3 elements.

Bazooka Tango founder and CEO Bo Daly previously told Decrypt’s GG that he had followed the development of this indie game, so he was thrilled to be able to revitalize the project and attempt to give it new life with blockchain elements. Now, seven years later, Shardbound is finally moving from early access to open beta in its enhanced form.

Edited by Andrew Hayward