Riot released their online card game, Legends of Runeterra (LoR), last week. Since then I’ve played it a bit and have some thoughts. This is by no means a review.

First off, LoR in many ways is very similar to Hearthstone or Elder Scrolls Legends. It’s a ‘card’ game built online, unlike Magic which is still both online and physical. This means the pace of play and the cards themselves aren’t limited by what you can do physically, and Riot has taken full advantage of this, perhaps even more so then either HS or ESL. The big example of this are the champion cards, using of course champions from League of Legends; these cards can be promoted to a stronger version if you meet their requirements. Garen, for example, will promote after taking damage twice, while Ellise will promote if you start the turn with 3+ spider creatures. This is fun gameplay, and helps to theme your decks.

Graphics and UI are good but not great here. The game does not support Ultra Wide monitor settings, and its not hard to see that the overall feel is heavily designed for mobile rather than being native to PC. I do like the cards interacting with each other via voice, that is a nice touch and ties into the lore of LoL.

Right now I play a game or two daily, and have so far enjoyed it, though I’m not nearly as hooked as I was on Riot’s other new game, Team Fight Tactics (which I’ll get back into once I feel ‘done’ with Kenshi). It’s a good online card game with a fun theme, but nothing earthshattering.