Valve's First New Game In Years, Artifact, Is Out Now

Valve, the developer of iconic franchises such as Team Fortress, Portal, and Half-Life, has released its first full game in over five years. Artifact is a CCG that's available on PC now, costing $20 / £16 / AU $28. To celebrate the launch of Artifact--which is coming to iOS and Android in 2019--Valve has also released a new trailer, which you can watch above.

Artifact is conceptually based on Dota 2, another title from Valve. The game sees players facing off against one another on three separate game boards--similar to Dota 2's lanes--and victory is given to whoever successfully navigates to their opponent's side and either destroys two of the three enemy towers or defeats the Ancient that appears after one tower is destroyed.

Each player has a deck composed of 40 cards, five of which are heroes. Forty different heroes are currently available, allowing players to start coming up with different strategies. The other 35 cards in a player's deck are hero abilities and items, divided into four different color themes--red, green, black, and blue--depending on their unique effects on the board.

Artifact is designed by Richard Garfield, who previously created the hugely popular Magic: The Gathering card game. GameSpot's full review of the new title is on the way, but in the meantime check out some Artifact beta gameplay.