Prismata gets Steam release date after eight years in development
Early access release date announced for poker-inspired hybrid strategy.
Prismata is the brainchild of Lunarch Studios, a small team of MIT mathematicians who decided to create the perfect strategy game, by combining the accessibility of cardgames with the strategic complexity of RTS/turn-based strategy games. The team, who were all poker players, began working on Prismata eight years ago, and eventually left MIT to found Lunarch, which is based in Ontario, Canada. Set on an alien planet in the far future, Prismata sees the player stepping into the shoes of ‘Swarmwielders’, generals who command legions of deadly robot soldiers.
In Prismata, the player will be able to choose between modes including online multiplayer, as well as a single player campaign and puzzle challenges. The gameplay of Prismata‘s online alpha version has been compared to that of Hearthstone, with an engaging and well-engineered card-based strategy mechanic that is easy to pick up but hard to master. You are tasked with building up an economy and developing your level of technology before taking the fight to your opponent, although you have to be quick, as the multiplayer game is based around matches which last only a few minutes.
The Steam version of Prismata will release on March 8th, and will feature revamped artwork and sounds, as well as the new single player mode. It’s been a long time coming: Lunarch Studios was founded way back in 2010, and the last eight years have been spent on perfecting the design. Along the way, Prismata’s early version has already gathered thousands of players. The Steam release was made possible by a Kickstarter campaign which raised $140,000 back in 2014. The announcement of the funding campaign went viral on Reddit, and the game received the backing of poker plyer Mike “Timex” McDonald. If you can’t wait until March 8th, then be sure to check out some other strategy games we’ve been covering on Indie Game Website.