Speaking to PC Gamer, lead producer Richard Heyne said, “The truth is, to this day we still look back fondly at what our little game achieved, and reminisce with our community on Reddit and Discord. We are even following some Duelyst-inspired games and projects! Through it all, one thought strongly resonated within our minds – people are still talking about Duelyst.

“We are experiencing some major changes in our industry: new technologies and consoles, and even massive consolidations that have occurred over the past couple of years. While only time will tell how these changes will alter the landscape, these shifts can potentially hit indie developers the hardest. That’s why we want to recognize that these developers, be they sole individuals or small teams, are vital for the growth and diversity of our industry.”

With the source code and assets available, this opens the doors for other projects based on Duelyst. It can also assist the modding community in various ways.

“There are no strings attached. All the source code and game assets are for you to use and for the community to leverage how they like. There’s no approval or permission from us, and you can grow, sustain, and monetize it however you would like. Enjoy and have fun!” said Heyne.

Duelyst first launched in 2016 and garnered positive acclaim for its art style and approach to tactics and collectible card games. However, later updates faced backlash due to the balance changes. Counterplay also announced action RPG Godfall around the same time, so it makes sense that resources were devoted elsewhere. Not that Godfall was that well-received anyway, but we digress.

Duelyst would shut down in February 2020, with servers taken offline. Time will tell if the source code’s availability could result in something significant, so stay tuned.

Counterplay Games has been in the news lately for its upcoming action RPG Godfall which will launch for the PS5 and PC. The developer first made its name with Duelyst, a CCG/tactics title that had a fairly positive reception at launch. Unfortunately, it seems the title will be shutting down servers on February 27th.

Server closure means that the online title will be essentially dead next month. If you purchased the in-game currency Diamonds between December 21st 2019 and January 24th 2020, then you’re entitled to a refund. Diamond purchases has been disabled with players having until March 30th to request a refund.

Though it debuted to strong praise, Duelyst would face criticism for its balance changes and RNG-dependent gameplay. It also doesn’t help that competitors like Hearthstone continue to hog the attention while other big names like Riot Games are getting into the genre with Legends of Runeterra. Hopefully things work out better for Godfall when it releases in the holiday season.

Bloodborne

Veterans of From Software’s Dark Souls series were in for something different with Bloodborne. Though combat was mechanically similar, it was faster with the ability to side-step along with dodge-roll. Shields were pretty non-essential, Visceral attacks were awesome and sometimes, attacking foes to regenerate lost health was the best option. For those who’ve never played a From Software game, Bloodborne takes time to properly get a hold of (especially the bosses) but it delivers a rich story, fully-realized world and excellent combat.

You may not have heard of Duelyst, the card-based tactical strategy title from Counterplay Games, but it has a decent following despite being restricted to its own launcher. That will be changing in the coming months though – the developer has announced that Duelyst will be on the Xbox One, PS4, Steam and mobile devices.

Though it hasn’t really dated the game for these platforms, we do know that Duelyst is in private testing on Steam (its last update was in July). Expect it to head there first which should increase its presence among the PC crowd substantially.

Duelyst is free to play and unlike Hearthstone, it takes place on a chess-like board with some really good looking pixel art and backgrounds. This has helped the game stand out in the competitive card game market though it remains to be seen how popular it can possibly get on consoles when it eventually releases.