Temperia: Soul of Majestic, a new card game inspired by Final Fantasy

Temperia

In recent years, we have seen an explosion of online card games. From the most famous ones, such as Hearthstone, Magic Arena and Gwent, to those that take advantage of existing universes, such as The Elder Scrolls Legends, passing through many others that try to stand out with original mechanics or through a setting different from the usual fantasy with elves, orcs and dragons. Among the many there are some based on the Second World War or on the breeds of birds. Precisely for this reason it is increasingly difficult to be noticed and not to be "yet another card-game", but Temperia: Soul of Majestic tries to have its say by combining a clear source of inspiration with a structure designed for streaming platforms and online competitions.

To let us tell the story of Temperia we met the two original creators of the game. Enrico Fedoni and Dario Ferracci (better known online with their nicknames, WolfilLupo and Moonryde) have no particular experience in video game development, they are actively involved in creating content on YouTube and Twitch. In particular, Moonryde is a regular Call of Duty Warzone player and is followed on his channels by hundreds of thousands of people. A few years ago, however, the two decided to create a card game under the name of Moonwolf Entertainment.

The origins and the source of inspiration

Temperia is aesthetically much better than the very first version. Introduced in 2018 under the name of Majestic, the game disappeared from the radar for quite a while only to be relaunched recently in a nicer form and under the name of Temperia. During the interview we were told how the project was blocked due to lack of funds, and people who had promised to finance the game then pulled back. The inexperience of the Italian duo with the creation of video games certainly contributed to the freezing of the project, but thanks to a lucky encounter with the one who later became a financier of the game, development was unlocked and resumed.

Today behind Temperia there is a new publisher, Leonardo Interactive, but above all there is also the work of A2 Softworks, a Polish team that has rewritten the game from scratch, so that it can be brought across multiple platforms and updated over the years.

That said, it's time to talk about what Temperia actually is and how it differs from other card games online. By their own admission, the two authors did not invent particularly original rules, and indeed they took up the basic rules of the Triple Triad. For those who do not know it, Triple Triad was a curious minigame present in Final Fantasy 8, with cards to collect and with which to challenge other characters who met during the adventure, in a way not too different from how it was done with the Gwent within The Witcher.

The minigame was very popular with fans, to the point that Square Enix also included it in the MMO Final Fantasy 14. In Triple Triad the game table was divided into nine spaces, and in turn it was necessary to drop a card in one of these. Each card had 4 numbers, each of which corresponded to one side: if the number was higher than that of the adjacent opponent's card then you conquered his card. In the end, the player with the most cards won was the winner.

Temperia plunders this setting, it is clearly (and deliberately) a clone of Triple Triad, but try to elaborate and deepen some ideas, such as that of elemental bonuses and malus, or by adding some equipment and skills that they can make matches a little more unpredictable. Obviously, the challenge of the team will be in finding the right balance, so as not to make the game neither too trivial nor too complicated.

Perfect for streaming

In addition to the creature cards, in Temperia there will be equipment and an elemental system that add bonuses or penalties to cards. During the interview we were told that Temperia intends to maintain the accessibility of the game it inspires: just watch a game and you immediately understand how it works. At the same time, the intention is to make it suitable for both competitive online challenges and streaming on Twitch, and that's where we move on to one of the most interesting aspects of the game.

While almost all card games are based on the idea that it is not possible to see the other player's hand, in Temperia the cards are played face up. Being able to see the respective cards makes a game of Temperia similar to a chess challenge, with the need to plan a "back and forth" strategy in anticipation of which cards the opponent will use.

Wurgren, one of Temperia's creatures, is devastating when placed to the right of an enemy monster, but its weak point and underside. On a platform like Twitch, playing cards face up can create special dynamics. On the one hand, it could remedy that problem called "stream sniping", which consists in spying on the opponent's cards while he is intent on playing live on his channel. On the other hand, it stimulates you to interact with your community, with the chat which, looking at the opponent's cards, can give advice or suggest strategies. And perhaps this is where Fedoni and Ferracci's experience with communities and streaming platforms can come in handy.

Contents at launch and future support

Temperia's cards have sought a style of illustrations with a "universal" appeal Temperia games should last a maximum of ten minutes, good news for those who love card games but have little time available and just want to have a quick game. The game will also be free to play but, even if precise details are missing, it will have a system of bags, credits, a season pass and a whole series of cosmetic elements, such as the ability to customize the game table or the background. At launch, 216 cards are planned but there is already talk of expansions and updates, to add both new content but also new modes, such as 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3 challenges, obviously within larger game boards.

There is also talk of an arena mode in which you build a deck with cards that are made available for the occasion, and in the end the winner can steal an opponent's card, exactly as it happened in Triple Triad. It does not seem that there will be a story mode or a single-player campaign: this is to avoid fragmenting the community, but also to concentrate all efforts on the competitive one. The details about the world and the characters will however be suggested through the descriptions of the individual cards.

Over time, the developers of Temperia hope to add more and more content, cards and modes to the game, with "limited" sets of cards and other initiatives for the community Temperia will be released at the beginning of 2022 in early access on PC and Mac, and subsequently will also arrive on mobile. In Italy the project will be able to count on the initial push and visibility given by Moonryde and its large following, but clearly the challenge that matters is that of the international market, where the publisher will have to elbow to get noticed in a very saturated market. On the first try, the Majestic project didn't take off, but after being forced to Mulligan, the development team could find themselves with a much better hand with Temperia. We'll see.

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