Cards And Tankards Review - The Best VR Card Game On Meta Quest and PCVR

At first, I thought that the idea of a VR digital trading Card Game was unnecessary and kind of stupid. Why add VR controls to a digital card game when you can represent the same mechanics with a flat screen and a mouse, or even a phone?

After experiencing this game I realised I was dead wrong.

Cards and Tankards is the BEST VR Card Game around, and in this review, I'm going to tell you why. I first came across this game when researching the possibility of writing an article over at realityremake.com about the Best VR Card Games.

A game of Cards and Tankards

While I did find some other good examples of VR card games, none kept my interest quite as much as Cards and Tankards, and none fits the mold of what I'd consider a Virtual Reality card game nearly as well. Cards and Tankards VR is exactly what you would expect of a VR Card Game. You draw cards and use your available mana to play creatures and cast spells to defeat your opponent by draining their life points to 0. It’s the classic competitive card game formula but in VR.

Cards and Tankards can be played against the AI or competitively against other players and features quite a few different cards that you can put in your deck to use during your matches. They even recently released a whole new set of them.

You can get new cards from packs earned with the currency you receive by playing games, win or lose, and you can customize the starter decks you receive in the game and even build your own from scratch. There are all sorts of combinations that you can pull off with the right cards. You might call Cards and Tankards “VR Hearthstone” and I’m sure somebody out there has, but there are many notable differences between this game and Blizzard’s.

In Cards and Tankards you end the turn by flipping over an hourglass

A Game That Makes You Feel Like You’re Actually Playing Cards With Someone Else

Before I talk about the mechanics of Cards and Tankards I'll start with what makes this a truly unique in the trading card game scene, and that's that it can be played entirely in a VR headset. It can also be played without a VR headset for those without one, but for this Cards and Tankards VR review I'll be talking about how the game feels and plays when tried as originally intended, in Virtual Reality.

What's best about playing Cards and Tankards is how much more immersive the entire experience feels when compared to playing a digital card game on a flat screen. Since the release of Hearthstone, there have been a lot of digital card games, but none has captured the feeling of playing a game with another person at a table like this VR game has. The addition of VR makes Cards and Tankards feel like you're actually at the table with someone else.

The open mic and casual communication with your hands that you can do in Virtual Reality gives the whole experience a sense of presence. It feels like you're placing cards down across the board from another person. It's also very easy to find a game, easier than in real life, because you can play with people far away, and I never had to wait more than thirty seconds or so in the queue to find a match. I often found a game instantly.

Playing a creature in Cards and Tankards VR

Everyone I played with was really friendly too, and a casual conversation about the game we were playing naturally ensued during each match. Instead of relying on emotes to convey each player's experience of the game, you can just talk and gesture casually like you are really there.

The hand controls that VR provides also translate nicely to the actions that you take when playing the game. Your cards float above your left hand and can be plucked out and placed on the board with your right hand. Actually performing this action instead of clicking and dragging on a flat screen felt really right to me, and then seeing that action play out with 3D animations and models looked great as well.

The sense of spectacle and that you really are doing magical things with the cards you are playing come across much better in VR. To attack you have to actually grab one of the 3D models of your creatures on the board and place it in the attack position, and gesturing and pointing to designate targets for spells feels great as well. Some creatures even come with activation abilities that you use by tapping them on the head. You end your turn by grabbing and flipping over an hourglass instead of just clicking a button.

These all sound like little things, and at first, I thought they were inconsequential fluff, but the more I played the game the more I realized that all of these little touches serve to make you feel like you really are at the table just like the ability to freely talk and gesture to your opponent does.

You can even walk all the way around the table if you want to and see the game from multiple angles. It's really great.

Look at that game board

Looking at the game is also a pleasure. The developers over at Divergent Realities didn't miss the opportunity to use your immersive VR view of the game board to add some spectacle.

Your creatures on the board are actual 3D models, and have death and attack animations that play out with the action. It's a lot more satisfying than seeing a number go down and an icon on a screen explode. Spells create wisps of magic and fire through the air as they hit their targets. I always enjoyed looking at the effects of my cards on the board.

The Gameplay Mechanics Of Cards And Tankards

Now that I've fawned over how much I love the execution of a VR card game and the immersiveness of it all, let's talk about how Cards and Tankards actually plays.

To summarise. You get an additional maximum mana each turn, and each player starts with thirty health. The first player to have zero health loses. You play spells and creatures with mana each turn, and each creature has a damage and health value. If a creature’s health goes to zero it perishes.

Each turn after you play your cards until you don’t have the mana to play more you can attack with all unexhausted creatures and then end your turn. Creatures are exhausted right after you play them and after you attack or activate them. If a creature is blocked it and the blocking creature fight and even if the attacker survives it doesn’t do damage to your opponent.

Your opponent blocks with their creatures and then their turn starts when they’re done blocking. They do the same thing you just did, play cards, and then attack if they want to. Over and over until someone’s health hits zero.

Hitting an enemy with a spell

Hopefully that gives you some idea of how Cards and Tankards is played. There are clearly some elements borrowed from other card games, but the end result is a unique set of gameplay mechanics that is still very accessible and straightforward to understand.

The tutorial also explains things very well, though there were a few gaps in what it teaches you, like the maximum amount of creatures on the board (10) or what the maximum mana cap is (also 10). Cards and Tankards feels even more unique when you get into deck building and the difference between factions.

I'm very proud to report that the starter decks are actually really viable. I racked up quite a few wins without even modifying them.

I also found myself opening quite a few card packs. While progression does inevitably slow down, I was getting a lot of in game gold from the Quest system, all the games I was playing, and the free battle pass for the current season. I was opening quite a few packs without spending a single penny. Not enough to create entire decks from scratch, but enough to introduce some new cards and keep things interesting.

Deck building is also fun in this VR card game

If you want more specific cards you can also see what's for sale in the public tavern at the bar. Also while you're there you can hang out with and play games against others, or just watch players that are much better discuss the current meta and play against each other.

The social aspect of Cards and Tankards comes alive even more if you play in the public tavern, and I think this VR game benefits so much from having a public space where you can just hang out, share decklists, and play some casual games.

So Cards and Tankards, at least for now, doesn't have the problem that a lot of trading card games have. That is, to be able to have a chance against more experienced players you have to buy a lot of cards, copy somebody else's deck list, and then figure out how to play the deck. Sure you can do all of that, or make your own, but you don't have to. You'll start out with four mostly viable decks.

I played quite a few ranked games before making this review and won more than I lost, even against opponents with custom made decks. Personally, I had the most success with the first one you get, the Plundering Guild.

The Plundering Guild can enhance cards with coins, like you saw earlier, and has a lot of cards that buff cards in your hand before you play them.

The Dungeon Master faction gets a “Master” to represent you on the board

The Dungeon Master faction focuses a lot on combos and direct damage cards to burn away your opponent's health or slowly gain control of the board. I especially love that you actually get a Dungeon Master creature on the board that shares a health pool with you, giving you as the player a direct representation as a creature on the board. Also, some of them have some really great abilities.

The Augur Order faction has a special mechanic where they can use contract spells which have a constant effect on the whole game as long as you meet the requirements for it. Like their best spell of all those I tried, which makes all of your creatures deal damage equal to their health, as long as you have three creatures with more health than attack on the board. With a lot of high health, low damage creatures, this card is really powerful and can tip the balance of the whole game. Additionally, they can place a card in their hand at the bottom of their deck in order to draw a new one from the top of their deck once a turn. This gives the Augur Order a lot of flexibility.

The last faction is the Wild Horde. I played this one the least since I had no idea what their signature mechanic was and it was never tutorialized. Turns out the Wild Horde can “Reserve” a card each turn for an additional mana on that turn. This card is then placed in that player’s reserve of cards. The Wild Horde has many card synergies that complement reserving, like giving cards in your reserve bool power bonuses or playing them outright. In addition, they do also have some pretty unique cards and seem to focus a lot on buffing creatures to deal a lot of damage, and drawing and playing a lot of creatures to overwhelm your opponent.

The only reason I realized how the Wild Horde’s and Augur Order’s unique mechanics function is due to comments from readers and watchers of Reality Remake. Thanks to them, though this does, unfortunately, highlight that Cards & Tankards should really have better ingame tutorials to explain these factions.

Playing the Augur Order’s best card

There is so much more to talk about in this game. Entire books have been created to cover the ins and outs of card games and as in depth as I like to make my reviews, I can only scratch the surface of the intricacies of a VR trading card game as enjoyable as Cards and Tankards in a single article.

No VR Game Is Perfect

I do have a few minor gripes with Cards and Tankards VR. Some of the models and animations, as much as I like them, do miss opportunities to be more impressive.

I wonder what sort of spectacle this game could be if the developers really went all in on the effects and made the animations for creatures a little more expressive. Mostly they just whack each other. If I have a wizard creature on the board I'd rather they throw a fireball or something instead of just swinging their staff to do damage. The presentation of the board is still leaps and bounds beyond what a non VR card game looks like, but it could be even better.

The same goes for the sound. It's a little basic and could use some more love. Though overall the presentation is on par with other quality VR games on the Quest. You also can't see how many cards are left in your deck exactly, though you can estimate based on looking at it. It would be nice to know the exact number when a game really drags on.

It would also be nice to have an easier way to share decklists between players instead of having to manually copy another player's decklist from their collection menu. Lastly, the VR controls aren't always the best. Often your hands will clip into the table temporarily or something on the board will be frustrating to grab for a few seconds. This never killed the pace of the game for me, but was a minor annoyance.

The VR hands that you get in this game sometimes feel awkward. This is all really minor stuff that could easily be changed in the future.

You can hang out in the public tavern any time in Cards and Tankards

My biggest takeaway from this game is an even greater appreciation of the immersion that Virtual Reality can bring to all sorts of experiences.

Playing a card game in VR is a much more personal and enjoyable experience than playing with a faceless, wordless stranger on a flat screen. I've had a lot of fun against so many different opponents and felt like I was really there playing this card game with them. Cards and Tankards is free, so if any of this sounds remotely interesting, and it probably does if you've made it this far in the article, give the game a try.

I haven't spent a penny on it and I've had a ton of fun with it. You can find Cards and Tankards on the Meta Quest Store and Steam for the low price of zero dollars. There's a great tutorial to explain all of the nuts and bolts, and finding a game was always really easy. It's clear a lot of people enjoy Cards and Tankards from the fast queue time alone.

Enjoy yourself out there in VR, and hopefully, you'll also enjoy the best VR card game out there.

The 5 Best VR Card Games That You Can Enjoy On Meta Quest and PCVR

I never thought of Virtual Reality as a good way to play card games until I actually tried a few. As with so many genres in VR, I was very happy to be proven wrong by some of the fantastic VR card games that are available.

So much so that I’ve even decided to compile this list of the best VR card games around for you to try. Some are free, some are paid, but all are great examples of how card games, Virtual Reality 3D immersion, and good hand controls can make you feel like you really are playing cards with other people at a table.

I found competitive VR trading card games, and more classic games like VR poker, and they’re all in this list. Here are the best card games that you can play in Virtual Reality.

Cards and Tankards

The Cards and Tankards Logo featuring the newest card set at the time of writing

Cards and Tankards is the purest example of a VR card game out there. I had an absolute blast playing it and met some very friendly opponents along the way. Card and Tankards has cards to collect, decks to build, and most importantly both AI and human opponents to play against with those decks entirely in Virtual Reality.

Cards and Tankards is its own card game too, with its own cards, mechanics, and most significantly VR hand interactions that you use to play and use those cards in the game. It’s very reminiscent of Hearthstone, but not closely enough to be considered a direct copy. Cards and Tankards has its own strategies, balance between cards, and gameplay mechanics that make it significantly different from any other card game.

However you’ll find some similarities between this VR game and flatscreen card games like Hearthstone. For instance, a “Deathrattle” type ability that plays when a card is destroyed on the board that functions the same as it does in Hearthstone but under a different name. Still, if you want a Hearthstone VR game then Cards and Tankards will deliver on that and also have some fresh new twists to the formula.

This VR Card Game is also pretty fun to interact with and look at. Each unit you play will have a 3D representation on the board, and they all have animations that will play out when they perform the actions you command them to do. I enjoyed the immersion of not only seeing and talking to my opponent but also seeing and physically interacting with creatures and cards on the game board.

Playing a card in Cards and Tankards

Cards and Tankards has everything you would expect from a competitive trading card game but in VR. There is a competitive ladder and progression in the form of currency and card packs to purchase. Oh, and it’s entirely free to play. You can optionally buy additional cards and cosmetics, but you will also receive a lot of currency to get more cards and options just by playing the game.

There are multiple factions in Cards and Tankards with unique mechanics and some core cards that are shared between all factions. You’ll have to beat the AI with each faction’s starter deck to gain access to it, making it so you won’t be clueless when playing against a human opponent with that new deck. I played most of my early games with the first deck you acquire after the tutorial and I won quite a bit even with that.

Flipping the hourglass to finish a turn in Cards and Tankards

I did find that the VR interactions themselves aren’t the most well crafted, with some occasional bugginess and issues with grabbing items, and they’re not strictly necessary to make this game work. You flip an hourglass to end your turn, and I often get frustrated just trying to grab the thing.

The hand control interactions with the tabletop you play the game on are great though. For instance, some cards are activated by hitting their 3D model on the board on the head with your hand. This is basically the same as clicking on that card would be, but adds some fun to the VR world that you’re playing the game in and it was a little touch that I found was very entertaining and added some Virtual Reality flare to the experience. You can even walk around the table to get a different view or check out your opponent’s side of the board.

So Cards and Tankards combines Virtual Reality with the experience of playing a collectible card game. All of the opponents I played against were very nice, and talking to them through the open mic in the game felt a lot like playing a card game in person. So if you want a unique VR card game definitely give Cards and Tankards a try.

It’s also free on Meta Quest and PCVR via Steam, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Demeo

The Demeo Logo

Demeo might be what you might consider less of a “Card Game”, but I had a ton of fun with it and really enjoyed the turn based strategy and variety of cards that each of the game’s classes has access to.

Well, before I get ahead of myself let me tell you more about what Demeo is. It’s a dungeon crawler combined with a card game. There are a number of classes to pick in the game that define the character that you play, which is represented in the dungeon you’re crawling by their piece on the board.

Each class in Demeo has a different selection of stats like maximum health, melee damage, and unique mechanics that each class has access to, such as the armor that the guardian class has, sort of like an extra health pool.

Of course, each class in the game has a different selection of cards to pick from, and there are even extra cards that you can find in chests spread throughout the map. Another favorite class of mine was the sorcerer, who has really powerful spell cards like Zap which stuns an enemy for a turn and can be reused every turn, or fireball that does a ton of damage in an area.

Freezing enemies in Demeo

Once you and your characters arrive in a dungeon it’s a long series of turn based combat challenges to get through the three levels of each dungeon and come out on the other side victorious and covered in gold and glory.

If you really enjoy the Dungeons & Dragons vibe and look and want a VR tabletop card game to play, then Demeo definitely delivers. I found that the turn based combat was fun both solo while controlling an entire party and in multiplayer with each player controlling their individual party member. I did find the constant barrage of combat encounters to be a little fatiguing over time, and my one complaint about this game is that the periods of rest between fights were few and far between.

The strategizing and decision making you do during each combat encounter felt a lot like playing Baldurs Gate 3, except Demeo is much heavier on the combat side of things. Each level of each dungeon is covered in a variety of different enemies, and you not only need to learn the strengths of the cards that your character’s class has access to but also what abilities each enemy uses.

Playing a card in Demeo

The VR controls are also superb and gave me that tactile feeling of controlling my character like I actually would during a tabletop gaming session. I liked just looking at the dungeon board itself, and each is very well made and looks fantastic in Virtual Reality.

For a game that combines dungeon crawling, excellent multiplayer coop, an immersive VR tabletop, and a class based card system that encourages tactical thinking, I recommend Demeo.

There is also a player versus player version of Demeo called Demeo Battles for those who want a more competitive than cooperative experience.

PokerVR And Vegas Infinite

The PokerVR Logo

No list of the best VR Card Games is complete without representation of the oldest sorts of card games to exist, gambling card games. I’m not the biggest gambler myself, though I’ve played poker on quite a few occasions in real life.

Whether you’re already someone who enjoys playing Poker for fun or somebody who just wants a card game to play in Virtual Reality, PokerVR and Vegas Infinite (previously known as Pokerstars VR) are both great VR Poker games. I found both of them to be very similar to the experience of sitting at a real life poker table with strangers and with the added benefit of not losing any real money if I didn’t do well.

If you’re a fan of Texas Hold’em Poker then these two PokerVR games are just what you’re looking for. There are a variety of game modes in either and some small differences that I won’t go into great detail about here. Suffice it to say both of them offered me a fun poker experience, and I really couldn’t pick one to recommend over the other. So I’ll recommend them both.

There is currently a lot of debate about which of these two games is the better one. They are both slightly different, and your preference will likely come down to what you naturally prefer. There are different environments to play Poker in both, and different characters to represent you in the game. If you’re interested in trying your hand at some card game gambling in Virtual Reality then give both of these games a try and see which one you prefer.

Both PokerVR and Vegas Infinite are 100% free!

Tabletop Simulator

The Tabletop Simulator Logo

In case you didn’t know, Tabletop Simulator can be played entirely in Virtual Reality. Though it is PCVR only and will require a way to play VR on a computer, sorry Quest standalone fans. You’ll have to set up Steam Link or Airlink to try Tabletop Simulator.

If you’re not certain what Tabletop Simulator is then it does exactly what it says, simulates a wide variety of tabletop game experiences on a flat screen, or in full immersive Virtual Reality.

Tabletop Simulator is used to digitally play everything from Chess to day long board games, and that includes all sorts of Card games. There are no specific rules to the game. Just a physics engine, and a vast array of customizable pieces for the board. That means you can play with any sort of cards you like, all in Virtual Reality.

You can play all sorts of classics like blackjack or poker in Virtual Reality using this game or even invent a card game of your own to try out. I haven’t found any experience that’s quite so diverse as Tabletop Simulator because the only restriction is your creativity and imagination. Of course, you don’t have to invent your own card game to enjoy it either.

So if you’re looking for more VR Card Games than you might know what to do with check out Tabletop Simulator’s Steam Community page for what sorts of games are available.

Of course, you’ll also have to find others interested in playing your chosen card game, though luckily there are plenty of Discord servers out there with interested players.

The one thing I didn’t like about Tabletop Simulator was that a lot of its diverse options take a lot of additional organization and effort to play both to get into a game and once you’re already at the table. Still, for twenty dollars there are a lot of different card games you can enjoy in VR here.

Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl

The Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl Logo

I’m really torn by Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl. On one hand, it’s a card based real time strategy game that should be tickling every VR satisfaction bone in my body. On the other hand, I also realize that it has some serious issues that make it a very hard game to recommend, and to be honest I just don’t play it much anymore.

Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl is sort of like a VR Clash Royale. You have one side of your map and your opponent has another. Each of you play cards from your hand to summon units and cast spells on the field in order to invade and destroy the other player’s towers and castle on their side of the map.

All of this is on a fully 3D table and with fully 3D units that you can watch fight each other completely in Virtual Reality. This game should be great to me on so many levels.

Crafting cards in Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl

So when I first picked up VR I loved this game as one of the best VR RTS games out there. I played a lot of it but was very disappointed to find that coming back to the game none of my progress was saved. This was a huge bummer because I’d spent a lot of time crafting cards with resources that I won from the many games I had played.

So starting from nothing was a huge bummer for me. What was more of a bummer is that it’s nearly impossible to find a game against another player. I waited for about five minutes before giving up, because I’d never want to have to wait any longer than that to find a match.

So I thought that I could possibly recommend this game as a Singleplayer experience against the AI but well… the AI didn’t take how horrible the starting deck is into consideration. It had better units and stomped me every time despite my experience with the game.

The field of battle in Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl

So I still consider Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl to be a great VR card game, but if there were any better options I’d rather be putting them on this list of the best VR card games.

At the moment there really aren’t, and so despite having the bones of a great game, it’s clear that Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl is dead. I’m leaving this game on this list in the hope that a VR developer might see this someday and decide to create a better version of this concept, and as a monument to fun times I once had in this VR game.

I don’t currently recommend that you buy this game for the price of 9.99$ even if it’s on sale. I’d only recommend you take a peek if it was totally free. Still, it would be much more fun if anyone still played it.

That’s it for the best VR Card Games. I hope you’ve found something here that you like. I’m still having a lot of fun in many of these games, Cards and Tankards most of all. Enjoy!