Humanity, depleting the Earth of its resources, hastily began experimenting with fission and anti-matter.
Catastrophe was unleashed, leading to a mass exodus from their home.
Five Parallel civilizations rose from the remnants of humanity.
After 10,000 years, Earth had healed, and a new energy source beckoned the Parallels back as they vied for control of their ancestral home.
Parallel is a Sci-Fi card trading game where various factions are battling for resources on a long-forgotten earth. A new title which brings in an array of artists and developers from some huge studios including Epic and Riot Games.
There are 5 factions/ Civilizations each with their unique lores.
Earthen, Guardians of Life.
Augencore, Keepers of the engine.
Marcolian, The Crimson fleet.
Kathari, The children of Europa.
Shroud, Harbingers of the void.
There is a fairly long and substantial tutorial to get you through the first mission. You are then given some more missions to be working through which keep you on the right pathway for the early game. While veterans of Trading Card Games may be able to jump straight into its easy to play hard to master style gameplay. Those with less experience will gain great base knowledge here in this early section.
There is also a comprehensive quick start guide which can be found on their website HERE.
Each match is turn-based. You have to balance out the energy you have to play, by keeping early, mid and end-tiered cards. You have to sacrifice cards each turn to build up your energy allowance while also keeping cards you want to place into the battle. Early battles are held against AI in a PVE-style showdown.
Your chosen leader also has various specials as does the opponent's chosen character. This pairs up well with your personally built deck to incorporate your own playstyle in a way that suits you best.
You can see some information about your opponents' circumstances such as available energy and the amount of cards in their hand as standard however some cards may let you see exactly what cards they are holding onto. You can also see their remaining health points and if you don't recognise one of their played cards you can hover over it and get a breakdown of its skills and any other additional information.
Of course, there is only one outcome that we want. That sweet sweet victory! Now getting the first few is fairly straightforward. The AI is well-designed here to be a forward-pushing force but not overbearing. It gently rolls you into the next mission and gets you that taste for victory!
Working through these missions also allows you to unlock some additional cards and start padding out that deck of yours. Nobody likes a skinny basic deck right? The cards here are broken down into loot tiers with the one above landing a nice orange "Rare".
My closing thoughts on Parallel.
Does it change the trading card game genre? Well, no. But is it incredibly fun with an enjoyable storyline? ABSOLUTELY! I used to very fondly play trading card games many years ago when it was in person and with Pokemon or Yugioh cards. This was a great blast back to those days in a game that is easy to play yet a challenge to master. The story was an enjoyable feature I liked. While space Sci-fi might not be for everyone it is a choice I enjoy and found this to be more than just the same old recycled story.
Interested in signing up and getting into some battles for Earth? Head on over to their site and sign up HERE
For their regular updates follow their social media account @ParallelTCG