After five years in development, Skylords Reborn is finally out. The fan project set out to revive unique RTS BattleForge after it was shut down in 2013, and the developers can now proudly say they’ve done just that. BattleForge was a very unique game, a hybrid of card game and real-time strategy that had both PvE and PvP modes. Here’s the official description, from the Skylords developers:
“Skylords Reborn is a fan-made project that revived BattleForge, a multiplayer real-time strategy and collectible card game set in the mythological world of Nyn. As a Skylord you collect cards from different factions of Nyn and build decks to magically summon spells, creatures and buildings that suit your unique play style. Skylords Reborn is not pay to win or pay to progress, and only dedication and mastery will lead you to victory.”
The revived game is completely free on their website, https://www.skylords.eu/. BattleForge was a unique game, one where an out of real-time card composition dictated what you were able to play within the real-time strategy layer. It’s one of those games that history would absolutely forget because it was always online and only online. When the servers were shut down in 2013, well, that was it. Except… for some dedicated fans.
The revived game has everything from the original BattleForge release, though it’s all rejiggered for a completely free economy. Game rewards are instead daily, time-based, and in a single currency—no premium costs involved. They’ve even got official tournaments with in-game rewards going. The Skylords Reborn developers are now going on to start supporting new cards, balance updates, PvE game modes, and PvP seasons.
The best part is that this was all given the greenlight by Electronic Arts. Per the fan developers “We do not expect any help from EA. We have, however, been given permission to alter the existing client and make this project a thing until further notice is provided.” Nice to see a big Corp let the fans preserve a game they loved that’s no longer available, rather than just have it disappear irrecoverably into oblivion like so many others.