Wild Country is the cozy result of mixing the card game and city-building genres. Developed and published by Lost Native, it tells the story of an animal on a quest to become the next mayor of Sun City. Though it’s forged from an unconventional combination, Wild Country has the potential to establish a fun and competitive scene.
After Mayor Bearclaw announces his impending retirement, he declares that his successor will be decided via a tournament, resulting in the resident animals vying for the position by proving their cunning, skill, and resourcefulness. This kicks off the main adventure for the story where the player-created animal protagonist must start a quest across Big Sky Canyon, challenging all manner of animals to one-on-one city-building battles. While the open world is a hub for discovering quests and customizing your animal (via cosmetics that can be unlocked through gameplay), most of the time will be spent in the aforementioned battles. It’s vital to take part in both facets of the game because questing can earn rewards that will help players build a stronger deck, such as helping the owner of a taco truck and receiving a taco truck pop-up shop card as a reward.
Get BWT in your inbox!
Get BWT in your inbox!
Players can edit their deck while in the open world but once the battle starts it all comes down to skill and luck. Players start with a trio of cards, which can be shuffled back into the deck for replacement cards, and then the battle begins. The two sides will take turns placing cards around their starting hexagonal space, with the goal of raising $5000 before the other player. This is accomplished by placing industrial, commercial, and residential buildings, all of which earn some money each turn. The three types of buildings can affect each other’s values, with commercial districts increasing in value with each adjacent residential district. Conversely, industrial buildings lower the value of residential buildings; relationships that make sense in the context of building a city.
Players can even utilize ‘pop-up’ shops, commercial buildings that provide more cash each turn than a normal commercial building, but they disappear after a couple of turns. These and other buildings can also start mid-battle quests, where meeting the conditions (in the case of a pop-up shop, players must increase the value of the shop using cards and residential buildings) grants rewards, like converting the pop-up shop into a permanent fixture. These quests make battles more dynamic, allowing players to seize an opportunity to swing the odds in their favor.
Players can also use cards that act like spells which can be used to help you or hinder your opponent. A few examples were a card that immediately steals money from the opponent, adding the money to your own coffers, or another that creates a shield around one of your buildings, protecting it from harmful effects. One combo the developer showed off involved using a card to freeze one of your opponent’s buildings, followed by another that destroys any frozen buildings on the field. While the decks used in the preview were fairly straightforward, there’s potential for more tactical and creative playstyles.
The story is not the only method of honing your skills, however, because Wild Country features online PvP battles, both in casual and ranked matches. Competing against other players can earn you card packs, which can contain cards, naturally, but also other cosmetics to make your cute woodland creature one of a kind.
While the developer has entertained the concept of different passive effects for specific animals, there’s still some fine-tuning to do overall. For now though, Wild Country is cute, strategic, and fun: a strong hand that’s sure to win over many players.
Wild Country releases in early 2024 on PC and Nintendo Switch.
