What is False Hearts XCG?

Genre

An XCG (expandable card game) that supports 2-6 players.

Game Summary

An expandable card game with a dark fantasy setting where a party and a boss battle for supremacy of the battlefield. As players progress through the game the lore of each boss will be revealed through memories written on their false hearts.

Player Experience

A player may choose to play as a class or a boss. Players create a grid using battlefield cards. Players move their cards upon the grid to engage in combat, selecting skills from their skill cards to battle each other.

Target Audience

Without heavy or complicated ideas and intuitive-to-grasp mechanics, this game is marketed to casual players who are up for a challenge. The game was designed for casual “kitchen table” play, this means that you can play however you’d like as long as you abide by the core mechanics of the game. The game also features a scaled health system that will give card game veterans a more advanced challenge and add to the replay value.

Gameplay Overview

The playgroup selects which players will play as party members and which player will play as the boss. Parties consist of 2-6 players who select a class to play. The goal of the party is to defeat the boss to reveal their true heart. The goal of the boss is to defeat the party.

Each boss holds three hearts; a true heart, and two false hearts. False hearts are hidden among battlefield cards. During the game both the party and the boss may search for and destroy these false hearts. When a false heart is destroyed, a memory that is attached to that false heart is chosen. That memory is then activated and may have a positive, negative, or neutral affect on the players or the grid itself. False hearts do not have to be destroyed to win but they must be revealed. However, players may miss out on beneficial effects and story information if they choose to ignore them.

Inspiration

Video games such as Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring are the main inspiration for the overall dark fantasy style and tone of False Hearts. Rather than telling you a story, these games feature snippets of lore built into the environment and items.