Neopets is kicking off its new period by returning to an outdated one: The corporate’s newly-independent management has introduced the creation of a buying and selling card recreation referred to as Neopets Battledome, harkening again to the unique Neopets Buying and selling Card Recreation from the early 2000s. I by no means performed that one myself, however I guess there are a number of 20- and 30-somethings on the market who expertise a sort of full-body time journey every time somebody reminds them of it.
Not like the unique Neopets TCG, which was made by Wizards of the Coast, the brand new card recreation is being made by Higher Deck. That is the identical firm taking rival game-maker Ravensburger to court docket over upcoming CCG Disney Lorcana, if the title sounds acquainted.
Neopets Battledome is ready to hit in 2024, simply in time for Neopets’ twenty fifth anniversary. It’s going to be a two-player TCG that includes “a novel cube fight system, progressive deck constructing methods, and over 20 Neopets to gather”. If the title rings a bell, it is as a result of the Battledome was the place you’d ship your Neopets to combat and die in your title within the browser recreation.
The sport will function “over 250 distinctive items of customized artwork” from a bunch of various artists and you will get a have a look at it for those who occur to be attending this August’s Gen Con. In any other case, you are simply gonna have to attend till subsequent yr. On condition that I think about a number of the individuals who will likely be enthusiastic about this have in all probability been ready for it for the reason that authentic was discontinued in 2006, I suppose yet one more yr is not an excessive amount of to ask.
Neopets is a surprisingly potent idea for me. Like Myspace, Bebo, MSN Messenger, and Smarterchild (the unique and best AI), it looks as if some type of totemic image of a now-buried period of the web. Seeing it someway survive—and escape the embrace of its NFT-hawking former mum or dad firm—and nonetheless have the clout to place out precise, bodily merchandise in 2023 is weirdly touching. It may not have that power which within the outdated days dominated browsers in every single place, however Neopets nonetheless lives.
