Gwent's upcoming Novigrad expansion adds a new faction and keywords

CD Projekt's Witcher-based card game Gwent is getting a new expansion later this month called Novigrad. Named after one of the largest cities in the North, the expansion will reflect its beauty, wealth, and rotten core with the addition of a new faction, the Syndicate, and a quintet of five new, thoroughly unsavory Leaders. 

Novigrad will also add a new resource to the game called Crowns that can be used to activate the new Fee keyword, enabling powerful abilities on cards that bear it. A second keyword, Profit, opens the door to increased Crowns, as do Crimes, a new kind of card coming in the expansion that can also trigger secondary effects like Intimidate. Bounties can be placed on enemies, and some cards can trigger more powerful abilities if you're able to cover the cost—which doesn't always have to be paid in gold. 

Gwent: Novigrad is set to go live on June 28, and can be preordered now in one of two flavors: With 15 Novigrad card kegs and an Eternal Fire premium cardback for $25, or 20 Novigrad premium kegs and a Spectrial Fire cardback for $52. More cards coming in the expansion can be seen on Facebook

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.