Spellcasters Chronicles is a new MOBA that swaps item shops for deckbuilding, and its beta starts right now

Calling all beleaguered MOBA fans looking for a fresh fix: Spellcasters Chronicles is a new challenger to the genre's duopoly, and its closed beta has just launched on Steam.

Developed by Quantic Dream—known for narrative games like Beyond: Two Souls—the upcoming free-to-play 3v3 action-strategy game has the lanes and towers of the genre titans, but shakes up the formula with a couple of key changes.

Rather than a top-down view, you get an over-the-shoulder perspective that puts you right in the middle of the action. And especially intriguing to card gamers like myself, it's also a deckbuilder in which you can construct and expand a deck of incantations and summons that help shape your strategy. Of course, being a MOBA, the goal is to destroy your opponent's life stone by wresting control over the map lanes and capturing altars to help you build your army.

Let's put the cool mechanics aside for a second though, because what totally steals the limelight in the closed beta trailer are the stunningly expressive character designs and art direction. The hero designs wouldn't look amiss alongside Hades' Greek gods or the legends of Arcane, which is suitable considering the immense scale of the arena battles they inhabit.

The art direction shines brightly as Spellcasters duke it out in aerial duels above the battlefield, summoning in hundreds of mobs, ranging from human-sized soldiers all the way up to Titans, which are lumbering, 40-metre tall monsters that can only be taken down when a whole team works together.

This is the game's first closed beta and it's only running up to and throughout the weekend. Included in the playtest are six playable heroes and one map (Alaya's Mausoleum). The action will come to a close at 9 am GMT/1 am PST/4 am EST on December 8. You can sign up on Steam.

Cast an eye over everything that was announced during the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025 Powered by Xbox Game Pass.