Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project's solo mode features more than 100 diabolical puzzles

YouTube

Hearthstone mission designer Giovanni Scarpati sat down for a new fireside chat today to talk about the Puzzle Labs, a series of singleplayer challenges coming to the game's latest expansion, The Boomsday Project.

In previous expansions, players have squared off against AI enemies in conventional battles with constructed decks, but in the Puzzle Labs it's really more about being helpful—specifically, doing Dr. Boom a solid by solving more than 100 puzzles across four different categories:

Lethal: Use the cards you're given to knock out your opponent in one turn
Mirror: Ensure your board is an exact match of your opponents, including card positioning, health, and attack values
Board clear: Clear everything off the board—yours and theirs both
Survival: Stand up against an onslaught

Puzzles will start off easily enough but increase in difficulty as you go, but the good news is that you don't need to finish one to get to the next: You can go at them in any order you like, switch between them at will, and your progress will be saved.

If you're able to finish them all, you'll earn a one-on-one with Dr. Boom himself, in particularly challenging puzzles across all four categories. Your reward for this undertaking is the Boomlabs! card back—and of course the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that comes from a job well done.

The Puzzle Labs goes live on August 21, and players will get three card packs from The Boomsday Project for logging in once it's begun. If you haven't claimed your free Legendary minion and free Boomsday Project card packs yet, there's still time for that too. Details are up at playhearthstone.com.

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.