Unique card-RTS game Prismata now has a free-to-play mode

'Non-collectible card game' Prismata is coming along according to plan, and that plan involves it launching its free-to-play component today. Prismata is a hybrid of card game, board game, and RTS all about managing the order in which you play cards versus how your opponent plays their cards. Its strategy is like picking a build order in an RTS, but one where you know what your opponent has on the table—it doesn’t fit easily into contemporary videogame genre conventions.

Prismata bills itself as a non-collectible card game, but I’m not sure it’s a card game, not that I particularly care about genre in this precise moment. I found Prismata quite fun when I looked at it just a short while ago, and fun is more important than genre. (At least in this moment, at this time. Check back with me next week.)

While Prismata is still in Early Access as a whole, today is the first time the free component has been available. The story-driven campaign remains $25. You can play Prismata over on Steam.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.