Six months after the release of Pokémon Go, The Pokémon Company has come up with a new strategy board game today, Pokémon Duel, without any promotion. Last year, in March the game came out in Japan as Pokémon Comaster but nobody had any idea that it will be available worldwide until today. The game has been developed by The Pokémon Company and HEROZ. Pokémon Duel is now available on Android Play store and Apple iTunes store too. It is free, but it includes some in-app purchase options.
Pokémon Duel gameplay is quite different from the traditional Pokémon experience, but the uniqueness and novelty of it makes it more compelling. It is a tabletop style game where player builds a party of six Pokémons and moves them across a playing field dotted with spaces where the creatures can attack, flank or block their opponents’ armies.
As this is a Pokémon game, there’s lots of battling too and the player who reaches enemy’s goal first, wins. If the player’s Pokémon comes face to face with the opponent’s Pokémon on the board, they battle. In Duel, battles are decided by two different spinning roulette wheels. If a player’s wheel lands on a better attack than the opponent’s wheel, the player wins the battle, and the opponent’s Pokémon is kicked off the board.
Like other Pokémon games, there’s a lot of complex strategies and team-building required, in order to be the best. There are various items to use, varied special abilities, evolutions, and much more. But the learning curve is pretty gentle, and there are tutorials and tips to help the players.
The game can be played as multiplayer in League Match mode and also as solo against the game’s AI. As the level goes high, the player faces more powerful Pokémons. There is a crafting mechanic that allows players to level up their creatures and improve their Data Disks as the game rolls on.
You can download Pokémon Duel on iTunes or the Google Play Store.
