The title should be enough, but yeah. Netrunner. It embodies everything I could have asked for in a trading card game. The distribution format eliminates the stupid randomness of booster packs that saps my wallet dry and leaves me drowning in a pool of common cards and disappointment. The game itself isolates its core mechanics and shields them from the cards themselves. You can always bluff. You can always take risks. You can always do big plays. The cards just facilitate the action.
I haven’t been playing for more than a few weeks and I’m hooked. The cyberpunk aesthetic is captivating and it’s woven into the mechanics so well. It’s quite telling when a game compels you to teach it to all of your friends. That’s the mark of greatness.
But I’m not just here to praise Netrunner. Quintin Smith of Shut Up and Sit Down already has that covered. 😉
No, I’m writing this post because I’m a game designer, and I think that there is a lot in Netrunner that applies to video games.
The Player 3 Blog 