Blizzard’s upcoming Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has entered open beta, download now

Hearthstone (teaser 003)

Games maker Blizzard Entertainment, currently a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, has just posted a downloadable beta of its upcoming Warcraft-themed free-to-play strategy card game, titled Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. It’s been in closed beta since August of last year.

The open beta is now available to Mac and Windows users in North America through the Blizzard website. The game is about  lively duels that “evoke the spirit of a friendly match played beside a crackling tavern fire”

Hearthstone focuses on individual matches, with each player using a deck of 30 cards, with additional cards available by winning or purchasing. The game features such iconic characters as Jaina Proudmoore, Gul’dan, Uther the Lightbringer and Thall.

According to Blizzard:

Each player’s card deck centers around a hero representing one of nine iconic Warcraft classes, customized with a set of minions, spells, and/or weapons based on individual strategy and available cards.

Players will be able to hone their skills in practice matches against the computer, and when they’re ready for the challenge, they can take on their Battle.net friends and other players in friendly duels.

To further develop their decks, players will be able to acquire cards by crafting them and by winning or purchasing new card packs. With hundreds of unique cards to choose from, the potential card combinations and possible strategies are endless!

Check out the cinematic trailer.

And this clip which was played at BlizzCon 2013 last November.

The game certainly looks promising, have a look at the below screenshot.

Hearthstone (Mac screenshot 001)

And another one.

Hearthstone (Mac screenshot 002)

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will also launch on the iPad, Blizzard previously confirmed, with the iPhone edition coming in the second half of this year.

You can take Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft beta for a spin by downloading the Mac installer from Blizzard’s website free of charge.