KeyForge, the Unique Deck game from acclaimed designer Richard Garfield landed some years ago now with an explosive release. 2018 saw the game's full release and I was playing it, pretty much all of my local store was playing it, and it seemed everyone was giving it a shot. Then, in late 2021 it was announced that KeyForge's algorithm for building new decks had broken.

KeyForge // Ghost Galaxy

Being pretty integral to the unique element of this card game, all further releases were put on hiatus and the game sat idle. It also didn't help that the pandemic of the last few years had put a kibosh on anyone sitting together in close proximity to play a tabletop game. A pretty perfect storm of misfortune for Fantasy Flight Games and Asmodee.

That is where Ghost Galaxy has stepped in. Announced this week, Christian Petersen's (founder and former CEO of Fantasy Flight Games) new company has now got the licence for KeyForge and is working to get it back into fighting form so that it can return to the tabletop.

KeyForge - Dark Tidings // Ghost Galaxy

A new software engine is being developed by Ghost Galaxy to take over the role of the original one, allowing new decks to be collated and printed. This is no easy task and the engine still has a few months' worth of work needed to get it all fired up but this could be the sign that people needed to start digging out their KeyForge decks again.

A new commercial release plan is being worked out by Ghost Galaxy to relaunch the game and the last expansion that never got to see the light of day. This comes alongside a promise to revamp the organised play system to make it easier to sit down and enjoy.

KeyForge - World's Collide // Ghost Galaxy

I really hope that Ghost Galaxy can get this off the ground. I enjoyed KeyForge immensely and whilst I only had a few decks, I found it to be a lot of fun to sit down and play with friends in the pub or at my local store. It was also really neat to see people who had never played a card game before, diving in and playing KeyForge because of its approachability.

No deck building was needed and you could simply dive in and start playing without having to obsess over too many rules. Everything was on the cards and in theory, each deck should be balanced. Sure, that's not always the case but you were encouraged to dive in and have fun. Its relatively low entry cost made it pretty easy to just buy into as well. Got a duff deck? Drop a few quid and you've got a new one to work out.

Another big bonus that came out of the announcements was localised versions. Ghost Galaxy is testing the waters to see how viable it would be to make cards in different languages. The core focus though is on the English-language re-release.

I am stoked for this news but it will be interesting to see when KeyForge makes its re-debut!