One of the main features of Battlegrounds, for which we praised this mode so much, is soft monetization. Simply put, you can play it comfortably without paying a penny, unlike other modern games. The game is often compared to online casinos for its monetization and lootboxes. Though to the latter's credit, players can always find out the game's payout percentage. For example, if you read the article https://twinspinca.com/promocode-v-vavada-casino-twin-1/ and decide to get a promo code at Vavada Casino, you can see the RTP of the games beforehand. So when you get the promo code bonus and start playing, you'll be ready for any outcome.
Mercenaries break this principle by offering to stock up on lootboxes. They are not necessary to win, but the very fact of such an insistence on money from the user immediately spoils the impression.
Mercenaries is a mix of Slay the Spire and the original Game Boy Pokémon. There is a world map where you choose which monsters to fight. A battle with a strong opponent can ruin the whole party, but heroes get maximum rewards for winning; a sluggish boar won't hurt you, but the rewards are trifling, and without significant rewards, you might not gain enough power before the final battle.
Also, you build a base, hire new heroes, put them in a deck, and choose with whom to go into battle. This is standard management, but Hearsthone does not need it at all: there is enough fiddling with the cards in the matches themselves, picking around with the deck even before the battle - tedious.
The main disappointment, however, is the battles themselves.
The excellent game design, which once made Hearthstone one of the most popular games on the planet, is here mutilated by completely unnecessary decisions.
Heroes fight in three-on-three squads. You choose one of the fighters and then apply their ability, such as a fireball. This is immediately confusing. Your heroes are cards, and they're already on the table, explaining the game's rules by their existence. It's as if you take an ace out of the deck during a game of Fools, and it starts to fall apart into jacks, queens, and kings.
The most important principle that directly affects the outcome of battles is the sequence of moves. Conventionally speaking, the enemy can kill you with one stroke, but if he moves the second, he runs the risk that he simply won't make it because he'll die. And then the mockery of Hearthstone begins again.
It's clear where these problems come from: Hearthstone's mechanics aren't rubber-stamped, and if you remake it for different genres, you inevitably get these oddities. Mercenaries, however, is useful - the merits of Battlegrounds are particularly evident against it.
