It’s not Half-Life 3, Portal 3, or anything else ending with ‘3’, but Valve has announced its first new game since releasing Dota 2 in 2013, Artifact. Maybe not what people were expecting, Artifact is Dota-themed card game revealed with the teaser trailer below.

We got a chance to play Artifact, and you can read first details here, but here’s everything we know so far:

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What is it?

A Dota-themed digital trading card game developed by Valve.

What does it play like?

It’s a 1v1 card game that plays out on three separate boards called lanes. Each lane has a tower with 40 health, and you win the game by destroying two of your opponent’s towers.

But instead of playing out minions like something like Hearthstone, you control five heroes, all based on the ones from Dota 2 (along with some new ones). Your heroes are basically super strong minions with a special ability that can be buffed long term, deployed out onto the lanes.

When a hero dies, it takes a turn off, then respawns into a lane of your choice. Weaker Creep minions will also spawn into random lanes at the beginning of each turn, and killing them or opposing heroes will give you gold to spend on items between turns.

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But the turns themselves play out in three rounds, one for each board. Your mana refreshes for each round, and most cards can only be played on the board you are currently on - but some can be played anywhere.

In addition to picking your five heroes, you also build a deck with a minimum of 40 cards. Those cards are mostly spells or smaller creatures to play into lanes. You also don’t directly choose attackers, instead they attack the creature or tower across from themselves (or to the side, depending on a randomly drawn path card).

Frankly, it’s a deep and complex game with a lot of nuance to sum up. But here is the TL:DR: Pick heroes, put them in lanes, attack enemy towers, get gold, buy items to upgrade heroes, play cards to do unexpected things, repeat. It’s unique and challenging and (so far) a lot of fun.

What does it look like?

Like this:

Artifact First Screenshots and Art 21 IMAGES

We also recorded a brief gameplay video that you can see above. Overall, it’s a very attractive and polished game, with lots of detail and loads of new art.

When does it come out?

It’s currently in a private closed beta, but plans to open to the public at the end of 2018. After that, it will come to IOS and Android in the middle of 2019.

Will it be free-to-play?

NO! We know it will still have card packs and be integrated into the Steam Marketplace, but it will NOT be free-to-play. No word on a final price yet though.

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What platforms will it be on?

PC first, then it will come to IOS and Android in the middle of 2019.

Will there be any single-player?

Nope! Apart from playing against the AI, this is a strictly multiplayer game.

Is it like Hearthstone?

Not really. It can be easy to make that comparison on looks alone, and it shares some of the same DNA as Magic: The Gathering with creatures doing combat to attack the player behind them, but it plays very differently in practice. It’s genuinely not a fair comparison.

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When will we learn more?

Good question! We’ll probably start seeing more in August around The International (Dota 2’s huge annual tournament), but it’s hard to say beyond that.

Anything else?

There are a few other things we know about Artifact, though of it is still speculation:

Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering, has been a lead designer on the project since it was started in 2015!

Developer Steve Jaros said on Twitter that there will be “Lore bombs galore,” indicating that Dota’s story or world-building would have a role to play in Artifact. Valve told us that there are over 10,000 lines of voiced dialogue, and characters will interact with each other in unique ways on the board.

The Steam Marketplace will be used, allowing you to trade, sell, and buy cards. There could also be special promo items and cards associated with events/tournaments etc. that would be rarer.

The Workshop will be used, but not a whole lot at the start. Players will be able to upload and download custom art for cards initially, with greater mod support coming later.

Artifact will have built in tournament modes, as well as Sealed and Draft formats.

Dota 2’s IceFrog is not directly involved in the development, but has played the game and enjoys it.

There will be brand new Dota 2 heroes introduced in it.

Tom Marks is an Associate Editor focusing on PC gaming at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter