Clear River Games is taking preorders for physical Switch 2 copies of Culdcept BEGINS

Clear River Games is currently taking preorders for physical Switch 2 copies of Culdcept BEGINS. The publisher posted a reminder on Bluesky today showing the physical editions, which will ship later this year. The game itself actually launched digitally on July 16 for both the original Switch and Switch 2, but the physical cartridges are still in production.

Monopoly meets Magic

Culdcept plays like a collision between Monopoly and Magic: The Gathering. You roll dice to move your Cepter around a board, but instead of buying properties with cash, you summon creatures from a custom deck to claim tiles. If an opponent lands on your space, they have to pay a toll or fight your defending creature using their own cards and spells.

It sounds chaotic, and it absolutely is. Omiya Soft created the formula back on the Sega Saturn in 1997. The series has maintained a stubborn cult following across the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS.

Ten years since Revolt

The series hasn't had a new entry in a decade. The last release was Culdcept Revolt on the Nintendo 3DS back in 2016. Neos Corporation, the studio behind the recent Shin chan summer vacation games, co-developed this new installment with Omiya Soft. They brought in hand-painted fantasy art and rebalanced the card mechanics.

The visual upgrade is a massive improvement over the older, somewhat sterile 3D models used in previous generations. The game supports four players online, which is where the real strategy happens anyway. Playing against the CPU is fine to learn the ropes, but bankrupting a real person over a bad dice roll is the core Culdcept experience.

Building a better deck

The deckbuilding aspect is what separates this from a standard board game. You bring a customized deck of 50 cards into every match. Those cards are split between creatures, items, and spells. Finding the right balance is tricky.

If you pack your deck with high-cost dragons, you might not have enough magic to summon them early in the game. If you rely entirely on cheap goblins, your opponents will easily crush them and take your territory. Defensive items help protect key spaces, though aggressive spell-slinging strategies are just as viable. BEGINS introduces a host of new cards to the existing pool, forcing veteran players to rethink their old strategies.

Physical copies and PC plans

The physical release from Clear River Games costs $54.99. They are offering both a standard case and a SteelBook edition. Clear River is based in Sweden and handles a lot of niche Japanese physical releases in the West, including things like the Irem Collection and Gimmick! Special Edition.

If you don't care about having a box on your shelf, you can just buy the digital version right now on the eShop. PC players are also getting a port, with a Steam release scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026.