In Manala, you get every card you can put in your deck from the start. Your gear decides which ones you can play.

When you kill someone, you get to loot their gear. If you die, they can take your gear as well.

It's a small, persistent world. You will meet the player who stole your sword again.

The combat is based on Live-Action-Roleplaying (LARP) rules. You have between 5 and 12 hit points. You'll die often.

Fighting according to LARP rules is a choice. Several cards let you cheat, but at a price that comes back after the combat.

5 classes, 2 sides, 1 map:

• Play as a warrior, mage, healer, alchemist or smith

• Battle for Light (vikings, crusaders, dwarves) or darkness (shadow elves, orcs, religious nutjobs)

• 23 regions to explore: from marshlands to sunless depths to holy monasteries

• Gather materials, forge your own gear and take quests from the people who live there

• Take regions off the other side; each season, the Frog of the North decides the winner

Your sword is made of foam. The monster spider is a guy dressed up in costume. The battle is real.

There is a free demo:

• The first part of the game with nothing simplified. About an evening long.

• In it: 8 of the 23 regions, 2 of the 5 classes (mage and smith), the full card combat system, wounds, merchants and crafting.

• Not in it: other players and area conquest. The demo runs on its own server, so a character you make there stays there.