Orb Tactics: Build a Deck, Throw an Orb and Face 20 AI Champions on Your Table

Orb Tactics is a card battle for one player, in a VR headset. You build a deck, meet an AI champion and throw an orb by hand to choose your target. The board sits on a table — in mixed reality on a table in your room, or in VR in front of you inside the headset.

This post explains what Orb Tactics is, how a battle works and who it suits. It is coming soon on aeternusvita.io. You can get notified from the product page when it is ready.

What Orb Tactics is

Orb Tactics is a solo card battler for a headset. The one-line pitch from the listing says it plainly: "Build a deck, face an AI champion in a headset, and throw an orb to aim." The subtitle on the brief is "Solo cards on your table".

The Play copy gives the full idea: "Orb Tactics is a card battle for one player, in a VR headset. You play offline. In mixed reality the board sits on a table in your room. The same battles also run in VR, with the board in front of you inside the headset."

The brief lists Orb Tactics under games, with platforms Meta Quest, Android XR and Web. The status is hosted, smoke PASS. Packages are ready but nothing has been submitted to any store and nothing has been released. It is coming soon.

The game is made by aeternusvita.io. The listing ends the same way in every locale: "Build the deck, throw the orb, and take the next champion."

How a battle works

The brief names the loop directly: build a deck, table battle against AI champions, play cards that spawn units onto the table, throw orbs to target, campaign map, unlock cards.

You build a deck from 150 cards across five factions. Then you meet an AI champion. Champion portraits show who is across the table.

You play a card and a unit miniature appears on the table. The Play copy says: "Play a card and a unit miniature appears on the table."

To choose a target, you throw an orb with your hand. The spell effect follows that throw. The listing puts this as the central mechanic: "To choose a target, throw an orb with your hand. The spell effect follows that throw."

You stay with that table for the battle. There is one board, one opponent, and your hand controls where the orb goes.

150 cards across five factions

The deck comes from 150 cards in five factions. That number is in the brief and in the feature list in every locale.

The Play copy says: "Build a deck from 150 cards in five factions, then meet an AI champion."

Playing a card puts a unit on the table. The feature list says: "Cards place unit miniatures on the table."

The brief does not name the five factions and it does not list individual cards. The scope is 150 cards you use to build a deck. As the campaign goes on, further cards join your set. The Play copy says: "Twenty AI champions wait on a campaign map, and further cards join your set as the map goes on."

The campaign: 20 AI champions

Orb Tactics has a campaign against 20 AI champions. The Play copy says: "Twenty AI champions wait on a campaign map, and further cards join your set as the map goes on."

You meet them one at a time. Champion portraits show who is across the table for each battle.

The brief lists the core loop as campaign map to unlock cards. You build a deck, battle a champion and move on the map.

The listing does not describe the map as branching and it does not promise a particular order. The stated scope is 20 AI champions on a campaign map.

The orb throw

The orb throw is the action that chooses a target. The brief calls it the unique mechanic: "Physical 'orb throw' targeting as the unique mechanic".

The Play copy says: "To choose a target, throw an orb with your hand. The spell effect follows that throw."

You play a card to place a unit, then you throw. Where the orb goes decides the target. The effect follows the throw.

In mixed reality the board sits on a table in your room. In VR it is in front of you inside the headset. You throw by hand towards the table. The battles are against AI champions and you play offline.

Offline draft: an arena sitting for one bout

Alongside the campaign there is an offline draft. The Play copy says: "An offline draft, played as its own arena sitting, lets you pick a deck for one bout."

The feature list says: "An offline draft played as an arena sitting".

You pick a deck for one bout. You do not carry the deck across the campaign map. You draft, sit for that arena bout, and play it as a single session. The brief lists it as "Draft/arena mode offline". It uses the same table and orb throw as the campaign battles.

The listing does not name a time limit, entry cost or ranking. The scope is a draft for one bout.

Daily puzzle boards

The third way to play is the daily puzzle. The Play copy says: "Daily puzzle boards give you a set position on the table. You stay with that table for the battle."

The feature list says: "Daily puzzle boards on the table".

The board is set for you. You get a fixed position on the table and you play from there. There is no leaderboard or reward list named in the brief. The scope is a daily board with a set position on the table.

VR, mixed reality and offline play

The copy opens with: "Orb Tactics is a card battle for one player, in a VR headset. You play offline."

The copy says: "In mixed reality the board sits on a table in your room. The same battles also run in VR, with the board in front of you inside the headset."

The brief lists platforms as Meta Quest, Android XR and Web. Packages are ready but need accounts: a signed Quest APK, a signed Android XR AAB and an HTML5 zip. The web build is hosted and smoke PASS. Nothing has been submitted.

Who it suits

Orb Tactics suits you if you like card battlers you play alone at your own pace. You build a deck from 150 cards, place unit miniatures by playing cards, and choose targets with a hand throw. The rules as listed are compact: deck, table, orb throw, champion.

It suits you if you want a campaign you can work through in sittings. Twenty AI champions wait on a campaign map. Further cards join your set as the map goes on.

It suits you if you like a clear physical action in a headset. You throw with your hand and the spell effect follows that throw. The board is right there on the table.

It suits you if you want short sessions as well as longer ones. The offline draft lets you pick a deck for one bout. Daily puzzle boards give you a set position for that day. Both use the same table.

The brief does not name a specific age group or difficulty setting.

Coming soon

Orb Tactics is coming soon on aeternusvita.io. The product page is where you can get notified when it is ready. Visit Orb Tactics and use the notify option there.

There is no price, release date, rating, review or player count to quote because nothing has been submitted or released. The brief lists release date as not decided, ratings and reviews as none, and price as not final.

If you want the scope before it arrives, the listing is the guide. 150 cards across five factions. Cards place unit miniatures on the table. Throw an orb by hand to choose a target. A campaign against 20 AI champions. An offline draft played as an arena sitting. Daily puzzle boards on the table. In mixed reality the board sits on a table in your room, and the same battles run in VR with the board in front of you inside the headset. Made by aeternusvita.io, coming soon.