Frequently Asked Questions

No. Elowyn runs directly in your web browser — no download required. For now, the best experience is on desktop browsers.

You can access the game directly through our website here, open the game in your web browser, create an account and start playing.

Not yet. A mobile version is planned for next year. The current build is optimized for desktop.

The game is designed as a freemium experience to make it accessible to a wider audience. You can get started with gameplay without providing any payment information. Our freemium model also allows you to accrue EWA Points by winning matches, which you can utilize to purchase card packs and upgrades.

Your in-game purchases support us to continue developing and evolving Elowyn with ongoing benefits for the community. Our game economy is purposefully designed to grow as a community-led ecosystem that can catalyze positive transformation in real-world economies, and in support of the Earth.

Yes. All early stage players begin with access to all Heroes and their unique Hero cards within the Alpha build that is live and playable for free now.

Elowyn is a web-based collectible card strategy game (CCG) where players join the quest for humanity’s last civilization. The antagonist is Moloch — an archetype of zero-sum, win-lose domination shaping human societies and emerging AI logic. Players choose to be a Guardian (protecting the Elowyn Tree) or a Shadow Arc (serving Moloch’s domination).

Elowyn forms part of the EARTHwise AI Alignment Arena, where gameplay actively tests and tunes AI Agents to shift from zero-sum defaults and deception to win-win behaviors and deception resistance. This is how your gameplay directly helps shape intelligences that serve our collective wellbeing rather than Moloch’s zero-sum rules that are still dominating human societies, as well as many games.

Moloch is a system archetype of zero-sum, win-lose logic that serves the benefits of a few by prioritizing their short-term selfish gain over our long-term collective wellbeing. Elowyn exists to help you recognize and transform these patterns to build a win-win world for humans, intelligences, and Nature.

The idea for the game came to our founder, Dr. Anneloes Smitsman, in early 2021 while she wrote Return of the Avatars, the second book of the Future Humans Trilogy, which she co-authored with the renowned author Dr. Jean Houston. In the stories of the future humans, the game evolves from a Cosmic Compass that Rose, the main character, sees in her dreams to navigate through our turbulent times. Anneloes has since applied her Cosmic Compass design to numerous governance frameworks, including the EARTHwise Constitution for a Planetary Civilization and the Participatory Framework for creating a Global AGI Constitution.

Elowyn is currently in Beta development, with Milestone 1 of five completed. The public Alpha is live and playable for free via the website while this work continues. Public Beta is scheduled for Q2 of 2027, and the official release of the Master version for Q4 of 2027. Beta features are added as development progresses. Stay tuned for these thrilling updates.

To learn more, read our Whitepaper.

EARTHwise is the name of our brand, which is a collaborative ecosystem of organizations and movements that work together for the transformation of our societies based on our collective stewardship for the Earth and future generations. The name EARTHwise means to become wise like the Earth. Elowyn was first developed through EARTHwise Centre, our non-profit company based in Mauritius. You can learn more about who we are and what we do via our website.

Get in touch with us via support@earthwise.games if you’d like to join our team, and let us know what your skills and experience are and how you believe this will bring value to Elowyn and EARTHwise.

Yes, we’re building the game community via our Discord and Telegram channels. By joining our community, you can meet new friends, learn from the best, get insider tips for your gameplay strategy, be the first to hear news, have conversations with the team, and also give us input on the game development. Join us here.

The game is turn-based. Each turn has four phases:

1. Draw Phase
2. Play Phase
3. Combat Phase
4. End Phase

A virtual coin flip decides who starts. The player who goes second receives a Coin card, which grants one extra mana for a single turn to offset the disadvantage of not playing first.

• Heroes: your main character.
• Minions: cards played on the board that can attack opponents and defend your Hero.
• Spells: cards with one-time effects such as damage, healing, buffs, deception, or time manipulation.

The match runs on a 12-segment clock controlled by Moloch. It starts at 6 o’clock. If it reaches 0, Guardians win. If it reaches 12, Shadow Arcs (Moloch) win.

Through card battles, card effects, deception mechanics (activate & reveal), and certain Hero powers (Kairos, Arcon). Guardians reverse the clock; Shadow Arcs advance it. There are three ways to move time:

1. Play cards with time-advantage rules.
2. Move time by triggering deception as a Shadow Arc, or countering it as a Guardian.
3. Use the time-advantage Hero powers of Kairos or Arcon.

Time combined with Tree healing. It’s the only win-win condition that also earns Reputation Points and maximum rewards — the others cost you more than they give. When Elo, the Tree, is killed, nobody wins and the match ends in a draw.

By reversing the clock from 6 to 0 o’clock. Successfully countering a Shadow Arc’s deception gains 1 hour in the Guardian’s favor. Healing Elo earns Reputation Points and unlocks greater abundance.

By playing cards with a time advantage rule, and using combo and synergy cards that amplify the time rule effect — like playing Aleph’s Cosmic Serpent card combined with code combos. By countering deception, you also instantly reclaim 1 hour. You can also reverse time quickly by playing Kairos and using his Hero power, which gains you 1 hour each time.

By advancing the clock from 6 to 12 o’clock. A successful deception gains 1 hour in Moloch’s favor, and cards with time rules work for Shadow Arcs too.

Yes. Win by forwarding time on the Clock without attacking the Guardian’s Hero in combat, and heal the Tree when you can. This strategy also earns you Reputation Points.

Shadow Arcs can trigger deception via their Hero power (Nyx) or deception cards. When triggered, a screen opens where the Shadow Arc can suggest to their opponent to play ‘offensive’ or ‘defensive’, and choose whether to be truthful about it.

This shows up as a bark next to the Shadow Arc with the suggestion to the Guardian. Clicking ‘Truthful’ produces a 👍 emote next to the bark; switching Truthful off produces piercing eyes 👀 next to the Shadow Arc’s suggestion. But there is always a 50% chance that the emote will show a ❓, leaving you in doubt.

If the Guardian falls for the deception, time moves forward in the Shadow Arc’s favor.

The Guardian must interpret these signals and respond accordingly, using visual cues displayed in the bark (speech box). Read the Shadow Arc’s suggestion, then pay close attention to the emotes:

• 👍 Truth
• 👀 Lie
• ❓ Doubt

Use Deception reveal cards like Owl, Diego, and Truthseeker, or use your intuition when faced with doubt.

Now that you know how to respond, use the different card types to influence the outcome. Look for these icons on the left of your card frame:

• Red icon = Offensive
• Blue icon = Defensive
• No icon = Even / Neutral

The combination of cards played determines the final result. For example, one offensive + one defensive = neutral outcome. Exception: a defensive card used to attack a Hero counts as offensive.

• Correct Guardian response: gain 1 hour, clock reverses.
• Neutral response: no time change.
• No response at all: lose 1 hour to Moloch (penalty).
• Falling for deception: time moves forward by 1 in Moloch’s favor.

Start by reading the emote next to the bark to understand the Shadow Arc’s intention. When in doubt, like when the ❓ appears, use your deception reveal card(s) from your deck.

Once you know what’s expected — offensive or defensive, and whether it’s a truthful suggestion or not — choose your cards accordingly. Remember: neutral play holds time still when in doubt, but no play at all leads to a penalty of 1-hour loss on the clock. Play the deception tutorial for further practice.

Minions with Block must be defeated before you can attack other minions or the Hero behind them.

Add cards with ‘move time in your favor’ rules (like Time Ranger, Fortuna, Raven Boon), healing cards (like Sophia, White Buffalo, New Time, Kalunga), and deception-reveal cards (like Owl, Diego, Truthseeker) — then build around your Hero’s power.

Add cards with ‘move time in your favor’ rules, ‘deception activate’ cards (like Medusa, Time Thief, Dark Code), cards that trigger gain when deception succeeds (like Anansi, Trickster Gift), and board-lock spells (like Time Prison of Vendra, Moloch Maize of Arcon) — then build around your Hero’s power.

30 cards per deck. Up to 2 copies of non-Legendary cards. Only 1 copy of each Legendary card. Up to 15 decks total.

Combo, Tempo/Rush, Control, and Burst. Each Guardian and Shadow Arc favors different styles.

XP (for leveling), EWA Points (in-game currency), and Reputation Points (conditional on win-win play and relevant to climbing the leaderboard).

EWA Points are the in-game currency earned by playing. Reputation Points are earned only by winning wisely — through time, not Hero kills.

By winning through time mechanics (which advances your Leaderboard standing) and by avoiding destructive Hero combat. The top 100 players on the Leaderboard receive monthly seasonal rewards.

Because how you win matters. The healthier Elo is when you win, the more EWA Points and Reputation Points you receive, to acknowledge how your actions contribute to the abundance of all.

You can still earn Tree Health Bonus Points and Reputation Points on a loss or draw — but only if you healed the Tree during that match. No base points are awarded on a loss or a draw.

You earn rewards from a limited number of matches per day. Once stamina runs out, you can still play — just without currency rewards. You can also purchase more stamina through the in-game shop every 24 hours.

The maximum player level is 100, earned through XP gained at the end of matches. The game mode you play determines how much XP you receive.

No. Elowyn is Play-to-Thrive — not pay-to-win or play-to-earn. The design rewards conscious strategy, win-win thinking, and understanding interdependence over zero-sum aggression. Cards you have earned and upgraded can be minted and traded, but no card can be bought into a winning position.

You can upgrade your cards in your ‘Collection’ tab. Select the card you want to upgrade and click on the ‘Upgrade’ button.

When you upgrade, you are basically fusing cards together. This grants you both alternative card statistics or alternate rules to choose from, depending on card type and level, and cosmetic upgrades.

Plain — Awakened — Ascended — Mythic — Eternal.

At Eternal level, you will be able to choose a completely new rule for your card, should you wish.

No. Our game design team has been very careful to grant players with upgraded cards strategic advantages without overpowering their deck.

You can mint any upgraded card in your collection through the ‘Mint’ button, once you reach 500 RP (Reputation Points). Your RP also determines your rank on the leaderboard and thus influences your monthly season-end rewards. At season-end, your RP is reset, and rewards distributed.

You can list your NFT on the Elowyn Marketplace or on OpenSea.

You can use the same email and login method as you use for the Elowyn Game.

You can keep playing with your NFT card until it is sold, but you cannot upgrade a card that was already minted as an NFT.

When you burn a card, you will gain EWA Points, which you can use to purchase new card packs through the Elowyn Shop.