Exactly 2 weeks after The Witchwood expansion’s initial release date, Hearthstone‘s latest singleplayer experience, Monster Hunt, has released to the card-hungry masses.

The Witchwood Calls:

Four heroes to the Witchwood went
To hunt a monstrous foe
So brave and true was their intent
And still they were brought low.

One brought his guns, one brought his hounds
One brought a bag of tricks
One twisted time, round after round,
And still their plan was nixed.

Four heroes to the Witchwood went
But darkness soon did fall
The hunters now the hunted were
And the Witchwood claimed them all.

As we have reported before, the new mode is very similar to the previous expansion’s Dungeon Run mode but features 4 playable character options based on the Rogue, Warrior, Hunter and Mage classes.

Starting with 20 health is the Rogue-based player hero, Tess Greymane:

With her ability Scavenge, using quick Sinister Strikes makes it easy to dispose of the early-round monsters. As you progress, this ability combined with the expansion’s new Echo mechanic makes for intense and potentially long-winded combos.

Following the workings of the Warrior class is the Cannoneer, Darius Crowley:

At the start of each hunt, Cannoneer players will see their trusty cannon spawn on their side of the monster field. Having no attack or health, the cannon cannot be targeted and is only activated by using the hero ability. This ability with optional upgrades can keep your monster opponent’s side of the field laid to waste as you gather your forces.

Bringing a fresh perspective to the Hunter class is Houndmaster Shaw:

His hero ability features the newly introduced Rush mechanic that serves as a Charge for minion-to-minion encounters. Using 1/1 Bloodhounds in Monster Hunt provides the player with kamikaze-style board clearing moves.

Finally, Time-Tinker Toki is the Mage-based character with an ability that many players will wish they could use consistently in Ranked play:

With her time-tinkering ability, players can reset their turn if an initial strategy did not pan out as planned. This especially comes in handy as you travel deeper into the Witchwood dealing with tougher monster opponents.

Recently departed game director, Ben Brode revealed in this Shacknews interview that the Hearthstone team had been wanting to create an expansion set in World of Warcraft’s Worgen starting area of Gilneas for quite some time. He recounts that the team started with the idea of a murder-mystery set within the city but decidedly settled on moving the conflict outside of the city where players will ultimately encounter the reason for everything going haywire in the woods:

Proving to be more than just Dungeon Run 2.0, Hearthstone‘s new Monster Hunt mode is an evolution on what Brode mentions in the previously mentioned interview: the “I can’t believe this happened to me” moment. The designers have expertly mixed classic Hearthstone difficulty with a showcase of the potential madness that results from new expansion cards as well as the freshly-introduced Echo and Rush mechanics.

Players can play through Monster Hunt for free today, and they should note that daily quests related to the new mode reward a Witchwood card pack as well.