The base game blends the fun of a library-building game with the high level of interactivity that comes with collectible card battles.

Each player starts with a personal library of ten cards, which includes both gold for purchase and weapons for combat. Each turn, players can grab five cards from this library to start with, and when the library is exhausted, they shuffle and discard the cards to continue using them. The Market Deck contains eighty cards and is a common deck. Five of them are displayed at the beginning of the game to form the market. As the game progresses, players use gold coins to buy cards from them. They generate more gold to help players in battle or bring about many powerful effects.

Hero Realms is a fantasy-themed, scalable deck-building game. Players can play solo or in groups with friends; customize starting decks for multiple professions; and play scripted battles with cooperative models to gain experience points to strengthen their starting decks.