Artifact
Two different games are driving searches right now: Valve's Dota card game Artifact, whose Steam player count spiked a hundredfold overnight, and Artifact Reforged, a brand-new free browser strategy game that launched November 2, 2026.
Quick pick: want the famous Valve card game? Grab Artifact Foundry on Steam - free, all cards unlocked by playing. Want the brand-new strategy game everyone's searching? Artifact Reforged runs free in your browser at artifactreforged.com, one account across PC, browser and phone.
Why Artifact is trending
Valve's 2018 card game - designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield - usually sits at a few dozen concurrent players. In late October 2026 the count jumped from ~300 to over 10,000 and stayed there.
The spike isn't humans
SteamDB analysis shows the count holding a flat line for 40+ hours and stepping through identical batch sizes (~255, ~510) across separate events - the signature of a bot fleet, not a real comeback.
It's happened before
Similar spikes hit ~14,000 in December 2024 and again in July 2025, each fading back to the ~30-player baseline within days.
Real population
When the bots briefly dropped to zero, the actual human count was visible: around two dozen players. Artifact Foundry's count stays in the single digits.
Reforged launch
A separate game - Artifact Reforged - launched November 2, adding a second wave of searches on the same name.
Artifact Classic vs Foundry vs Reforged
| Version | What it is | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Artifact Classic | The original 2018 release with its three-lane Dota card battles. Valve ended development in 2021 and made it fully free - all cards included, paid tournament tickets removed. | Free |
| Artifact Foundry | The streamlined rework: cards unlock through play only, no boosters. Small but real player base. | Free |
| Artifact Reforged | Unrelated new game by Robert Janes: a persistent real-time strategy game where players found cities, raise armies and race to hold eight Artifacts in one shared world. Launched Nov 2, 2026. | Free |
Artifact Reforged in one minute
Start with settlers and a few troops. Found cities, zone farms and mills, train infantry, archers, cavalry, catapults, scouts and warships - then race rivals across a living map for the eight Artifacts, each granting a unique power.
Persistent world
Everyone shares one living world - cities and armies keep existing while you're offline.
Alliances and betrayal
Form alliances, share sight and armies, negotiate truces - or betray friends when the moment is right.
One account everywhere
The same account works on PC, in the browser and on phone - no separate installs.
Armies need care
Troops tire, need feeding and gain experience; cities need food, rest and defending.
FAQ
Is Artifact free now?
Yes - both Artifact Classic and Artifact Foundry went fully free in 2021 when Valve ended development. Artifact Reforged is also free to play.
Did Artifact really get 10,000 players back?
No - the spike is almost certainly automated. The player curve holds perfectly flat and rebuilds in identical batch sizes, which real audiences don't do.
Which Artifact should I play?
For the card game, pick Artifact Foundry (streamlined, earn-by-play). For something new, Artifact Reforged is the just-launched browser strategy game.
Is Artifact Reforged made by Valve?
No - it's an unrelated game by developer Robert Janes that shares the name. Valve's card game has no connection to it.