REVIEW
Written byMizuni
A good roguelike, clearly inspired by games like Slay the Spire, but with its own combat gimmick that gives you a good variety of combos. However, it lacks a bit of impact and a progression reward.
The combat uses a 5x4 grid, where all of your cards are played on the grid and a certain number of columns/rows are marked. If you select a card that is on one of the marked cells, the enemy performs whatever action is indicated on that cell. However, you can only select 5 cells on the grid, and those 5 cells have to be next to each other, which forces you to think strategically. Your best card is often surrounded by bad cards or is positioned exactly where the enemy is going to perform its most dangerous attack.
It’s a very interesting system with a lot of variety, especially when combined with the different cards each of the 4 characters has. Each character has a completely different deck from the others. For example, one character revolves around giving each card a type, and when you use different types in sequence, they gain bonuses and energy to improve the cards. Another character focuses on applying poison and destroying cards, causing their effects to activate when they are destroyed.
One area where the game falls a little short is in its presentation and the impact. It lacks that feeling that makes you really feel the impact of playing a card, or those unique enemies that stick in your memory afterward (at least for most of the enemies), like some of the bosses in Slay the Spire that are easy to remember.
All of these systems working together are what give the game its complexity, but there are simply too many variables to consider for a single decision, which can end up pushing players away during their first few runs. One way to make this easier would be to provide damage previews and more information before ending your turn, making it easier to understand what is going to happen during the turn.
There are two things I really missed: some way to remove cards from your deck, and some additional form of reward, such as unlocking more cards for each character’s deck, instead of only unlocking characters and difficulty levels.
— Mizuni / Noobsnoplay