Info about Trials of Fire:

Official game description:
Trials of Fire is a tactical, deck-building adventure game set in a fantasy world in ruin.  
Savage combat and tough decisions await in the unforgiving wastelands of Ashe.  
Trials of Fire combines overworld exploration, multi-character combat and loot linked deck-building to create fresh strategic options on every run.  
Content added during Early Access
---------------------------------
9 Playable Heroes  
4 Game Modes + 1 Seasonal Quest  
4 Lore Quests  
345 Skill Cards  
220 Items  
42 Legendary Items  
294 Narrative Encounters  
56 Enemy Types  
14 Bosses  
40 Landmarks  
Issue combat commands to each Hero based on their cards.  
The combination of 3 Hero decks presents new and interesting challenges in every fight.  
Movement and positional play are critical to survival in combat.  
Use powerful card synergies to combine the unique abilities of your three heroes.  
Outside of combat encounters, the party's loadout of weapons, items and gear can be swapped or upgraded.  
New items and weapons are discovered while exploring the vast overworld of Ashe.  
Traverse an immense overworld map and author a unique adventure in a dangerous hunt for resources critical to the survival of Terralin.  
Every journey you take will be a Trial.

Release date: Apr 9, 2021

Categories: Deckbuilding, Tactical RPG, Roguelike, Exploration, Party-based Combat, Hex-based Combat

Feature scans:
- Proton/Linux: score 35; verdict: Minor Tweaks Required; summary: The game works well on Steam Deck after switching to Proton Experimental, indicating a minor compatibility tweak is required. No major issues reported.
- Steam Deck: score 45; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The game is playable on Steam Deck but requires manual configuration (Proton Experimental) and suffers from small text that may hinder readability. This places it in the 'Tinkering Required' category.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $10.00 - $20.00
  - Reasoning: The majority of reviews indicate the game is worth its full price or even a steal, suggesting a higher fair price. However, one negative review describes it as cheap in both price and quality, implying a lower price point is appropriate. Balancing these, the community's fair base-game price range likely falls between $10 (reflecting the low-quality sentiment) and $20 (reflecting the positive value sentiment).
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 20.0h
  - Story completion: 2.5h
  - Session length: 1.5h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: Story/campaign completion: The review explicitly states campaign lengths of 1-2, 2-3, or 3-4 hours; the medium setting (2-3 hours) is taken as typical for a single campaign. Game completion: Another review reports completing each quest on medium difficulty after 20 hours, indicating total time to finish all main content. Session length: A review notes games last 30-120 minutes, and a Chinese review mentions playing for over an hour before tiring; the midpoint of 1.5 hours is used. Endgame: No explicit post-story playtime hours are reported in the evidence, so null.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game demands patience and multiple failed runs to understand its mechanics and unlock meta-progression, after which the tactical deckbuilding loop becomes engaging and addictive.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: After the first several campaigns and gaining meta-progression
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: steep learning curve for deck construction and tactical movement; lack of comprehensive tutorial for deeper mechanics; initial campaigns are punishing; repetitive events and terrain; slow pacing and HP sponge bosses; no external progression to motivate runs
  - Unlock drivers: meta-progression; knowledge of game mechanics; patience and willingness to fail; learning optimal deck strategies for each quest
  - Conditions: solo play; requires patience and reading; managing both deck construction and tactical movement simultaneously; willingness to fail forward
- Player Archetypes:
  - Strategic Deck-Builder Tactician (buy)
    - Motivation: Mastering the deep card synergy system and tactical combat to overcome challenging encounters.
    - Playstyle: Carefully builds synergistic decks for each party member, experiments with class combinations, and enjoys theorycrafting optimal strategies.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: deck-building enthusiast; tactical gamer; theorycrafter
    - Reference games: Slay the Spire; Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition; Gordian Quest
  - Hardcore Roguelite Challenger (buy)
    - Motivation: Overcoming punishing difficulty and achieving mastery through skill and knowledge.
    - Playstyle: Embraces permadeath and high difficulty, learns from repeated failures, and uses meta-progression to gradually conquer harder runs.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: roguelite veteran; hardcore gamer; achievement hunter
    - Reference games: Slay the Spire; Gloomhaven; Darkest Dungeon
  - Casual Story-Seeking Player (no buy)
    - Motivation: Experiencing a compelling story and feeling a sense of lasting progression.
    - Playstyle: Prefers narrative-driven progression and relaxed difficulty; becomes frustrated by permadeath and lack of persistent story rewards.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: story seeker; casual gamer; RPG fan
    - Reference games: Might & Magic Heroes; Divinity: Original Sin 2; Baldur's Gate


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Engaging tactical card combat (weight 0.2): The tactical turn-based combat with card decks is described as engaging, satisfying, and amazing, with a well-designed system that keeps players invested.
- Deep strategic fusion (weight 0.18): Players appreciate the surprising depth from the fusion of turn-based strategy, deck-building, and tactical elements, creating a satisfying blend.
- High replayability (weight 0.17): Players consistently praise the game's high replayability, citing numerous quests, character combinations, and unlockables that make both long and short sessions enjoyable.
- Excellent deck-building (weight 0.16): Deck-building is highlighted as excellent, addictive, and deep, with complex systems that allow for character and deck synergy.
- Great value for price (weight 0.14): The game is considered great value even at full price, with a reasonable price point of $19.99 that offers substantial content.
- Open world exploration (weight 0.12): The open world map provides a sense of adventure and freedom, with procedural generation and random events offering different experiences each playthrough.
- Key positioning (weight 0.07): Team positioning is key in tactical combat, requiring strategic placement for success.
- Varied strategic bosses (weight 0.07): Boss fights are varied and strategic, with opponents that require tactical thinking to overcome.
- Enjoyable gameplay loop (weight 0.07): The gameplay loop is described as enjoyable, fresh, and fun, keeping players engaged.
- Excellent overall game (weight 0.06): General praise for the game being excellent and quite good, indicating overall positive reception.

Common complaints:
- Difficulty is too high (weight 0.16): The game is frequently criticized for its high difficulty, which causes frustration even on normal settings and is considered unfair at higher levels.
- Enemy variety is low (weight 0.16): Encounters and enemy types lack variety, leading to repetitive gameplay with few side quests and monotonous battles.
- Story is weak or missing (weight 0.14): Multiple reviews highlight a weak or absent main storyline, with the narrative feeling shallow and underdeveloped.
- Synergy is limited (weight 0.12): There is limited synergy between characters and cards, with most interactions relying on status effects rather than meaningful combos.
- Graphics quality is poor (weight 0.11): Players consistently report that the graphics are below expectations, with poor immersion and visual quality detracting from the overall experience.
- Replayability is inferior (weight 0.07): Compared to Slay the Spire, the game offers inferior replayability and is less exciting, failing to match the benchmark.
- Session length is awkward (weight 0.06): Session length is problematic, being too long for quick play sessions yet too short for a satisfying epic experience.
- Characters lack identity (weight 0.06): Characters are described as lacking distinct identity, making them forgettable and reducing engagement.
- Tutorial needs improvement (weight 0.06): The tutorial is poorly written and needs improvement, failing to adequately teach game mechanics.
- Movement is difficult (weight 0.06): Movement is difficult, with players struggling with mobility throughout the game.

Gameplay feedback:
- Roguelike deckbuilder with tactical combat (weight 0.97): The game is consistently described as a roguelike deckbuilder with tactical turn-based combat, often on a grid or hex board. It blends card-based mechanics with strategic positioning and party management, appealing to fans of both deckbuilding and tactical RPGs.
- Equipment and class define deck (weight 0.29): Equipment and class systems directly influence the cards available in each character's deck. Players build their decks by equipping items and selecting classes, which adds a layer of strategic customization.
- Party of three unique decks (weight 0.23): Players control a party of three heroes, each with their own unique deck of cards. This party-based system allows for diverse strategies and synergies between characters.
- Discard cards for resources (weight 0.2): Discarding cards is a core mechanic that generates resources like action points, movement, or armor. A shared willpower resource starts at zero each turn and is gained by sacrificing cards, enabling powerful plays.
- Overworld map with random events (weight 0.18): The game features a roguelike structure with an overworld map containing points of interest like settlements and ruins. Procedural generation and random events provide replayability and risk/reward decisions.
- Fusion of multiple genres (weight 0.15): The game combines deckbuilding, tactical combat, overworld exploration, and roguelike progression into a cohesive experience. This fusion is highlighted as a key appeal by multiple reviewers.
- Hex grid combat with obstacles (weight 0.14): Combat takes place on a procedurally generated hexagonal grid with obstacles and elemental effects. This adds tactical depth and environmental interaction to battles.

Performance notes:
- Steam Deck runs well (weight 0.07): Players report that the game runs perfectly on Steam Deck after switching to Proton Experimental and verifying game files. This configuration provides a great experience on the handheld device.
- Optimization issues reported (weight 0.04): Some players experience optimization issues including slow loading times, blurry visuals, and mouse lag. These performance problems detract from the overall experience.
- Runs well on old systems (weight 0.04): The game runs well on older systems, achieving a stable 60 frames per second. This indicates good optimization for lower-end hardware.
- Crash bug on movement (weight 0.04): A crash bug occurs when the player takes steps in the game. This is a specific and reproducible issue that can break gameplay.
- Fast loading times (weight 0.04): Loading times are reported as almost instant, suggesting efficient asset loading or fast storage performance for some players.
- No serious issues found (weight 0.03): Some players report no serious issues with the game, indicating a stable experience for certain configurations or systems.

Recommendations:
- Not for casual or impatient (weight 0.3): The game is not recommended for players who dislike searching for info online, clunky UI, complex mechanics, or high randomness. It is suited for those who enjoy deep strategy and optimization, but may frustrate others.
- Better alternatives exist (weight 0.27): Some players advise against buying the game at full price or at all, citing better alternatives in the genre. They mention issues like core combat problems, lack of polish, or unreasonable difficulty that detract from the experience.
- Complete but could expand (weight 0.2): The game is described as a complete experience with active developer updates, but some players feel it could have more content or hope for DLC. It is recommended for those who enjoy consequence and niche gameplay.
- Mixed or negative reviews (weight 0.2): Some players do not recommend the game due to issues like lack of replayability, balance problems, or difficulty gradient. They express disappointment or hope for future improvements, but currently advise against purchase.
- For hardcore strategists (weight 0.18): The game is recommended for deep card or board game players seeking serious challenge and innovative combat. It appeals to those who enjoy high-intensity thinking and trial and error, but may not suit casual deck builder fans.
- Fun initially, then challenging (weight 0.1): Players note that the game offers fun for the first 10+ hours, but some issues like food scarcity or archer problems may affect long-term enjoyment. Starting on easy difficulty is recommended to mitigate challenges.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
No emotions}