Info about Zoeti:

Official game description:
Feature List
============
*   **A Royal Flush** - Every ability is associated with a poker hand; the more complex the hand, the more impactful the ability!  
*   **Create a Powerful Arsenal** - Upgrade, purchase, or quest for new skills for your runs. Discover new synergies to overcome your opposition and create mechanically rich strategies.  
*   **Your Choices Have Consequences** - Risk everything on a tough fight with an exceptional reward or take the easy path to guarantee victory.  
*   **Meet Fuzzy Friends** - From Winfred the cheerful innkeeper with a powerful secret to Rabelle, the devious scoundrel just as likely to trick you as to help you.  
*   **Endless Possibilities** - Three different game modes playable with three different characters at five different difficulties featuring dozens of different builds and hundreds of different enemies... Every run is unique!
    Characters
    ==========
    **Valentina**  
    An honorable knight dedicated to protecting the weak and standing as a bulwark against evil, Valentina blocks incoming attacks with her stalwart shield and puts the might of raw muscle behind every sword swing. Play Valentina if you like outlasting opponents, meeting them head on with pulverizing power.  
    **Alves**  
    An elusive trickster, Alves knows how to hamstring his enemies' quickest attacks, evade their most devastating blows, and make them bleed for every swing they take. Play Alves if you like outsmarting opponents with clever ploys and deadly combos.  
    **Nicora**  
    An ingenius mage, Nicora combines the raw power of elemental fire, ice and lightning to burn, freeze and shock her opponents into submission. Play Nicora if harnessing the primal power of terrifying magic seems the best way to defeat the trial of the gods.
    About the Game
    ==============
    Zoeti is a turn-based roguelite that features a deck of playing cards used to create card combos and activate skills in the heat of battle. Bolster your arsenal of skills through battles, discoverable upgrades, or aid from the locals which enhance your plays to overcome the evil plaguing your land.  
    A once peaceful land, now overrun by monsters. You, a Star-Soul hero, are among a select few blessed to raze the land of evil.  
    In Zoeti, you are equipped with a deck of playing cards, with which you play card combinations (pair, full house, royal flush, etc.) to activate skills that will attack or defend against enemies. Further bolster your arsenal of skills and upgrades through battles and discovery. The blood of a dead god congeals into monsters roaming the countryside, threatening devout townsfolk and the simple lives they lead. Will you, a Star-Soul hero, protect them from the ravages of evil?  
    You'll need to crack open the enemy's defenses, bolster your grit and resolve, all while outsmarting the underhanded foes you face. Use your deck of playing cards to activate skills, attack foes, and defend yourself with card combinations, such as two pair, a full house, or straight flush. Through battle, discovery, and clever decision-making, you'll upgrade and enhance your build to complete the toughest challenges Zoeti has to offer.

Release date: Apr 20, 2023

Categories: Roguelike, Deckbuilding, Turn-based Combat, Card-based Gameplay, Character Progression, Poker-based Mechanics, Strategy, Single-player

Feature scans:
- Steam Deck: score 75; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The analysis of user feedback for Zoeti on the Steam Deck reveals several significant issues impacting the overall experience. Key problems include aspect ratio issues leading to cut-off information, poor controller support requiring additional input methods, frequent crashes during gameplay, long and frequent loading times, and a misleading 'Steam Deck Verified' status. These issues collectively contribute to a subpar user experience, with high severity problems such as aspect ratio issues, controller support, and frequent crashes being the most impactful.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence suggests that the community generally finds the game not worth the original price. Multiple reviews mention that the game should be purchased only at a significant discount or not at all. The repeated mentions of waiting for deep discounts or sales over 50% off indicate that the perceived fair price is considerably lower than the current base price.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 25.0h
  - Story completion: 5.0h
  - Session length: 1.5h
  - Endgame: 20.0h
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides direct and indirect indications of playtime for Zoeti. The first quote suggests that a typical playthrough of the main story takes around 4-6 hours. The second quote breaks down the main story into specific missions, each taking about 1.5 hours, totaling around 4.5 hours for the main story. The third quote indicates that the reviewer finished the main story without engaging in additional content, supporting the 4-6 hour range for the main story. The fourth quote suggests that the game can offer 20-30 hours of content before becoming repetitive, which likely includes endgame and additional modes.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game Zoeti has a slow start and takes time to build up fun, with the late game around stage 3 being where it becomes enjoyable. Players find it fun for a couple of hours before it gets repetitive and boring.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: Late game around stage 3
  - Time to anchor: 1h 30m
  - Friction: slow start; repetitive missions; tedious combat; over-reliance on luck
  - Unlock drivers: build variety; addictive card combos and deckbuilding; charming art
  - Conditions: patience to get through initial slow pace; appreciation for strategic gameplay; enjoyment of roguelike mechanics
- Player Archetypes:
  - Deckbuilding Roguelike Enthusiast (sale)
    - Motivation: Enjoyment of deckbuilding and roguelike gameplay loops.
    - Playstyle: Focuses on trying out different abilities and strategies within the deckbuilding and roguelike framework.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: fan of card games; roguelike enthusiast
    - Reference games: Slay the Spire; Hades; Balatro; Aces & Adventures
  - Story-Driven Escapist (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Engagement with the game's story and lore.
    - Playstyle: Prefers to engage with the story and lore, possibly skipping gameplay sections to focus on narrative.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: story enthusiast; lore seeker
    - Reference games: Aces & Adventures
  - Experienced Comparator (sale)
    - Motivation: Finding games that meet or exceed the quality of their favorite titles.
    - Playstyle: Compares new games to their favorite titles and enjoys games that offer a similar or better experience.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: experienced gamer; quality seeker
    - Reference games: Slay the Spire; Aces & Adventures


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 and strategic gameplay (weight 0.65): The gameplay is described as engaging, enjoyable, and strategically deep. Players appreciate the balance between strategy and luck, as well as the variety of strategic options available.
- Unique and varied character abilities (weight 0.59): The game offers a variety of characters, each with unique abilities and playstyles. This diversity encourages players to experiment with different strategies and builds.
- Vibrant and appealing art style (weight 0.59): The game features a vibrant and charming art style that is often compared to high-quality animated cartoons. Many players appreciate the colorful and hand-drawn 2D graphics, which add a unique visual appeal to the game.
- Unique poker-based combat system (weight 0.55): The game introduces a unique combat system that blends poker-style card combos with traditional roguelike deckbuilding. This mechanic is praised for its originality and strategic depth.
- Interesting story and worldbuilding (weight 0.35): The game features an interesting story and worldbuilding, which adds depth to the gameplay experience. Players appreciate the narrative and the use of myths and legends.
- Enjoyable soundtrack (weight 0.34): The soundtrack is highlighted as a strong point, with many players finding it genuinely good and well-made. It contributes positively to the overall atmosphere of the game.
- Accessible difficulty (weight 0.14): The game is noted for its accessible difficulty, making it easy for new players to get into. The low difficulty setting is particularly appreciated by beginners.
- Polished and content-rich (weight 0.12): The game is described as polished and content-rich, offering a fair amount of gameplay content. This includes a variety of items, artifacts, and skills that enhance the overall experience.

Common complaints:
- Poor story and dialogue (weight 0.44): The storyline and character dialogues are frequently described as nonsensical, poorly written, and boring. Many players find the narrative confusing and unengaging, leading to a lack of interest in the game's plot.
- Numerous bugs and crashes (weight 0.36): The game is plagued with numerous bugs, including crashes during boss fights and progress loss. These issues significantly hinder the gameplay experience and frustrate players.
- Unintuitive UI (weight 0.3): The user interface is widely criticized for being unintuitive and frustrating. Players report that UI elements do not behave as expected, making the game difficult to navigate and enjoy.
- Unbalanced gameplay (weight 0.28): The game suffers from significant balance issues, with characters and classes being unbalanced. Players report that the difficulty spikes and overall gameplay feel poorly balanced.
- Slow progression and loading times (weight 0.17): Players report that the progression in the game is too slow and the loading times between scenes are excessively long. This leads to a frustrating and tedious gaming experience.
- Translation and language issues (weight 0.16): The game's translation from the original Chinese is criticized for being lackluster and hard to understand. Additionally, there are reports of untranslated text and inconsistent character names.
- Poor controller support (weight 0.12): The game has poor controller support, making it difficult for players who prefer using controllers. The scrolling and overall control scheme are criticized for being subpar.
- High pricing (weight 0.06): The game is criticized for its expensive pricing, with players feeling that the cost does not match the quality or content of the game.

Gameplay feedback:
- Poker mechanics in card battles (weight 0.86): The game introduces a unique twist to card battles by incorporating poker mechanics. Players need to form poker hands to deal damage and activate skills, which adds a layer of strategy beyond simple card accumulation.
- Combat system and mechanics (weight 0.82): The combat system is turn-based and revolves around using poker-style card combinations to deal damage and activate skills. The core strategy involves increasing hand size and draw chances to form better poker hands.
- Roguelike deckbuilding elements (weight 0.65): The game features traditional roguelike deckbuilding mechanics, where players advance through encounters, optimize decisions, and improve their deck to survive the classic 'one more turn' cycle.
- Character variety and synergy (weight 0.47): The game offers a variety of playable characters, each with unique abilities. Players need to equip skills that synergize well with different poker hands to maximize effectiveness in combat.
- Difficulty and enemy mechanics (weight 0.34): The game features different difficulty levels and enemy mechanics that can be challenging. Some enemies have mechanics like evasion and stacking, which can make combat difficult.
- Auto-save and design issues (weight 0.19): The game has some design issues, such as an auto-save feature that only works in certain areas and a meditation system that limits skill upgrades. These issues can be frustrating for players.

Performance notes:
- Frequent game crashes (weight 0.17): The game often crashes to desktop or experiences game-ending bugs, significantly disrupting gameplay.
- Bugs affecting gameplay (weight 0.16): Various bugs, including issues with buffs not working as intended and occasional game-freezing bugs, detract from the overall experience.
- Long loading times (weight 0.14): Players report slow and frequent loading screens between scenes, causing delays and affecting the gaming experience.
- Steam Deck compatibility issues (weight 0.13): There are specific issues related to playing the game on Steam Deck, including resolution and performance problems.
- Performance and optimization issues (weight 0.11): The game suffers from performance issues, including poor optimization, GPU performance problems, and general instability.
- Graphical and display problems (weight 0.1): Players encounter various graphical issues, such as Gaussian blur after closing menus and general display problems.
- Audio and save issues (weight 0.07): There are problems with audio settings and the lack of manual saving, along with unclear autosave functionality.

Recommendations:
- Only recommended at a discount (weight 0.21): Many players suggest that the game is only worth purchasing if it is on sale or at a discounted price, indicating that the full price may not be justified.
- Recommendations for similar games (weight 0.16): Players recommend trying similar games like Aces & Adventures, Cobalt Core, Black Book, Gordian Quest, and Neoverse for a better or different experience.
- Recommended with reservations (weight 0.11): The game is recommended but with some reservations. Players appreciate the style and strategy but note issues with community size and comfort.
- Recommended for specific audiences (weight 0.1): The game is still recommended for the right audience, particularly those who enjoy card games and similar genres.
- Niche appeal for roguelite fans (weight 0.1): The game is recommended mainly for hardcore fans of the roguelite genre. There are better alternatives available like Slay the Spire and Inscryption.
- Suggestions for additional content (weight 0.06): Players have suggested adding more content such as an endless mode and additional DLCs to enhance the gaming experience.
- Worth playing (weight 0.04): Despite some reservations, many players find the game worth playing, especially for those interested in the genre.
- Mixed overall rating (weight 0.04): The game has received a mixed overall rating of 6.5/10, indicating that it has both positive and negative aspects.
- Recommended despite market saturation (weight 0.04): The game is still recommended even though the market is saturated with similar games, indicating it has unique qualities that stand out.
- Avoid specific in-game elements (weight 0.03): Some players advise avoiding certain in-game elements, such as the mage class, due to potential issues or lack of enjoyment.

Other player notes:
- Mentions Humble Choice bundle (weight 0.04): Players mentioned the Humble Choice bundle, indicating that the game might have been part of this bundle or that players acquired it through this means.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.34): Players are frustrated with various aspects of the game, including frequent bugs and crashes that disrupt gameplay and cause progress loss. The game's mechanics, such as character balance, combat system, and progression, are often criticized for being unbalanced, unintuitive, or overly reliant on luck. Additionally, the UI, translations, and certain design choices like the forced restart mechanic and difficulty spikes contribute to the frustration.
- Disappointment (weight 0.26): Players express disappointment with the game's story, mechanics, and overall experience, finding them underwhelming or poorly executed. The game's lack of innovation, repetitive gameplay, and poor balance also contribute to this sentiment. Additionally, the dialogue and writing are often criticized for being cringeworthy or unengaging.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.17): Players are satisfied with the game's mechanics, art style, and overall experience. The gameplay, character classes, and unique card mechanics are often praised. Additionally, the game's soundtrack, story presentation, and value for price contribute to the positive sentiment.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.1): Players enjoy the game's unique combat system, detailed animations, and overall gameplay. The story, characters, and art style are also appreciated. The game's immersive atmosphere, innovative mechanics, and varied gameplay contribute to the enjoyment.
- Anger (weight 0.03): Players are angry due to the game's bugs, poor balancing, and crashes that lead to loss of progress. High difficulty and frustrating enemy abilities also contribute to this sentiment.
- Excitement (weight 0.02): Players are excited about the game's charming characters, interesting story, and deep combat system. The game's innovations to the deck builder genre and engaging gameplay also contribute to this sentiment.
- Mixed feelings (weight 0.01): Players have mixed feelings due to the game's strong visuals and combat system being overshadowed by a forgettable soundtrack and reliance on randomness. Some clever moments and good concepts are appreciated, but the game feels easier than it should be and may not offer enough replay value.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Players feel disgust due to the game's cringey dialogue and unappealing story, which overshadow the enjoyment of the game.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Players are annoyed by technical issues with the menu and saving system. Additionally, some characters are found to be creepy and predatory, which is played for laughs but gives the ick.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Players are surprised by the game being more enjoyable than expected.
- Sadness (weight 0.01): Players feel sadness due to a specific story segment involving the blue knight and his family.
- Discomfort (weight 0.01): Players feel physical strain from playing the game, leading to discomfort.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Players appreciate the game's unique gameplay mechanics.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Players feel boredom due to the game being a basic deckbuilder roguelite with a dull plot.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Players feel confusion due to initial difficulty with combat mechanics.}