Info about Mahokenshi - The Samurai Deckbuilder:

Official game description:
Wielding both blade and magic, it is your duty to protect the floating Celestial Islands from powerful opponents who seek to corrupt them. Challenge your fate and build your card deck to defeat foes and complete missions. Evolve your character with every playthrough, and become the Mahokenshi the world needs.
Where will you start your journey? Will you hail from the sturdy House of Sapphire? The cunning House of Topaz? The fierce House of Ruby? Or the secretive House of Jade? Each house draws its strength from a different elemental spirit and allows you to create different playstyles.
There are more than 200 lovingly illustrated cards to discover. Begin with a basic set of cards and choose how to build your deck as you defeat formidable foes, uncover treasures, and find remote locations. Be careful, as each terrain offers different advantages, so plan your actions with the surroundings in mind. Evolve your playstyle and strategy in every mission and leverage the strengths of your samurai house to create powerful combos.
Travel a vast array of vibrant and beautifully designed 3D maps. Meet the different people of the Celestial Islands, save villages, discover shrines and defeat deadly demons. See your battles brought to life with fully animated characters. Perform magical maneuvers, fiery attacks, strong defensive moves, and swift counterattacks on your way to restoring peace to the world.

Release date: 24 Jan, 2023

Categories: Deckbuilding, Turn-based Strategy, Tactical Combat, Character Progression, Mission-based Gameplay, Single-player Story, Strategic Planning


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


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:
- Enjoyable and Engaging Gameplay (weight 0.85): Players consistently find the game fun, engaging, and a fresh take on the genre. It offers a pleasant experience with meaningful decisions, good balance, and a quick learning curve, making it suitable for both casual and dedicated players. Many feel it's worth its price, especially on discount.
- Good Progression and Replayability (weight 0.29): The game offers solid upgrades, unlocks, and excellent progression between missions, providing a satisfying feeling of getting stronger. Multiple characters, optional objectives, difficulties, and challenges contribute to high replayability.
- Strong Deckbuilding Mechanics (weight 0.25): The deckbuilding aspect is a significant highlight, described as simple yet engaging, well-designed, and offering cool, innovative ideas. It provides a delicate balance of RNG and strategy, leading to satisfying combos and a challenging experience.
- Strategic Depth and Player Choice (weight 0.17): The game offers substantial strategic gameplay with many open choices, diverse character abilities, and tactical options for card building. This variety encourages different playstyles and meaningful decisions, enhancing replayability.
- Distinct and Rewarding Characters (weight 0.14): The game features multiple distinct characters, each with unique cards, gimmicks, and strong playstyles. Players enjoy finding powerful synergies and combos, making each character feel unique and fun to play.
- Solid Technical Aspects (weight 0.12): The game is generally well-made, with good overall quality, including a functional mission builder and meta-progression. It is also noted to be very playable on Steam Deck.
- Unique Hex-Based Movement System (weight 0.1): The integration of movement on a hex-based map with cards is a standout feature. This unique mechanic creates dynamic encounters and feels fresh, contributing significantly to the game's overall appeal.
- Appealing Visuals and Setting (weight 0.1): Players appreciate the game's visual style, beautiful artwork, and pleasing medieval Japanese setting. The graphics and overall aesthetic contribute positively to the game's atmosphere.
- Effective Story and Lore (weight 0.06): The story, while basic, serves its purpose well by providing a cool context and moving at a crisp pace. It's considered passable and contributes to the overall experience.
- No Grind and Respects Player Time (weight 0.05): A significant positive is the absence of grinding, allowing players to progress without feeling pressured. The game is designed to respect player time, offering a focused experience.
- Well-Implemented Time Limits (weight 0.04): The time limits within missions are generally well-received, with players finding them soft enough not to be frustrating and contributing positively to the gameplay experience.
- Good for Completionists (weight 0.03): The game is a great pick for completionists, as achievements are noted to be easy to obtain, adding to its appeal for this player group.
- Accessible Challenge Level (weight 0.03): The game offers a challenging experience that encourages strategic thinking without being overly difficult or frustrating, making it accessible to a wider range of players.
- Pleasant Audio and UI (weight 0.02): The game's music and user interface are considered pleasant and well-executed, contributing to a positive overall experience.
- Good Japanese Translation (weight 0.02): The Japanese translation is generally well done, despite some minor oddities, indicating attention to localization quality.

Common complaints:
- Critical Game-Breaking Bugs (weight 1): Players report numerous severe bugs, including save file corruption, crashes, unresponsiveness, and progression blockers. These issues often render the game unplayable, requiring restarts or save file deletion, and some have persisted for over a year.
- Lack of Content & Replayability (weight 0.89): The game is criticized for its short campaign, limited gameplay variety, and lack of engaging endgame content. Players desire more game modes (e.g., roguelike, endless), procedurally generated maps, and additional challenges to justify the price and extend playtime.
- Unbalanced Difficulty & Progression (weight 0.71): Many players find the game too easy, especially after initial upgrades, leading to a lack of challenge. Conversely, some experience frustrating difficulty spikes due to random card draws. The absence of adjustable difficulty options and a perceived lack of balance contribute to a less engaging experience.
- High Price for Value (weight 0.7): A significant number of reviews state that the game's price is too high given its short length, lack of content, and numerous technical issues. Players feel the current offering does not justify the cost, especially compared to other games in the genre.
- Poor Save System & Mission Management (weight 0.68): The game's save system is frequently cited as faulty, with issues like corrupted saves and improper progress tracking. Additionally, the inability to abandon missions from the main menu and the loss of progress upon restarting missions are frustrating design choices.
- Unsatisfying Story & Worldbuilding (weight 0.21): The campaign's story is consistently described as mediocre, superficial, and generic, failing to engage players or add meaningful depth to the game's world. It often feels like a placeholder rather than a compelling narrative.
- Weak Deck-Building Mechanics (weight 0.18): The deck-building aspect is described as bland, lacking depth, and feeling more like a puzzle game than a true deck-builder. Limited card variety, repetitive choices, and a focus on movement cards rather than strategic combos detract from the core gameplay loop.
- Quest Validation Issues (weight 0.08): Players have encountered bugs where main and side quests fail to validate upon completion, leading to softlocks and preventing progress. This forces mission restarts and can make levels unwinnable.
- Lack of Ultrawide Support (weight 0.06): The game exhibits poor support for ultrawide monitors, resulting in stretched images, black borders, cropped interfaces, and significant frame drops in windowed mode. This impacts the visual experience for users with such setups.

Gameplay feedback:
- Unique Deckbuilder-Tactics Hybrid (weight 0.71): The game blends deck-building with turn-based tactical movement on a hex-based map, drawing inspiration from Slay the Spire and Heroes of Might & Magic. Players use cards for both combat and movement, creating a distinct strategic experience.
- Mission-Based with Time Limits (weight 0.54): Gameplay is structured around individual missions, each with specific objectives and often strict turn or time limits. These constraints encourage strategic planning and add a layer of challenge, with optional bonus objectives providing further pressure and rewards.
- Moderate Difficulty and Length (weight 0.38): The game is generally considered to have a moderate difficulty, especially for experienced players of the genre, with challenge primarily stemming from bonus objectives and time limits. The campaign length is around 10-20 hours for completion, with some players achieving 100% in about 30 hours.
- Strategic Movement and Terrain (weight 0.37): Movement is a critical strategic element, consuming energy and often requiring specific movement cards. Terrain types on the hex grid significantly impact movement costs and can offer tactical advantages, making careful pathing as important as combat card play.
- Diverse Playable Characters (weight 0.36): The game features four distinct characters, each with unique cards, mechanics, and playstyles. These characters are unlocked progressively through the campaign and offer varied approaches to missions, enhancing replayability.
- Temporary Deck Progression (weight 0.25): Decks are reset at the start of each mission, with players building a new deck from scratch within that mission. While card selection and draws have random elements, the overall roguelike aspect is limited, focusing more on mission-specific deck curation.
- Meta-Progression and Upgrades (weight 0.22): Players earn permanent upgrade points by completing side objectives and challenges, which can be spent on an upgrade tree to improve characters across missions. This meta-progression makes harder missions more manageable over time.
- Varied Combat and Quests (weight 0.1): Missions involve turn-based combat against diverse enemies and bosses, alongside various side quests. Players engage in tactical battles and map exploration to complete objectives, which can include protecting villages or defeating specific foes.
- Fast Character Leveling (weight 0.09): Characters level up quickly, reaching the maximum level of 10 in a short amount of playtime. This allows for rapid unlocking of new cards and items, contributing to a sense of quick progression.

Performance notes:
- Performance issues reported (weight 0.11): Many players are experiencing significant performance issues, including low frame rates and poor optimization, even on lower settings. This is a common complaint despite the game not being graphically intensive for some users.
- Steam Deck performance is decent (weight 0.09): The game appears to run acceptably on the Steam Deck, offering a playable experience for users on that platform.
- Stable for some players (weight 0.07): A notable portion of players report a smooth and bug-free experience, with no crashes or major technical problems. This suggests performance may vary widely depending on individual system configurations.
- Mixed graphics quality feedback (weight 0.03): Feedback on graphics quality is mixed, with some finding it good while others perceive a slight blurriness.
- Ultrawide windowed mode issues (weight 0.02): Players using ultrawide monitors report significant frame rate drops when playing in windowed mode, indicating a specific optimization problem for this setup.
- Alt+Tab causes crashes (weight 0.02): Some users have experienced game crashes when attempting to alt+tab out of the game, which can disrupt gameplay.
- Windows 7 compatibility confirmed (weight 0.01): The game has been confirmed to run on Windows 7, which may be relevant for players on older operating systems.

Recommendations:
- Mixed Recommendation, Buy on Sale (weight 0.49): Player sentiment is divided, with many recommending the game only if purchased at a significant discount or as part of a bundle. While some find it enjoyable, concerns about bugs and limited replayability at full price are common. Many suggest waiting for a sale to maximize value.
- Desire for Future Content/Updates (weight 0.18): Players express a strong interest in future updates, DLC, or sequels that would add more depth, variety, and replayability. There's a hope for new game modes, balance changes, and improved optimization to enhance the overall experience.
- Critical Bugs and Save Issues (weight 0.17): A significant portion of negative feedback highlights critical bugs, particularly issues with the save system. Players strongly advise against purchasing or playing the game until these fundamental problems are resolved, with some even requesting refunds.
- Unique Card-Wargame Hybrid (weight 0.14): The game is recognized for its unique blend of card-based combat and wargame strategy, appealing to fans of strategy games and deckbuilders. It offers an interesting twist on the genre, focusing on mission-based objectives with turn limits.
- Not for Roguelike/Randomness Fans (weight 0.13): The game is not recommended for players seeking deep roguelike elements, extensive randomness, or a challenging, repeated play experience akin to titles like Slay the Spire or For The King. Its replayability is considered limited for this audience.
- Time Pressure Not for Everyone (weight 0.02): Players sensitive to time limits and pressure in games are advised to avoid this title. The mission structure often involves tight turn limits, which can be a source of frustration for some.
- Try the Demo (weight 0.02): A practical suggestion for potential players is to try the game's demo. This allows individuals to experience the gameplay firsthand before committing to a purchase, especially given the mixed feedback.
- Community Map Potential (weight 0.01): One reviewer expressed interest in checking back for community-made maps in the future, suggesting a potential avenue for extending the game's lifespan and content through player contributions.
- Game Length Sufficient for Some (weight 0.01): While some might find the game short, at least one player found the current length to be sufficient for their enjoyment, indicating that game duration is subjective and not a universal complaint.

Other player notes:
- Strong Japanese Aesthetic (weight 0.23): Players highly praise the game's medieval Japanese visual setting, character art, and overall theme. The coherent samurai setting, pleasant colors, and excellent Japanese mythology theming contribute to a beautiful and immersive atmosphere.
- High-Quality Music (weight 0.2): The game's musical score is consistently highlighted as amazing and good, significantly enhancing the overall player experience.
- Mixed Art Style Reception (weight 0.08): While many find the art stunning and beautiful, some players perceive the art style as strange, patchwork, or having a cheap mobile game aesthetic. The 3D modeling, however, is unexpectedly good.
- Engaging Gameplay Systems (weight 0.05): The game's systems are noted to come together in a very enjoyable way, with gameplay being the central focus. It also avoids feeling repetitive even after extended play.
- No Micro-transactions (weight 0.05): Players appreciate the absence of micro-transactions, indicating a positive reception to the game's monetization model.
- Potential Sequel Interest (weight 0.03): Some players express a strong desire for a sequel, indicating a positive and lasting impression of the game.
- Unique Character Flavor (weight 0.02): Each character is described as bringing their own distinct flavor to the journey, suggesting a diverse and engaging cast.
- Hardlock Bug Workaround (weight 0.02): A specific workaround for a hardlock bug involves deleting the Save_Campaign file and disabling Steam clouds. This indicates a known technical issue with a community-found solution.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.27): Players are highly satisfied with the game's creative and engaging gameplay mechanics, often highlighting its fresh take on the deckbuilding genre, well-differentiated characters, and strategic depth. Smooth performance, beautiful aesthetics, and good value for money also contribute significantly to this positive emotion.
- Frustration (weight 0.21): Frustration primarily stems from numerous technical issues, including frequent game-breaking bugs, crashes, and save corruption, which often hinder progression or make the game unplayable. Other causes include slow animations, difficulty spikes due to randomness, and restrictive time limits or turn limits in missions.
- Disappointment (weight 0.21): Disappointment arises from persistent game-breaking bugs, a perceived lack of developer polishing and bug fixing, and a general lack of content or replayability for the price. Players also express disappointment with unappealing art styles, repetitive gameplay, and a lack of challenge or depth in certain mechanics.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.11): Players experience enjoyment from the game's unique and strategic gameplay, distinct characters, and overall well-executed design, including art and music. Many find the core gameplay loop fun and addictive, even when acknowledging minor flaws.
- Excitement (weight 0.04): Excitement is generated by the game's varied gameplay, high replayability, and unique movement mechanics, which offer a fresh twist on the genre. The potential for creative and 'bonkers' strategies, along with challenging combat and stunning art, also contributes to this feeling.
- Neutral (weight 0.03): This emotion reflects objective observations about the game's difficulty, length, genre classification, and specific gameplay mechanics or character playstyles, without expressing a strong positive or negative sentiment.
- Neutrality (weight 0.02): Players feel neutrality when the overall experience is neither strongly positive nor negative, often due to limited content, short length, or the game being 'ok' but not outstanding, leading to a hesitant or forced recommendation.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Hope is expressed for future content, such as sequels or DLC, to enhance replayability and address existing limitations. Players also hope that encountered bugs are rare and will not recur.
- Desire (weight 0.01): Players desire more content, greater character depth, and expanded player progression systems to enrich the overall game experience and extend playtime.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Anger is directed at the perceived developer inaction on reported issues, particularly regarding obvious and persistent bugs, which suggests a lack of quality assurance and a 'buggy mess' of a game.
- Mixed feelings (weight 0.01): This emotion arises from acknowledging both good ideas and significant shortcomings, such as interesting genre spins contrasted with technical flaws, design issues, or overlooked character archetypes.
- Interest (weight 0.01): Players show interest in the game's unique simplification of card play and movement, its combination of turn-based tactics and deckbuilding, and the distinct character abilities integrated with movement.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): Engagement is driven by the game's interesting spin on its genre and dynamic encounters, contributing to an overall captivating gameplay experience.
- Mild disappointment (weight 0.01): Mild disappointment stems from the game's limited depth, easy difficulty, weak roguelike elements, and a restricted card pool, which prevent it from reaching its full potential.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Players express anticipation for future DLC and other additions to the game, indicating a desire for continued development and new content.
- Relaxation (weight 0): Relaxation is experienced due to the game's easy and stress-free gameplay, providing a calm and enjoyable experience.
- Optimism (weight 0): Optimism is felt regarding the game's potential to evolve into a top title, suggesting a belief in its underlying quality and future improvements.
- Annoyance (weight 0): Annoyance is caused by minor usability issues, such as a low-resolution board and a cursor that does not stay in position when moving the board.
- Regret (weight 0): Regret is expressed by players who wish they had refunded the game within the two-hour window, indicating a strong dissatisfaction with their purchase.}