- Charming art style and exceptional music
- Highly fun and addictive gameplay
- Fair and rewarding difficulty
- Innovative and deep mechanics
- Excessive difficulty and RNG
- Limited content and replayability
Emotions
Players feel satisfied by the game's high overall quality, including its polished visuals, engaging music, and intuitive UI. The rewarding progression system, strategic depth, and diverse build options contribute to a sense of accomplishment and replayability. Overcoming challenges, discovering powerful combos, and achieving milestones like beating the game or getting achievements also lead to significant satisfaction.
Frustration primarily stems from the game's high and often unbalanced difficulty, frequently attributed to excessive randomness (RNG) and punishing mechanics. Players are annoyed by instant death scenarios, unintuitive design choices, and the lack of quality-of-life features like save/load or undo buttons. Specific boss mechanics, particularly the final boss and the 'past leader as boss' system, are also significant sources of frustration due to their perceived unfairness or difficulty spikes.
Excitement is generated by the game's addictive and unique tactical combat, which allows for creative and 'funky' builds. Players are thrilled by the discovery of powerful combos, the challenging nature of the gameplay, and the overall high quality and polish of the game. The potential for future content, mod support, and the game's ability to exceed expectations also contribute to a strong sense of excitement.
Players enjoy the game's fun and addictive nature, driven by its engaging gameplay loop, strategic depth, and charming aesthetics. The ability to experiment with different decks and combinations, coupled with challenging yet rewarding experiences, contributes to overall enjoyment. The quality of the art, music, and mod support further enhances the pleasurable experience.
Disappointment arises from the game not meeting expectations, often due to perceived lack of strategic depth, limited content, or over-reliance on luck. Players are let down by the absence of a save/load feature, issues with balance, and the feeling that the fun wears off once the novelty fades. Specific design choices, like the final boss mechanic or repetitive gameplay, also contribute to a sense of unfulfilled potential.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 82% · Negative 18%. Score: 18 / 100
Positives:
- The game's art style, visuals, and animations receive consistent high praise for being beautiful, charming, cute, and unique. This aesthetic quality significantly enhances the player experience and is often highlighted as a major strength.
- Players overwhelmingly praise the game for its high fun factor, addictive gameplay loop, and overall rewarding experience. Many consider it a standout in the roguelike deckbuilder genre, often citing its replayability and engaging nature.
- The game's music and sound design are consistently lauded as excellent, immersive, and fitting for the game's theme. The soundtrack is often described as catchy, memorable, and a significant contributor to the overall positive experience.
- The game offers a challenging yet fair difficulty curve, with many players appreciating that losses feel like their own fault rather than due to unfair RNG. The unique final boss mechanic, where players fight their previous winning build, adds a clever and engaging layer to this challenge.
- The game introduces unique and deep combat mechanics, such as the cooldown-based turn system, unit positioning, and the 'fighting your previous run's team' as a boss. These elements foster strategic depth, encourage experimentation, and differentiate it from other games in the genre.
Negatives:
- Players consistently report that the game's difficulty is excessively high, often feeling unfair or overly punishing. This is exacerbated by a heavy reliance on RNG for critical elements like card draws and enemy encounters, leading to frustrating losses from single mistakes or unpredictable outcomes. The steep and inconsistent difficulty curve, especially in later stages and against certain bosses, makes the game feel more like a test of luck than skill, diminishing enjoyment and replayability.
- Many players feel the game lacks sufficient content, variety, and long-term replayability compared to other titles in the genre like Slay the Spire. The progression system is perceived as shallow, with most content unlocked early, leading to a quick loss of interest once the initial novelty wears off. This results in a sense of tedium and a lack of motivation to continue playing after a few runs.
- The unique final boss mechanic, where the player's previous winning team becomes the next run's boss, is widely criticized. Players feel this system punishes successful runs by creating an overwhelmingly difficult or even unbeatable challenge in subsequent playthroughs, forcing them to intentionally build weaker decks or reset progress. This design choice is seen as frustrating and counter-intuitive, undermining the sense of achievement.
- The deckbuilding and card systems are frequently criticized for their lack of depth and limited options. Players report a small card pool, insufficient opportunities to acquire or refine decks, and a heavy reliance on RNG for viable builds. This restricts strategic creativity, often forcing players into specific archetypes or making it difficult to form cohesive and effective decks, especially at higher difficulties.
- Players report issues with the game's intuitiveness and clarity, particularly during initial playthroughs. Insufficient in-game explanations, awkward controls, and persistent tutorial messages contribute to a confusing and frustrating learning experience. Some also noted game-breaking bugs in the tutorial.
Gameplay:
- The game features deep strategic gameplay, requiring players to think several turns ahead and make complex choices. A core mechanic is the 'countdown' system, where units attack based on timers, making positioning and timing crucial for success.
- Boss battles are a central and challenging aspect, requiring adaptive strategies. A unique meta-mechanic involves the player's previous winning deck becoming the final boss in subsequent runs, adding replayability and a dynamic challenge.
- The game is a turn-based deck-builder with a unique combat system. Players manage a hand of companion and item cards, strategically placing and repositioning units on a grid, with all actions tied to a countdown timer.
- Progression is tied to an achievement-based unlock system, where completing challenges and defeating bosses unlocks new cards, charms, and features. The 'charm' system allows for extensive card modification, enabling diverse synergies and build customization.
- As a roguelike, the game emphasizes adapting to random elements and offers granular difficulty modifiers, including a 'bell' system similar to ascension levels in other roguelikes, which increases challenge and rewards.
Performance:
- Players consistently report that the game runs smoothly and is well-optimized across different platforms, including PC and Steam Deck. This indicates a positive technical performance for most users.
- A specific bug was reported where the game crashed when a boss received excessive damage. This suggests a potential issue with damage calculation or boss health triggers that could lead to instability.
Recommendations:
- The game is overwhelmingly recommended by players, especially those who enjoy roguelike deckbuilders and strategic card games. Many consider it a must-play within the genre, often comparing it favorably to Slay the Spire and Monster Train.
- Players frequently recommend the game to fans of roguelike deckbuilders, particularly those who enjoy or are looking for alternatives to Slay the Spire. It's noted for appealing to both genre veterans and some newcomers, though its high difficulty is a common caveat.
- While generally recommended, some players find the game's high difficulty and specific mechanics (like the undo system) can lead to frustration. It's often suggested for players who enjoy a significant challenge or even 'masochistic tendencies'.
- Many reviewers suggest purchasing the game during a sale, indicating that while it's worth the price, a discount makes it an even more attractive buy. Some also recommend trying the demo first.
- Players express strong engagement with the game, with some completing all achievements and looking forward to playing more. There's also a clear desire for future content, such as DLC or a sequel.
Miscellaneous:
- Many players express strong enjoyment and dedication, with significant playtime across multiple platforms. They believe the game is underrated and deserves more positive recognition, often defending it against negative reviews.
- Players report varying times to achieve all achievements, ranging from 30 to 80 hours. Many completed the game and its achievements before writing their reviews, indicating a thorough engagement.
- The game is available on multiple platforms, including PC, Switch, and mobile. Some players own it on several platforms, noting the mobile version is cheaper and well-suited for tablet play.
- Players frequently request features to mitigate difficulty spikes and improve quality of life, such as an easy mode, a 'death preview' or warning system, a save/load function, and an undo button for turns.
- The game is often compared to other roguelike deckbuilders like Slay the Spire and Monster Train. While some find it challenging, others note it's not as difficult for experienced players, though it requires more strategic thinking than 'brain-off' mobile games.
