- Engaging, strategic card combat system is a highlight.
- Excellent sound design and compelling soundtrack.
- Compelling plot with psychological elements.
- Unique hand-based combat and exploration blend.
- Inconsistent horror and narrative execution.
- Lacking polish and some technical issues.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 93% · Negative 7%. Score: 7 / 100
Positives:
- The card-based combat is engaging and strategically deep, with unique deck-building mechanics that allow for powerful strategies. The game's difficulty is well-balanced and the roguelike elements encourage experimentation and replayability, making the combat surprisingly enjoyable.
- The game features excellent sound design and an original soundtrack that greatly enhances the atmosphere and overall experience. The audio creates a unique and immersive environment, with some reviewers noting ASMR-like qualities and goosebump-inducing effects.
- The game features a compelling and interesting plot with a psychedelic, stream-of-consciousness narrative style. The storytelling employs subtle metaphors and fragmented storytelling, creating a world of encroaching madness.
- The game features a high-quality translation that avoids the unnatural feel of machine translation. This ensures that the narrative and dialogue are easily understood and contribute to the overall immersive experience.
- The game allows players to freely customize facial features and create their own GIFs, enabling diverse content creation and expression. This feature adds a layer of personalization and creativity to the game.
Negatives:
- Players feel that resource acquisition is too limited, making the game feel stingy. This limitation makes money loss particularly impactful, hindering player progression and potentially leading to frustrating loops.
- Enemies with counter-attacks after being hit once can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences. This mechanic can punish players for engaging in combat and disrupt the flow of gameplay.
- The absence of launch bundles has frustrated early adopters. Players feel cheated when they have to refund and repurchase the game to take advantage of bundle discounts later.
- Rare cards obtained after boss battles have significant drawbacks alongside their powerful effects. This design choice may limit the appeal and usability of these cards.
- The ending of the first chapter feels abrupt. This can leave players feeling unsatisfied and without a sense of closure.
Gameplay:
- The game incorporates psychological elements through card choices and 'thought whispers' (Mysterious, Logical, Action) that influence card effects and the protagonist's personality. This system affects the narrative and leads to multiple endings based on player choices.
- The game features a unique combat system where players use 'hand' cards to grab items and attack, with the 'heart' card representing HP. Items have varied attack types and persist between turns, adding a layer of strategic item management to the card battles.
- The game's narrative is divided into five chapters, presented as dreams, with player choices influencing the story and leading to multiple endings. The fragmented narrative encourages players to piece together the truth as they progress.
- The 'Nightmare Level' increases difficulty and can curse cards, requiring players to manage this mechanic. While items can lower the Nightmare Level, the limited options for curse reduction can make resource control feel weak.
- Battles are designed to be short, and the core gameplay revolves around balancing single versus multiple opponents and prioritizing front versus back rows. This encourages players to make quick, strategic decisions during combat.
Performance:
- The game's PC requirements are standard and not particularly demanding. This suggests that the game is well-optimized and accessible to a wide range of players with different hardware configurations. This point received a low importance score because it is not very specific or actionable.
Recommendations:
- The game is highly recommended and enjoyable, with many reviewers expressing strong satisfaction and anticipation of continued play. It's considered a worthwhile purchase, especially for fans of card games, unique art styles, and psychological themes. Some reviewers express that people who don't play the game are missing out.
- The game combines card deck building with strategic sense combination, drawing comparisons to "Slay the Spire" and "Inscryption". It is recommended for strategy enthusiasts and players who enjoy these types of games.
Miscellaneous:
- The game incorporates a deck-building card system with mechanics like bleeding effects. A key feature is the ability to customize card faces and animations with user-uploaded images, though the game lacks clear instructions on how to use this customization feature.
- The game contains collectibles and easter eggs, including references to 'Inscryption' and the film 'Le Voyage dans la Lune'. These hidden elements add depth and reward exploration.
- The game features a strange premise where the player needs to fix their face, which appears to be made of hands. This unusual concept is a core element of the game's narrative and visual identity.
- The stop-motion animation, particularly the character getting out of bed, is reminiscent of 'Coraline' and 'The Shivering Truth'. This animation style contributes to the game's unique aesthetic and evokes a specific mood.
- The game originated as a prototype developed during a 30-day game-making challenge. This context provides insight into the game's development process and potential limitations.
