Info about Across the Obelisk: Amelia, the Queen:

Official game description:
Amelia, the Queen is a Hero Pack that introduces all-new strategies to Across the Obelisk. Create powerful new builds thanks to Amelia’s unique ability to bring cards from the vanish pile back into her deck. Build chilling cold damage decks and help Amelia on her desperate quest to save Senenthia.  
Amelia, the Queen Hero Pack contains:  
*   The Queen Amelia hero, complete with a new set of enchantment cards specializing in cold damage.  
*   A powerful ability unique to Amelia that allows for even greater depth in deckbuilding. Bring cards from the vanish pile back into your deck!  
*   Spellsword - Amelia’s unique resource that opens up a whole new world of combo possibilities.  
*   Rifty - a new pet with the ability to remove buffs from your enemies.  
*   New reply options for use during events, expanding the lore of Senenthia.  
*   Three new character skins fit for a queen.  
*   Three new card backs to keep your deck looking at its royal finest.  
*   Five new emotes. Ensure your party follows your royal decrees!
Driven by news of her daughter’s kidnapping, Amelia has returned to Senenthia to mount a daring rescue. Can you reunite the family before it’s too late?

Release date: Dec 12, 2023

Categories: Deckbuilding, Roguelike Deckbuilder, Cooperative Multiplayer, Card-based Gameplay, RPG, Character Progression, Meta-Progression, Cold Damage and Chill Mechanics

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 10; verdict: Fair / Traditional Paid DLC; summary: The reviews discuss an optional character DLC priced around $5/€5, with disagreement over whether the content justifies the price. Some reviewers call it overpriced or advise waiting for a sale, while others say it is a good value and explicitly reject pay-to-win framing. No review provides direct evidence of in-game purchases, gacha pulls, loot boxes, paid power, paid convenience, battle passes, or currency obfuscation. The evidence supports a traditional paid-DLC model, not predatory monetization.
- Proton/Linux: score 0; verdict: No Linux-specific evidence; summary: The provided reviews contain no explicit references to Linux, Proton, SteamOS, Wine, or a native Linux build. The only complaints concern the Paradox launcher and a launch crash after uninstalling it; under the audit rules, these generic launcher and crash reports cannot be counted as Linux/Proton compatibility evidence.
- Steam Deck: score 70; verdict: Broken: Launch Failures; summary: The review set contains no explicit Steam Deck-specific reports, but the dominant technical theme is the Paradox launcher plus startup failures. Several users describe the launcher as required, poorly made, ad-serving, or newly inserted; others say it is bypassable or harmless. A subset reports the game crashing on launch or failing to open after launcher or DLC changes, which pushes the experience into the broken band.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $5.00 - $15.00
  - Reasoning: Direct base-game pricing evidence is sparse, but the clearest comments show strong price sensitivity: one reviewer recommends buying only at a heavy discount, and another says non-co-op players should avoid it and calls the current pricing too high. DLC-specific comments were excluded. This supports a low fair base-game range, roughly single-digit to low-teens USD, rather than a full-price premium range.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: N/A
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: These quotes provide only broad total-playtime references for Across the Obelisk, and the 50-hour comment explicitly says it is unrelated to the DLC. No review states a completion time, story length, average session duration, or a quantified DLC/endgame duration, so all four playtime metrics are left null.
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes:
  - Hardcore Deck Synergy Min-Maxer (buy)
    - Motivation: Optimizing character and status-effect synergies to build efficient teams.
    - Playstyle: Theorycrafts mage/insanity/chill teams, compares stacking rates, and min-maxes run efficiency.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Casual Co-op Dabbler (buy)
    - Motivation: Lighthearted social fun and easy-to-understand deckbuilding.
    - Playstyle: Plays goofy multiplayer runs with simple builds and low-pressure experimentation.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Value-Conscious Character Buyer (sale)
    - Motivation: Getting a new character/pet with unique playstyle at a fair price.
    - Playstyle: Builds around the new character and pet, but waits for discounts unless strongly attached to the character.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A


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:
- Fun and versatile new character (weight 0.74): The new character is widely praised as fun, interesting, and versatile across multiple clusters. Players enjoy her in both standard and sandbox modes.
- Affordable and good value (weight 0.72): Many reviewers find the DLC reasonably priced and a good deal, especially considering the hours of gameplay it offers. The pricing feels right for the content provided.
- Frost mage is extremely strong (weight 0.55): When played as a Frost mage, the character is extremely powerful, with some builds considered broken. She excels as a front liner and pure damage dealer, making high-difficulty runs easier.
- Pet is awesome and strong (weight 0.51): The new pet is highly praised for being both cool and powerful. It offers useful abilities like buff purging and stealing, and synergizes well with certain builds.
- DLC adds substantial content (weight 0.46): The DLC introduces a new character, a new pet, and fresh mechanics, providing a ton of new content. It is seen as a good update for an already great game.
- New hero has interesting kit (weight 0.45): The new hero's abilities and playstyle are considered fun and unique, adding a fresh dynamic to the game. Her kit encourages new builds and strategies.
- Amelia is a fun heroine (weight 0.38): Amelia is described as a complex and enjoyable character, providing a blast to play. Her design and gameplay appeal to many reviewers.
- Enjoyable solo and co-op (weight 0.36): The game is fun both solo and with a partner, and even those who typically dislike card games can enjoy it. Multiplayer can be casual or competitive, adding to the experience.
- Free update adds great stuff (weight 0.26): Each DLC coincides with a free update that adds great content to the game, enhancing the overall experience. Players love the new content.
- Seamless experience with launcher (weight 0.25): Despite the addition of a launcher, the experience remains seamless, and achievements are still available. The Paradox launcher is minimally invasive.
- Queen drives DLC purchase (weight 0.21): The queen character is the main reason some reviewers want to buy the DLC, and she is considered fun to play. Her presence is a strong selling point.
- Simple yet complex gameplay (weight 0.21): The game is easy to learn but offers deep complexity, appealing to both casual and hardcore players. Every run is unique with immense possibilities.
- Immense replayability with friends (weight 0.21): The game offers high replayability, especially when played with friends. It is described as a riot, providing endless fun.
- Adds great story options (weight 0.2): The DLC introduces additional story options that enrich the game's narrative. Players appreciate the new lore and story branches.
- Rifts and map warp points (weight 0.18): The rifts can shake up planned routes, and map warp points allow players to swap sides of the map, adding more routing choices and strategic depth.
- Unique floating magic swords (weight 0.12): The character's floating magic swords mechanic is a fun and unique feature that adds to her appeal. This ability sets her apart from other characters.
- Eldritch ability provides survivability (weight 0.12): The Eldritch ability grants the character exceptional survivability, making her a robust choice in tough situations. This ability is a key part of her kit.
- Tank spec is interesting (weight 0.12): Speccing the character into a tank role makes her even more interesting to play. This provides an alternative playstyle that is both viable and engaging.
- Unique interactions with base game (weight 0.12): The character has unique interactions with the base game, adding depth and freshness. This integration makes her feel like a meaningful addition.
- Ice Lance yellow variant reworked (weight 0.11): The Ice Lance yellow variant has been reworked to deal mind and ice damage, cost 0, and vanish, which can deal high damage with the damage perk tree. This change adds new strategic options.

Common complaints:
- Unwanted launcher with ads (weight 0.74): Players strongly dislike the forced Paradox launcher, which shows ads for other games and was added without warning. Some believe it exists to sell player data, and many threaten refunds unless it is removed.
- Queen lacks speed and damage (weight 0.36): The Queen lacks speed for a tank role and cannot deal damage well as a mage-type character, with her cards giving tank-like shields and poor damage output. She becomes weak later due to no consistent damage source and no reliable cost reduction.
- Amelia lacks mind damage cards (weight 0.31): Half of Amelia's talent tree and mechanics focus on Mind damage, but the normal mage card pool has almost no usable cards for it. Players note that dealing actual mind damage requires specific items or her conversion cards, limiting build options.
- Ice damage is weak overall (weight 0.3): Players consider ice damage ineffective in the game's numerical design, with ice spells being weak and the Queen's ice-focused damage output disappointing. Block generation from ice spells is also underutilized.
- Queen's best gear tied to rifts (weight 0.3): Her best equipment is tied to specific Rift events in the first three acts, forcing very specific routes on the world map. Since Rift events are absent from the final zone, obtaining duplicates is unlikely.
- DLC not worth the price (weight 0.3): Many players feel the DLC is overpriced for the content it offers, with the new character adding little value in cards and mechanics. Buying the character feels unsatisfying and not worth the cost.
- Block mechanics underutilized (weight 0.28): Ice spells grant block but few cards utilize it, and block is of negligible use at higher difficulties when a healer/tank is present. The only mage card converting block to damage has vanish, limiting its effectiveness.
- Queen underperforms Elementalist in chill (weight 0.23): The Queen stacks chill slower and deals less total and ice damage than an Elementalist with an elemental weapon, even without the Glass Cannon talent. This makes her feel weak compared to existing options.
- Saves invalidated by updates (weight 0.22): Existing runs became invalid after the latest update, and ongoing games are lost because they are incompatible with the current version. This causes frustration and lost progress.
- Confusing and ineffective stacking cap (weight 0.22): The Queen has a confusing stacking cap that, on higher difficulties, makes applying insanity with three characters somewhat pointless. Players feel diversifying debuffs is needed instead.
- Card pool dilutes focused play (weight 0.22): Her card deck pool offers cards for every element, enlarging the draw pile and making focused play unnecessarily hard. Additionally, barely any new cards are added, limiting deck-building options.
- Amelia only good as frost mage (weight 0.13): Amelia is considered viable almost exclusively as a frost mage, with her other builds underperforming. This lack of versatility makes the character less appealing.
- Cold/chill glued onto other builds (weight 0.12): Players feel the developers keep trying to make cold/chill useful only by gluing it onto other builds, rather than making it a viable standalone strategy.
- Lack of mage card support (weight 0.12): There is a lack of good mage card support for Amelia, specifically spell sword and 2-cost spell options, limiting her build diversity.
- Character not dual-class (weight 0.12): The character was released after two dual-class characters but is not dual-class herself, which players find disappointing and less powerful.
- Willbur is better wizard choice (weight 0.12): In the wizard slot, Willbur is considered the better choice because he is a god-tier mana battery, overshadowing the Queen's utility.
- Book of Wisdom weakened (weight 0.12): The Book of Wisdom was weakened so printed scrolls are always white instead of matching the book's color, reducing its value.
- Game repetitive past 50 hours (weight 0.12): The game becomes very repetitive past 50 hours even on Madness difficulty, reducing long-term engagement.
- Halloween skin pack greedy (weight 0.11): The developers acted greedily with the Halloween skin pack despite community support, according to some players.

Gameplay feedback:
- DLC adds playable hero character (weight 0.86): The DLC introduces a new playable character, often described as a frost mage queen, with unique skins, card backs, and gameplay. This is the most frequently mentioned aspect of the DLC.
- Unique companion pet included (weight 0.57): The DLC includes a pet that can purge buffs from enemies and later steal them when upgraded, adding a new tactical layer.
- Adds new cards and mechanics (weight 0.49): The DLC introduces new cards, such as Winter Orb and Ice Lance variants, and new mechanics like stacking layer caps and warp points.
- Mind damage skill tree (weight 0.43): Part of the character's talent tree and mechanics focus on Mind damage, with skills including an Insanity portion and an Eldritch ability.
- Rift events for unique gear (weight 0.41): Her best gear is obtained through Rift events in the first three acts, which also provide party experience and unique equipment for non-traditional damage types.
- Card-based gameplay with unlocks (weight 0.41): The game revolves around cards and mechanics tied to characters, with characters typically unlocked through gameplay or purchase.
- Unique story interactions (weight 0.36): The character has unique dialogue options, rewards, and world map interactions that integrate with the base game's story.
- Enhances insanity team compositions (weight 0.35): The new character synergizes with existing insanity builds, allowing three characters to apply insanity and benefiting from chill stacks.
- Diverse game modes (weight 0.33): The game features adventure mode, sandbox mode, runs with varied possibilities, and a Madness difficulty.
- Frost mage build options (weight 0.29): The new character can be built as a Frost mage, a front liner, or a pure Ice spell mage, offering flexible playstyles.
- Multiplayer and team roles (weight 0.26): The game supports multiplayer with class roles such as tank and damage dealer, and higher difficulties often require a healer/tank.
- Damage perks and talents (weight 0.25): A +damage perk tree and the Glass Cannon talent (+60% damage for -25 HP) allow for min-maxing strategies.
- Dual-class and ice damage (weight 0.19): The game includes dual-class characters and an ice damage type, with class roles such as tank and damage dealer.
- Ice spells and block synergy (weight 0.18): Ice spells can grant block, and the Winter Orb card converts block to damage, enabling synergy between defense and offense.
- Amelia hero with potential (weight 0.18): Amelia is a hero with unlockable potential, a skill tree partly based on mental damage, and a floating magic swords mechanic.
- Card duplication and crafting (weight 0.16): Characters can have multiple copies of cards and craft more, though corrupted items can provide duplicates.
- Free update alongside DLC (weight 0.16): A free update was released alongside the DLC, adding features such as warp points and new mechanics.
- Book of Wisdom scroll mechanics (weight 0.14): The Book of Wisdom prints scrolls, and scroll colors used to match the book's color, indicating a crafting or item system.
- Chill stacking effect (weight 0.14): Chill is a stacking effect that can add a bonus when combined with insanity stacks.
- Frost Swords trait and card (weight 0.1): The Frost Swords level 3 trait provides access to a specific card, adding depth to the character's progression.

Performance notes:
- DLC purchase causes launch failure (weight 0.23): After buying the DLC, the game gets stuck on an endless loading screen and cannot be launched. This issue appears consistently for affected players.
- Paradox launcher blocks game launch (weight 0.22): The Paradox launcher prevents the game from launching, causing errors over multiple days. Uninstalling the launcher can also lead to crashes on launch.

Recommendations:
- Recommended if you enjoy base game (weight 0.51): Multiple reviewers recommend buying the DLC if you already like the base game, indicating it is a natural extension for fans. This sentiment is positive but conditional on prior enjoyment.
- Wait for a sale (weight 0.29): Several reviewers suggest waiting for a discount due to general DLC pricing concerns or uncertainty about value. This reflects a common cautious purchasing stance.
- Support quality developers (weight 0.28): Some reviewers highly recommend the game and encourage supporting the developers because the product is high quality. This reflects appreciation for the base game's quality.
- Strong Frost specialist recommendation (weight 0.22): Players looking for a powerful Frost specialist or frost mage for the elementalist will find this DLC worthwhile. The character fills a specific elemental niche.
- Mixed value opinions after play (weight 0.22): Some players feel the DLC is not worth its price after spending more time with the character, while others consider it a good value purchase. Opinions on value are divided.
- Avoid forced launcher requirement (weight 0.21): Some reviewers advise against purchasing games that force players to install a new launcher, citing it as a negative practice. This is a consumer protection warning.
- Not recommended by some (weight 0.21): A few reviewers explicitly advise against buying or recommend skipping the DLC, indicating dissatisfaction. These negative views contrast with the positive recommendations.
- Easier Madness 16+ runs (weight 0.12): Including this character is recommended for making first Madness 16+ runs easier, suggesting it provides a gameplay advantage in high-difficulty content.
- Learn weaknesses before buying (weight 0.11): One reviewer suggests understanding the character's weaknesses before purchasing, implying the DLC may have drawbacks that should be considered.
- Play Evelin instead (weight 0.11): One reviewer suggests that players might as well play Evelin instead, implying this DLC character is not distinct or worthwhile compared to an existing option.

Other player notes:
- DLC price considered fair (weight 0.46): Reviewers find the DLC fairly priced and affordable, especially compared to other DLC. The game with all DLC is also sold at a low total price.
- Paid cosmetics and characters (weight 0.36): Amelia is sold as a DLC, and new characters are sold as paid content. Cosmetic skins, including a Halloween skin pack, are also paid.
- DLC brings fresh ideas (weight 0.29): The DLC is described as bringing fresh ideas and a large amount of new content. It includes a single character with skins, card backs, unique gameplay, and world map interactions.
- Queen underpowered vs Elementalist (weight 0.22): The Queen character is compared unfavorably to the free base-game Elementalist in damage and chill stacking. There is little reason to use her over Evelin.
- Negative reviews target launcher (weight 0.21): Many negative reviews for the DLC are unrelated to the hero, instead focusing on the launcher. The DLC itself does not add the launcher; it came with a separate update.
- DLC supports ongoing development (weight 0.2): Buying the DLC supports the developers and continued content. The game supports many hours of play.
- Publisher involvement and updates (weight 0.2): The game is published by Paradox and they are updating it. The developer secured a publisher and budget, which was communicated.
- DLC coincides with free patches (weight 0.2): DLC releases coincide with free patches that add content. The map warp points are part of the base update rather than this DLC.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.19): Players are frustrated by technical issues such as launcher errors, crashes, and endless loading screens that prevent the game from launching, as well as updates invalidating ongoing runs. Additionally, the queen DLC character suffers from unclear mechanics, weak damage, and poor scaling, while mind damage support is missing from the mage card pool and locked behind rift events.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.16): Players feel satisfied with the fair content-to-price ratio of the DLC, which adds a fun new character, pet, and mechanics without disrupting achievements or seamless co-op play. The new hero enhances deck variety and replayability at a reasonable cost.
- Disappointment (weight 0.13): Disappointment stems from the DLC offering very little new content, especially too few cards, and the ice mage character underperforming with low damage and wasted potential. The paid character feels not worth the price and lacks unique interactions, making it a poor value compared to free unlocks.
- Annoyance (weight 0.07): Annoyance is primarily caused by the forced introduction of the Paradox launcher, which brings repeated error messages and distracts from reviewing the DLC content itself. Players are irritated that the launcher is pointless and intrusive.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.06): Enthusiasm is driven by the fun and powerful queen character, particularly Amelia, and the unique runs and immense replayability the game offers. The new character and rifts are seen as improving the overall experience.
- Fun (weight 0.04): Players find fun in playing Amelia as a heroine, utilizing her floating magic swords and building her as a tank. The character's playstyle is consistently described as enjoyable.
- Anger (weight 0.04): Anger arises from the DLC making the game unplayable without a refund, and the forced implementation of a new launcher with no warning that displays ads. This combination feels deceptive and frustrating.
- Amusement (weight 0.03): Amusement is derived from the game being a riot despite launcher complaints, and from mocking those who complain about the launcher. The situation is seen as humorous rather than serious.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.03): Enjoyment comes from the new character being fun and versatile, providing a fresh and entertaining experience for players.
- Happiness (weight 0.03): Happiness is felt because Paradox is updating the game and supporting developers, and the new character is fun with a reasonable price comparable to a skin.
- Interest (weight 0.01): Interest is sparked by the queen being a frost mage DLC character, appealing to players who enjoy ice-themed magic and new character concepts.
- Impressed (weight 0.01): Players are impressed by the character's overwhelming power across several builds, demonstrating strong and versatile performance.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust is caused by perceived greedy monetization of the Halloween skin pack, which players view as an exploitative practice.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Appreciation is expressed for the character and the added story options, which enrich the game's narrative and gameplay.
- Love (weight 0.01): Love for the DLC is due to it including a great character, an awesome pet, and lots of new content, making it a highly valued addition.
- Admiration (weight 0.01): Admiration is felt because the game is a prime example of a high-quality product worth supporting, reflecting strong overall design and developer dedication.
- Self-deprecation (weight 0.01): Self-deprecation arises from feeling too stupid to unlock Amelia's full potential, indicating the character's complexity may be daunting.
- Reluctance (weight 0.01): Reluctance is felt about picking the Queen a third time due to her low value, suggesting the character lacks long-term appeal.
- Supportiveness (weight 0.01): Supportiveness is driven by a desire to support the developers, likely due to appreciation for their work and updates.
- Regret (weight 0.01): Regret is felt after buying the DLC despite knowing the ice element deals the least damage, leading to a sense of wasted purchase.}