Info about Balantica: Official game description: **Balancing Hope** ------------------ * **Managing the Hope of Two Souls** Assigning cards to the twins adds hope to each side of the scale. If the difference in their hope grows too large, the scale will tip, and its balance will begin to falter. When the scale tips completely and balance cannot be restored, its health decreases. Additionally, failing to accumulate enough hope to surpass the set despair value for each trial also reduces the scale’s health. If the scale’s health is fully depleted, the journey can no longer continue. * **Evolving Relationships** After each trial, the tilt of the scale affects the twins’ relationship. With strong Rapport, building hope becomes easier. In states of Conflict, it becomes much harder. **Strategically Build and Use Your Cards** ------------------------------------------ * **A Variety of Card Effects** Cards assigned to the twins do more than give hope-they offer a variety of effects. Plan your deck carefully, considering the synergies between card effects. * **Exclusive Cards** Some cards can only be assigned to one twin. Strategize your deck composition while keeping the number of exclusive cards in mind. **Choices on the Journey** -------------------------- * **Crossroads of Dilemmas** The path to the alter, the final destination, splits into many routes. At these crossroads, the twins will encounter various individuals and face unexpected situations. Release date: Dec 16, 2024 Categories: Roguelike Deckbuilder, Card-based Combat, Choice-based Narrative, Side-scrolling, Multiple Endings, Dark Fantasy, Resource Management, Single-player - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: No data - Playtime Metrics: - Game completion: 2.0h - Story completion: N/A - Session length: 1.0h - Endgame: 25.0h - Reasoning: The 30-90 minute run length and the 60-minute playtime quote support a typical session length of about 1 hour. The 25-hour quote tied to 21 of 23 achievements supports an endgame/achievement-hunting duration of roughly 25 hours. The 'not more than 2 hours of gameplay currently' quote is the only rough total-content/completion estimate, so game completion is set to 2 hours with low confidence. No reliable exact story-completion time is provided, so story completion remains null. - Time-to-fun: - Summary: The strongest direct reports describe the game as never clicking: players call it boring, repetitive, and abandon it before the required click goal. Positive comments on atmosphere, progression, and engaging gameplay conflict with this but do not supply a clear time or event after which fun begins. - Stance: Never clicks - Anchor: N/A - Time to anchor: N/A - Friction: Repetitive gameplay between runs; No permanent upgrades or meta-progression for another run; High click grind before reaching required goals; Unskippable tutorial; Weak plot and story arc; Limited event variety between runs - Unlock drivers: N/A - Conditions: Liking roguelike/deck-building games; Tolerance for repetitive runs with few events; Tolerance for click-intensive progression; Acceptance of no permanent upgrades between runs; Appreciation for art and general atmosphere - Player Archetypes: - Narrative Replayability Seeker (no buy) - Motivation: To experience stronger story focus, more diversity, and meaningful replay routes. - Playstyle: Story-focused play with attention to branching and replay variety. - Experience: familiar - Purchase stance: no buy - Labels: N/A - Reference games: N/A - RNG-Weary Deckbuilding Veteran (no buy) - Motivation: To master deckbuilding and achievement completion without excessive RNG grind. - Playstyle: Optimizes decks, chases hard achievements, and compares systems against genre peers. - Experience: veteran - Purchase stance: no buy - Labels: N/A - Reference games: Balantica - Art Integrity Advocate (no buy) - Motivation: To support games with original, human-made art rather than AI-generated images. - Playstyle: Purchase-cautious; evaluates art provenance before committing to play. - Experience: mixed - Purchase stance: no buy - Labels: N/A - Reference games: N/A - Relaxed PvE Casual (buy) - Motivation: To have fun and relax in a low-pressure PvE game with a cool concept. - Playstyle: Casual PvE sessions focused on enjoyment rather than optimization. - Experience: newcomer - Purchase stance: buy - 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: - Extremely fun and well-made (weight 0.43): Players consistently describe the game as incredibly fun, excellent, and near-perfect in gameplay. The overall quality is highly praised. - Unique and novel concept (weight 0.34): The concept is repeatedly described as unique, novel, and excellent. It offers an interesting take on the card game genre. - High quality for free (weight 0.26): Players are impressed by the quality of the game considering it is free. Many find it surprisingly polished for a free title. - Appealing art style (weight 0.26): The art style is frequently praised as good, clean, and appealing. Its hand-illustrated and charming graphics add personality. - Overall enjoyable experience (weight 0.23): Many find the game good, fun, and relaxing, with creative elements that enhance enjoyment. It provides a satisfying experience. - Strategic balance mechanic (weight 0.21): The balance mechanic is interesting and adds strategic depth. Keeping the scale level is engaging and fun. - Good music and sound (weight 0.21): The music and sounds are fitting, enjoyable, and immersive. They enhance the overall atmosphere. - Cool story (weight 0.21): The game has a cool and interesting story that is well done. It adds depth to the overall experience. - Satisfying deckbuilding mechanics (weight 0.18): The deckbuilding and balancing mechanics are familiar yet enjoyable, with cardplay feeling rewarding. Players appreciate the strategic depth. - Unique deckbuilding roguelike (weight 0.18): The game is recognized as a creative and unique deckbuilding roguelike. Its novel approach stands out among similar games. - High replayability (weight 0.12): The game is easy to replay and offers lasting fun. Its simple yet engaging nature encourages repeated sessions. - Easy to learn, hard to master (weight 0.12): The game is simple enough to understand but challenging to master. This balance keeps players engaged. - Fun card synergies (weight 0.12): Card synergies are fun and provide a dopamine rush. They make deckbuilding and cardplay more rewarding. - Gloomy atmosphere (weight 0.12): The gloomy atmosphere adds uniqueness and is appreciated by players. It contributes to the game's distinct feel. - Variety from special items (weight 0.12): Special items and tricks add variety alongside cards. They enhance strategic options and replayability. Common complaints: - Low replayability and repetition (weight 0.8): Reviewers note excessive repetition of events, lack of meta-progression, and near-zero replayability despite the roguelike structure. Runs feel samey and become boring after a few attempts. - Bugs and freezes (weight 0.58): Multiple game-breaking bugs are reported, including freezes during boss battles, black screens, and UI elements disappearing. These issues force restarts and abandon progress. - AI-generated art criticized (weight 0.5): Many reviewers complain that card and background illustrations are AI-generated, calling it lazy and disrespectful to original art. This significantly hurts the game's visual appeal and their willingness to recommend it. - Final boss extreme difficulty (weight 0.46): The final boss is repeatedly described as a massive difficulty spike, with unfair mechanics like hand-full-of-curse-cards and punishing card draws. Several reviewers gave up or could not defeat it even after many attempts. - Lack of clear hints (weight 0.41): The game provides insufficient information on mechanics, boss conditions, and achievements, forcing trial and error. Many players feel lost about how to progress or unlock content. - Hope mechanic becomes frustrating (weight 0.39): Filling hope becomes difficult in later stages, with unclear calculations and harsh penalties. The final boss requires 6666 hope, which many find impossible without specific conditions. - Audio and visual presentation lacking (weight 0.35): The music is mediocre and not memorable, with short obvious loops. Visual inconsistencies and dark effects make cards hard to see during key moments. - Difficulty balance inconsistent (weight 0.32): Some find the game too easy, beating it with random cards without strategy, while others find it very difficult. The difficulty is described as somewhat off, requiring a tight deck to progress. - Poor localization and typos (weight 0.31): The English and Simplified Chinese translations are criticized for errors, unclear card effects, and mistranslations. This affects gameplay clarity and overall polish. - Missing features and polish (weight 0.31): The game lacks controller support, voiceover, card compendium, and an inventory list in the codex. The tutorial is unskippable but cannot be viewed again. - Story and characters underdeveloped (weight 0.28): The plot, conflict, and story arc are criticized as terrible or below average. There is little information about the siblings and no scenes showing them communicating. - Unfair RNG and randomness (weight 0.26): Randomness heavily influences deckbuilding and outcomes, with cards rarely forming effective combos unless lucky. Random effects can also ruin runs by tanking relationship meters or forcing suspended states. - Forced powerful deck limits freedom (weight 0.26): The game effectively requires a very powerful deck, reducing deck-building freedom and card variety. The initial deck cannot be modified, and many items have lackluster effects. - Second phase not communicated (weight 0.24): The game does not make it clear that you need to reach the boss twice to make his second phase fair. Players are confused by the sudden rule changes and additional hope requirements. - Art style unoriginal and inconsistent (weight 0.22): The art style is accused of being copied from other games, and visuals are inconsistent between dark backgrounds and chibi characters. The art direction feels abandoned, making the game look ugly. - No permanent progression between runs (weight 0.21): There are no permanent upgrades or meta-progression, so players start from zero each time. This makes defeats feel unwinnable and the roguelike mechanic frustrating. - UI and mechanics unclear (weight 0.21): Action buttons do not stand out, effect cards are unclear to use, and hope calculation is not intuitive. The 'used twice' mechanic is also confusing. - Map and routing too linear (weight 0.17): The map appears to offer choices but forces players through key marks and all mid-bosses, limiting freedom. Map composition is lacking with few branches and mostly events, trials, and bosses. - Achievement and end-game grind (weight 0.16): The most difficult achievement requires thousands of repetitions, and some players gave up after hundreds of clicks. The end-game conditions may be harder than fighting the boss. Gameplay feedback: - Roguelike deckbuilder genre (weight 0.75): Many reviewers identify the game as a roguelike deckbuilder or deckbuilding roguelike, often mentioning card synergy. This is the core genre classification repeated across multiple clusters. - Card-based combat mechanics (weight 0.55): Players describe the game as a card battler where cards are used for combat and strategy. It includes card collection and deckbuilding elements. - Balance scale core mechanic (weight 0.43): A unique balance-scale system is central to gameplay, where players must manage the tilt to avoid penalties. This mechanic is frequently mentioned as a distinctive feature. - Similar to Slay the Spire (weight 0.22): Several reviewers note similarities to Slay the Spire in enemy design, card play, and progression. This comparison highlights the game's inspirations. - Roguelike permadeath progression (weight 0.21): As a roguelike, death restarts progress from the beginning, requiring multiple runs. This structure is typical of the genre. - Multi-phase boss fights (weight 0.17): Boss battles feature multiple stages or phases, adding complexity to combat encounters. This is noted by some reviewers as a challenging aspect. - Journey with twins (weight 0.13): Players accompany two twins on a journey to an altar, guiding them safely. This narrative premise is a key element of the game's structure. - Card synergies matter (weight 0.13): Deck synergy is important for success, as cards work together in powerful combinations. Reviewers highlight synergy as a key strategic element. - Hope point card effects (weight 0.12): Cards have effects related to hope points and are used by dragging onto characters. This mechanic ties into the game's theme and strategy. - Unique concept and system (weight 0.12): The game features a unique concept with distinctive systems and cards. Reviewers appreciate its originality in the deckbuilding space. - Deckbuilding with RNG (weight 0.12): Deckbuilding involves randomness and specific card types like courage, discard, hope afterimage, draw, and search. This adds variability to each run. - Multiple decks to collect (weight 0.12): The game offers different decks that players can collect and use, enhancing replayability. This is a common deckbuilding feature mentioned. - Sibling affection system (weight 0.12): There is an affection system between the siblings, adding a relationship dynamic. This may influence gameplay or narrative. - Cards have no cost (weight 0.11): Cards do not have a cost, which is an unusual deckbuilding design choice. This affects how players strategize during combat. Performance notes: - Black screen room entry bug (weight 0.07): One player reports a black screen triggered when entering a room, and the issue persists even after restarting the game. This blocks progress and is a significant functional defect despite being reported only once. - Runs on low-end hardware (weight 0.06): A reviewer notes the game runs even on very low-end hardware, indicating strong performance and broad accessibility. This is positive feedback on optimization. Recommendations: - Recommended for deckbuilder fans (weight 0.5): Reviewers consistently recommend the game to fans of deck-building and roguelike games, often comparing it to titles like Slay the Spire and Inscryption. - Strong overall recommendation (weight 0.5): Many reviewers give a strong positive recommendation, urging others to play the game. Some give it a perfect score. - Positive because free (weight 0.38): Multiple reviewers highlight that the game is free and therefore offers great value. They recommend it especially because there is no cost to try. - Lack of run diversity criticized (weight 0.12): Some reviewers cannot recommend the game in its current state due to insufficient variety between runs, but would recommend it if more diversity were added. - AI-generated images concern (weight 0.11): A few reviewers express hesitation or advise skipping the game because it uses AI-generated art. - Try for 1-2 hours only (weight 0.06): One reviewer suggests the game is worth trying for a short time to experience the scale mechanic, but considers it a waste of time beyond that. - Not for roguelike progression haters (weight 0.06): The game is not recommended for players who dislike roguelike mechanics that lack permanent progression. - Difficult for deckbuilding novices (weight 0.06): Players who are not skilled at deck-building games may find the game challenging. - Tutorial recommended (weight 0.06): One reviewer advises reading the tutorial carefully when starting the game. - Expand and polish for paid release (weight 0.06): A reviewer suggests expanding the game's volume and polishing details for a potential paid release. - Harsh criticism of game quality (weight 0.06): One reviewer strongly criticizes the game, calling it slop and urging the developers to make a real game next time. - Desire for similar future games (weight 0.06): A reviewer expresses interest in playing similar games in the future. Other player notes: - Compared to Slay the Spire (weight 0.31): Players frequently compare the game's mechanics and style to Slay the Spire. One reviewer notes it is similar but focuses on managing two siblings' emotions instead of fighting monsters. - Small content volume (weight 0.3): The game has few cards and a small amount of content, leading to short playthroughs of roughly 30 to 90 minutes. Some feel it lacks enough content for more than 2 hours. - Compared to Don't Starve (weight 0.27): Several reviewers compare the art style and themes to Don't Starve, citing character designs, background trees, and the store page banner. The dark world and promise are also mentioned. - Free-to-play on Steam (weight 0.22): Multiple reviews highlight that the game is free on Steam. This is a key draw for many players. - Localization quality varies (weight 0.21): Simplified Chinese support was added but translation quality is mediocre. Japanese localization is nearly perfect with minor typos, and Korean is fully localized. - Still receiving updates (weight 0.17): The game appears to still be receiving updates. A bug was quickly fixed in version 1.1.1, and reviewers look forward to coming-weeks updates. - Has achievements (weight 0.16): The game includes achievements, including Daruma achievements. Some players note little replayability beyond achievement hunting. - High production for free game (weight 0.12): Reviewers note high production quality and depth for a free game. The game offers more playtime than expected. - Short but replayable (weight 0.12): Despite being short, the game offers a ton of replayability according to one reviewer. Others find little replay value beyond achievements. - Missing language support (weight 0.12): The game lacks Chinese and French language support, as noted by some players. This limits accessibility for non-English speakers. - Compared to Inscryption (weight 0.12): The game is compared to Inscryption, with one reviewer describing it as a smaller version. Another mentions watching it but not playing. - Developed by Team Hanzan (weight 0.11): The game is developed by Team Hanzan, the same studio behind EXE.CUTOR, which is noted as easier. - Developed in six months (weight 0.07): The game was made in about six months through KRAFTON's game developer training program. This may explain the small scope. - Scored 2/5 (weight 0.07): One reviewer gave the game a low score of 2 out of 5. This indicates mixed reception among players. - Missing endings not disclosed (weight 0.07): The absence of boss and other endings is mentioned in patch notes but not in the game description. This lack of transparency frustrates some players. - Asked if still demo (weight 0.06): One reviewer questions whether the game is still a demo due to its limited content. This reflects confusion about the game's completeness. - Codex lacks inventory list (weight 0.06): The in-game codex does not include an inventory list, which some players find inconvenient. - No VR support (weight 0.06): The game does not support VR, as noted by one reviewer. This limits immersion for VR enthusiasts. Emotions: - Frustration (weight 0.18): Players are frustrated by severe difficulty spikes, especially the final boss and the 6666 hope requirement, which often feel unwinnable or unfair. Numerous bugs—such as frozen boss battles, stuck pop-ups, and disappearing turn-end buttons—block progress and force restarts. RNG-dependent card draws and unclear choice consequences further compound the sense of wasted time and lack of control. - Disappointment (weight 0.12): Disappointment centers on wasted potential, with complaints about AI-generated art replacing the original style, missing content such as bosses and endings, and low replayability. Players also cite poor story execution, an unskippable tutorial, and a lack of language support, making the game feel unfinished despite its charming premise. - Enjoyment (weight 0.11): Players enjoy the unique deckbuilding system that controls siblings' courage and hope, finding the balance mechanic fresh and engaging. Fun card synergies, short runs, and the immersive atmosphere keep them entertained, with time flying by during play. - Satisfaction (weight 0.05): Satisfaction stems from the high-quality experience of a free game, with engaging cardplay and deckbuilding that feel rewarding. Overcoming difficult bosses through trial and error, discovering builds, and pulling off combos contribute to a strong sense of accomplishment. - Appreciation (weight 0.04): Players appreciate the dark atmospheric art, haunting music, and the novel scale-balancing concept that represents respecting companions' values. The unique visual style and solid mechanics are highlighted as standout features. - Curiosity (weight 0.03): Curiosity is sparked by unclear mechanics, such as how 11.2% of players passed a boss fight, the conditions for branches and achievements, and the depth of strategy yet to be discovered. - Liking (weight 0.03): Players like the beautiful black-and-white hand-drawn art, the sibling cooperation theme, and the unique scale-balancing system, which together create a compelling atmosphere. - Admiration (weight 0.03): Admiration arises from the high production quality for a free game, with well-made artwork, dreamy atmosphere, and a surprisingly polished experience. - Excitement (weight 0.03): Excitement comes from the engaging deck-building gameplay that can lead to marathon sessions, the fresh goal of balancing the scale, and the dopamine rush when hope pours out. Diverse playstyles and card synergies keep players hooked. - Interest (weight 0.02): Interest is driven by the balance mechanic and the lack of energy restrictions on card use, offering a fresh focus on inner conflict. The simple yet novel system evolves as the game progresses, maintaining engagement. - Boredom (weight 0.02): Boredom sets in due to monotony in later stages, with repetitive events and scenarios that fail to sustain excitement, making the game feel as dull as wet cardboard. - Fun (weight 0.02): Fun is found in the roguelike deckbuilding with no card costs and challenging difficulty that keeps players engaged. Breaking the game's intended constraints adds an extra layer of enjoyment. - Mild frustration (weight 0.02): Mild frustration occurs when keys do not always appear in required locations, making progression feel unfair, and when tight deck requirements or tough bosses like the devil block advancement. - Confusion (weight 0.02): Confusion arises from unclear goals, such as how to reach the 6666 hope requirement, unlock certain achievements, or use effect cards properly on the first play. - Pleasant surprise (weight 0.02): Players are pleasantly surprised by the high-quality production and fun gameplay, which exceeded low expectations and turned out to be easy and enjoyable. - Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust is directed at the use of AI-generated art and music, as well as an art style copied from another game, which players find off-putting. - Love (weight 0.01): Love is expressed for the incredible overall experience, combining art, story, and roguelike deckbuilding into a cohesive and captivating game. - Sadness (weight 0.01): Sadness comes from losing promising runs due to bad draws and the inability to save-scum, as well as tragic events within the game's narrative. - Challenge (weight 0.01): The game presents a challenge with its non-easy difficulty and the increasing difficulty of gathering hope in the mid-to-late game, requiring careful strategy. - Joy (weight 0.01): Joy is derived from the excellent gameplay mix and adorable story, with unique concepts and simple-but-deep rules that make players lose track of time.}