Relief Review Summary

Striking hand-drawn art, addictive card roguelike depth with massive card and artifact variety, and a novel cyberpunk Journey to the West setting shine despite a crude UI and blurry visuals.

Striking character art: Reviewers consistently praise the character artwork and designs as excellent and striking. The visual appeal of the characters is a major highlight across multiple feedback clusters.

Satisfying and addictive gameplay: Players find the game fun, interesting, and quite addictive. The overall gameplay experience is described as comfortable, light, and very satisfying with no major problems.

Massive card and artifact variety: The game offers over 1000 cards and 300+ artifacts, enabling diverse combat strategies and rich build combinations. This high content volume is frequently highlighted as a strength.

Novel cyberpunk Journey to the West setting: The modern city cyberpunk take on Journey to the West with corrupted heroes is novel, creative, and atmospheric. The familiar setting feels welcoming yet refreshed.

Distinct characters with unique playstyles: Multiple selectable characters, especially the five spirit characters, have completely independent mechanics and build directions. This diversity makes deck construction varied and engaging.

Crude and unintuitive UI: Numerous reviewers describe the UI as crude, rough, and unintuitive, sometimes comparing it to an outdated Flash interface or a student project. The style is also seen as inconsistent across the game.

Blurry low-quality visuals: Players repeatedly report that graphics, card art, and assets appear blurry or below 1080p, giving the game a low visual fidelity. The overall art quality is considered poor.

Thin and cryptic story: Reviewers find the story incomprehensible or cryptic, with insufficient character background and plot development. Many note a lack of notable narrative.

Cluttered and messy presentation: The visuals and content are described as messy, with cluttered layouts making events hard to see. This contributes to an unpolished feel.

Bugs and untested card effects: Some cards fail to trigger effects correctly due to bugs, and minor glitches are still present. These issues suggest insufficient testing.

Card roguelike core gameplay: The game is fundamentally a turn-based card roguelike with deck-building and exploration elements. Players build decks and engage in card battles across runs.

Journey to the West setting: The game is themed around a post-Journey to the West urban legend world with Chinese mythological elements. This setting permeates the narrative and card design.

Card enchantment with random affixes: Cards can be enchanted with random affixes, often via incense earned from quests. This system allows for build customization and powerful synergies.

Multiple unlockable characters: Beyond the initial spirits, additional characters can be unlocked using spirit points. Each character has unique abilities, decks, artifacts, and passives.

Five distinct spirit characters: The game features five playable spirits, each with unique combat mechanics, exclusive card pools, and distinct playstyles. This adds significant replayability and strategic depth.

Game freezing and crashes: Players report the game freezing immediately after the first session, on the reward screen after battle victory causing lost rewards, and briefly when starting a battle. These freezes disrupt progression and can force save-exits.

General bug presence: Multiple reviewers note that bugs are present throughout the game, though some say they do not greatly affect play. This indicates a broadly noticeable but variably severe quality issue.

Card-play animation lag: Card play is slowed by waiting for current card animations and effect resolution to finish. This makes combat feel sluggish and unresponsive.

Ultrawide fullscreen UI scaling broken: In fullscreen on ultrawide monitors, the UI scaling is way off and renders the game unplayable. This is a significant display compatibility problem for ultrawide users.

BGM drops in ending cutscenes: The background music volume briefly drops out during ending cutscenes. This is a minor audio glitch that affects presentation quality.

Ideal for deck-building fans: Many reviewers recommend the game specifically to players who enjoy deck building and card roguelikes. It is repeatedly described as a safe pick for fans of the genre.

Strong card roguelike appeal: Multiple comments say the game is worth trying for card roguelike enthusiasts and offers a satisfying experience. The feedback consistently highlights its fit for this niche.

Recommended for card game players: Reviewers frequently recommend the game to card game enthusiasts and those who enjoy discovering new systems and combos. It is seen as easy to pick up for this audience.

General try recommendation: A recurring sentiment is that interested players should simply give the game a try. It is often framed as low-risk or worth experiencing.

Worth it on sale: Some reviewers condition their recommendation on price, suggesting the game is worthwhile if discounted or if the price feels justified. Others note the discounted price is still not cheap.

Reports describe a rough early game, expensive deck thinning, and unusual unlock progression, while the strongest positive evidence says the game becomes addictive once a build comes together. Late-game and balance complaints keep sentiment mixed, but the clearest supported profile is clicks after.

Friction: Weak early game; Expensive card removal; Unusual unlock currency requirement; Late-game bosses punish specific playstyles; Poor character and gameplay balance.

Unlock drivers: Completing tasks for incense; Shrine card enchantments with 14 effects; Assembling a coherent build.

Slay the Spire Veteran Deckbuilder: Optimizes builds, hunts key card synergies, and exploits mechanics such as shrine enchantments and free shop relics. Motivation: Mastering deckbuilding systems and comparing them against genre benchmarks like Slay the Spire. Stance: buy.

Casual Power-Fantasy & Character Art Enjoyer: Plays casually, leans on strong buffs and easy build formation, and picks characters by aesthetic appeal. Motivation: Relaxed, satisfying power growth and cute character art rather than deep optimization. Stance: buy.

Lore & Urban-Fantasy Immersion Player: Explores events, reads text and memes, and enjoys the setting and character roster. Motivation: Experiencing the post-Journey to the West urban legend world, humor, and character interactions. Stance: buy.

Heavy Slay the Spire Comparison: A large amount of feedback compares the game directly to Slay the Spire, often calling it a copy or reskin. Reviewers note shared cards, relics, and core structure, with some calling it unoriginal and others seeing it as a worthy substitute.

Responsive and Frequent Updates: Many reviewers praise the developer for frequent patches, quick bug fixes, and active engagement with player feedback. Updates are seen as sincere and responsive, with some noting overnight fixes for serious issues.

Strong Journey to the West Theme: Players consistently highlight the Journey to the West setting, especially its cyberpunk reimagining and modernized characters. The familiar theme is seen as a major draw, particularly for Chinese players.

Hand-Drawn Art Praised: Reviewers note that all card art is purely hand-drawn rather than AI-generated, and many consider the art style cute or good. Character portraits and the weird tale theme are highlighted as standout elements.

Large Content Volume: The game offers a substantial amount of content, including over 1000 card faces, many cards and artifacts, and five playable characters. This is often cited as justifying the price, especially when on sale.