I haven't been here for a while - life, the universe and everything meaning I don't have much spare time these days. But I can always find time for some tasty Card Battling Delights!
This week is Card Battler week on Steam and along with that there are a plethora of deck-based games of all shapes, sizes and qualities. So I'm spending the week trying a bunch of them out, and thought it might be fun to write about the ones I've liked enough to wishlist.
If you like card battlers (games like Slay the Spire, Balatro, Dicey Dungeons - yes I know that last one isn't cards but the concept is the same), then I'd recommend checking out a bunch of demos for yourself. I have a personal taste for which games I enjoy and it will definitely differ from yours!
So with that in mind here's Part One!
Dicefolk
In Dicefolk you'll be commanding a group of Chimeras, mythical creatures who happen to be controlled by magical dice. It has the basics of many other games of its kind - you travel along a branching path, you replace pets with stronger varieties, you get equipment and consumables as you go.
What this game does differently is that you also control the enemy's turn as well - they roll their dice and you must use them all, but you decide when. This, combined with the ability to rotate both teams of three, as well as each Chimera generally having an ability which triggers under certain circumstances, makes each fight feel like a puzzle. You're given all of the information up front, and it's up to you to work out how best to position the chimera and which order to use the dice you get.
Dicefolk is thinky, fun and seems to have a whole heap of incredibly cute monsters (with incredibly interesting abilities) to unlock!
Demo is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1996430/Dicefolk/
Hexarchy
If you looked at this screenshot and your brain immediately tried to escape, then maybe skip this game. But if, like me, you sometimes like to look at a hex grid and lord it over all the peasants living there, then this might be for you!
Hexarchy is Civilization, but with cards. It uses almost the exact same mechanics as Civ, with tech trees, area expansions, resource gathering and all that jazz. However, in this game you interact with these things using a deck of cards. Your deck starts off simple but as you go through you'll find cards that expand your tech tree, and in doing so add more cards into your hand that further expand your tech tree, and so on.
This game is so much like Civilization that if the addition of a deck doesn't excite you, then you should probably just play Civ instead. However, I love playing cards way more than is probably healthy, so Hexarchy was an interesting change to the usual 4X formula. Plus apparently there's a Co-Op mode!
Demo is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1356810/Hexarchy/
Shogun Showdown
Shogun Showdown again features the branching paths, upgrades etc. that many of its peers do, but the battles you fight have more to do with positioning and timing than others of this genre.
Within each battle you'll be facing multiple waves of enemies, each with their own attacks and patterns, and it's up to you to use your abilities and movement skills to dodge and counter each one. Enemies signal what their next move is going to be and each time you do something your enemies will then act.
The fun in this game comes in it's fluidity - and for a turn based game that's quite a compliment. I found myself dodging backwards and forwards along the 2D plane, dashing through enemies and tricking them into attacking their own allies. The game itself is really very simple but feels so satisfying, like you're participating in a cool martial arts battle. 10/10 - would get beaten up by three samurai at once again.
Demo is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2084000/Shogun_Showdown/
Emberward
OK, I know the above screenshot looks incomprehensible but hear me out. Emberward is a very classic Tower Defense game - waves of monsters will travel along a line and try to reach the heart of your base. You'll build towers to try and defend said base.
Emberward twists this formula by letting you play with Tetris pieces as well. Each round, as well as laying and upgrading your towers, you can place a bunch of tetrominoes. These pieces act as walls, not only giving you extra space to build your towers but also letting you create crafty mazes to slow down your enemies.
The 'wall building' type of tower defense game has been done before, but making them into tetrominoes adds an extra layer to the puzzle. Some towers require a 2x2 square, so you need to account for that, and there are also places of power that boost your towers if you build on them - so be sure not to block that section off with a badly placed piece.
I do love a good tower defense and it's been quite a while since one has captured my attention as much as this one. Having a peek at the screenshots also shows me there's a huge amount of configurations, towers and pieces in this game, which means I think it'll be very replayable.
Demo is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2459550/Emberward/
I hope you enjoyed this little write up - as I type my Steam is pinging away with a fresh batch of demos so watch this space! Thanks for reading!
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