Star Realms
I used to really enjoy the online version of this game. Saddly that is no longer true. While I would HIGHLY reccomend this game for the Campaign Mode, the Online Mode is another matter ENTIRELY!!!! Once you reach level 5, you must win a number of sucsessfull wins to advance onwords, but each loss counts you backwords on that total. THIS, is not a problem. THE PROBLEM, is that many players have found a way to “HACK” either the timeclock, or the game itself! I have found myself ready to acquire a good card, only to have my game freeze. Then reload. Not only do I lose precious time during this reloaded “Glitch”. But often it will undo my card purchases or even worse, my bases will be destroyed or my health slashed in half. All of which being impossible with the card’s the opponet had availible to play. Now, I KNOW I’m not the best player. I admit that freely. But after almost 500 games, I STILL CAN’T GET EVEN HALFWAY THROUGH TO LEVEL 7! This means With the losses counting against me, I have only managed to go up 1 LEVEL in almost 500 games!!!
– Real player with 561.4 hrs in game
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I’ve enjoyed Star Realms for many year. It is an entertaining deckbuilder game, which is easy to learn. A huge number of cards have been added to this game over the years, and the core sets (5€) are definitely worth the value, while a lot of the smaller dlc (2-4€) is a bit pricey. Although skill does play a part in winning, I would definitely say that a large part of winning comes down to the luck of the draw. And the expansions increase the luck factor quite a bit. I would still say that it is quite enjoyable, and I take it as a challenge, when my opponent start out quite a bit better off than me. Sadly I will not be giving this game my recommendation, based on the recent addition to this game, in the form of Star Realms Arena, which is a particular nasty way of introducing gambling into a kid friendly game.
– Real player with 516.5 hrs in game
Space Food Truck
Mainly writing this because I disagree with what the majority of the negative reviews are saying, as someone who cranked out 40 hours of gameplay (split quite evenly between online and offline play) and who completed games on the hardest difficulty level. While I have ideas on what should contribute to a negative review, which will come later in the review, but let’s start by tackling the points I disagree with in the negative reviews.
I believe RNG gets the majority of the blame because a random event occurs at the beginning of every turn, and at every new planet, so it’s pretty much in your face all the time.
– Real player with 102.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Deckbuilding Aliens Games.
This game has the potential to be very fun. Myself and a few friends brought it and really enjoyed the game initially. But we quickly realised that this game is too hard, and not even hard in way that challenges you properly. We have been playing on mild difficulty, since the upper difficulty was seemingly impossilbe.
The game is hard beyond the player’s control, since much of the game mechanics are the result RNG. 90% of the RNG is bad! You receive negative effects that can see you wiped out very quickly. For example, we upgraded our shields to the max very early on, but in response, we started taking much more damage from RNG events.
– Real player with 44.7 hrs in game
Rise of Humanity
Super fun game for X Com and Deck Building fans. Seems difficult at first, till you learn the amazing combo’s you can make (just make sure you don’t damage your team mates … too much !)
It’s still early access so there’s only 6 story missions yet, but there are side missions up for grabs!
Daily challenges are also a hoot, Hoping to see some real battles for the top of the leader board!
– Real player with 56.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Deckbuilding Dystopian Games.
An interesting twist on XCOM2…
XCOM2 but with cards, is how this game can best be described. Now, this game doesn’t have the budget behind it that XCOM2 had, which almost automatically means that it’s going into a gun-fight with XCOM2 but this game is armed with a pistol and XCOM2 has a hellfire missile launcher… not very fair, but that’s the fight that the devs have chosen to engage in, and good luck to them… they’re gonna need it.
Pros: #1. Very good graphics (I’d say it’s almost as good as XCOM2)
– Real player with 32.4 hrs in game
Quantum Protocol
PROS
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Game is incredibly cheap for the sheer amount of entertainment it offers.
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The gameplay is completely unique and will feel both fresh and familiar if you’ve played YGO or other TCGs.
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Everything from visuals to music to UI hit a very good standard that lets it blend in the background as you play.
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The game still receives frequent update with a developer very receptive to feedback.
CONS
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Learning an entirely new set of skills can feel a little arduous at the start.
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The ‘fail until you succeed’ logic surrounding the game can make things feel a tad hopeless.
– Real player with 76.0 hrs in game
Full Disclosure: I received a copy of the game to playtest during development. You can even fine me in the credits as “SaruRoku”!
Quantum Protocol is first and foremost, a Cardgame, with a story that’s presented in a visual novel style.
The visual novel elements do string along a fun, but mostly lighthearted story, without any of the “choices” that would make a visual novel game, but they do provide levity and a change of pace after most stages, as well as giving you some insight to the various characters who’s decks each follow their own themes.
– Real player with 71.2 hrs in game
Folding Edge
I’ve got the 1st round clear.
Good job, actually it is better than I expected.
The group making this game should then continue to modify the details to make it better.
– Real player with 59.9 hrs in game
UPDATED VERSION (March 2020)
Game has changed name from Starship Helmet, but same card style battles + campaign. No tutorial but clearer translations, so expect to jab at it for the first couple of games, it becomes obvious soon. Enjoyable.
Improved balance, campaign and new special weapons, plus crew that can improve cards.
At first glance the new graphics look worse.
Still a couple of Chinese parts. Easy to guess the meanings by jabbing at them. [In the original game entire cards might be in Chinese - seems fixed.]
– Real player with 22.9 hrs in game
For The Warp
As others have pointed out, this game has a lot of great features and has some compelling gameplay. However, there are three things that kill it for me because they lead too far down the path of heavy RNG.
- The shuffler makes no sense. The fact that you don’t discard cards and that every time you draw a hand that you are pulling from your entire deck is against the foundation of what a deck builder game is supposed to be. It has all of the other facets of how to build and manipulate your deck but the player should be drawing from a shuffled stack and continue to do such until the discard pile needs to be shuffled back in. I might have been less opposed to this if you could freely discard cards from your deck without needing to pay for it or have NPC’s want to buy them during events. But as it stands, it is far to easy to get a 18-20 card deck and that is far too much RNG when doing pool draws.
– Real player with 12.2 hrs in game
As others have stated, FTL meets slay the spire.
HUGE potential here. I think a few things need reworked.
1. Balance: jmzero’s review goes in depth.
2. No discard pile: this i feel is an odd design choice, since there’s no discard pile, all cards used immediately go back to the deck, so attaining any new card is a constant lower percentile of getting any card in your deck on every turn. So you may never see your new card in play…ever. Since the deck is shuffled every turn. This is poor design, you cant structure synergy here, as you are constantly threatened to draw the same cards over and over. This just feeds into the balance problem, of “just grab the most OP cards and scrap the rest”
– Real player with 9.3 hrs in game
Planet Stronghold: Colonial Defense
First of all this game is a pretty unique mix, it has some flaws yes, but its strengths definitely outweighs them.
The card game, while unusual for such a game is actually really good. Compared to the standart rpg fights in similar games where you have 3 or 4 different spells or attacks and you just have to see which type of elemental damage does the most harm and spam that and throw in a heal or stun from time to time, the card battles feel more challenging. On the highest difficulty level you actually have to think about which cards suit in which situation. Also it kinda suits the theme. While in fantasy settings I prefer the party of heroes wandering around fighting its battles itself, here it feels more like you are the base commander managing troops and resources of your colony and thinking strategically.
– Real player with 33.0 hrs in game
One of the worst Winter Wolves' games out of the ones I have played. It has very few redeeming qualities and while I usually like WW games despite their flaws, I had a hard time enjoying this one.
Characters
Unfortunately, the characters were very weak in this game. WW can create some interesting characters and I know this, but in this case, I think they missed the opportunity to do so. The good news is that there are many characters you can choose to romance (with the free DLC). The bad news is that the characters felt shallow and unrealistic. I know you don’t play these games for their realism, but one would expect them to at least have some common sense. Instead it seemed like they were doing the most irrational things. For example at some point
! the rebel guy implied that he has assassinated people. Why would he admit that in front of people who are military officers? It makes no sense.
– Real player with 18.4 hrs in game
Rise of Humanity: Prologue
I recommend this to fans of turn based games who are cool with card based attacks. This is basically a free demo of the full version of Rise of Humanity, and it accomplished its goal of getting me interested in the full game which I have now wishlisted.
Here is what you need to know:
+High quality graphics detail, great antialiasing, as well as decent music and sound effects, but as for graphic performance…
-Ultra graphics setting @ 1440p on my RTX 3080 maxes out the GPU with an average of ~90 FPS? Its not like I can zoom out wide, so I was hoping for something a bit closer to my 165 Hz refresh rate.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Changed the audio settings aaaand… it’s gone. Completely. Reinstall did not help. I’ll probably try it later, with version 1.x. Unplayable atm.
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upd.: the bug was fixed fast enough, devs are surprisingly interested in feedbacks, and gameplay, nevertheless still being buggy, is promising.
I’d like to see less pointless actions in battles, like move to the shoot distance - use card - click on the single enemy instead of use the card on the enemy on click. Or drag card on yourself if this is the only option to use it - on yourself. Also planing a chain would be better imho then use cards one by one.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
System Crash
System Crash is a strategic story-rich cyberpunk card game both developed and published by Rogue Moon Studios. Set in the not too distant future this is a story of intrigue, corporate espionage and cyberwarfare. Being a runner is a good, if not dangerous, career choice but after a mission in Berlin goes horribly bad you spend the next couple of months forcibly globetrotting while on the run from Corporate assassins intent on killing you. Eventually evading the pursuers you finally end up back in the “Sprawl”, a.k.a. San Angeles, down on your luck and looking to make some much needed credits. But a runner without a console can’t get any credits so after forging a deal with a local loan shark and finally getting your hands on some black market cyberware you hastily start down your road to redemption. A road that will take you through the darkest most dangerous places in both cyberspace and the real world…JACK IN!!!
– Real player with 49.5 hrs in game
I really love this game.
System Crash is a single-player deckbuilder set in a cyberpunk-style universe. Battles unfold as a number of 1-vs-1 card-based duels over the course of the campaign. The campaign follows a comfortably generic story about hackers and back-alley doctors and shady corporations. There’s a very home-brew feel to the game in general, like it was cobbled together out of assets that were sitting around on a shelf in a garage somewhere.
Despite this, the card-battle system at the heart of System Crash is fantastic. It is extremely easy to pick up, but is highly addictive.
– Real player with 48.8 hrs in game
Ascension: Deckbuilding Game
TLDR; The game is well worth the $10 at full price, let alone sale price, even though there are a few minor inconveniences.
I’m a huge card game fan. Magic the Gathering, Dominion, Cards Against Humanity, etc. If it has cards, I generally love it. This game is no exception, and stands out in a couple ways over similair card based games that you can get on the PC. Compared to, oh say Magic the Gathering, the file size and resources required to run this game are miniscule. I often have my 12 gigs of ram stretched pretty thin, but never once has the game caused an issue with anything else running or been too much of a burden on system resources.
– Real player with 500.9 hrs in game
My favorite deck-building game
Ascension is a very good video game adaptation of one of the best tabletop competitive deck-building games, Ascension: Chronicles of the Godslayer. One player (with AI players) to four players can play locally (hot seat) or online (you must register for a free Asmodee online account), which allows cross-platform play (between Steam and various smartphone implementations).
The game
You start with the now-standard deck-builder set-up - 10 cards - and you draw back up to five cards at the end of each turn. Cards in the base game can be heroes (played once and discarded), constructs (semi-permanent), and monsters (defeat for points). Heroes and constructs generate two of the resources in the game: Runes (money for purchasing cards) and/or Power (fighting strength). Defeated monsters award you Honor (victory) points. You play cards on your turn, which generate Runes and/or Power, and you spend those to acquire or defeat cards that have been dealt from the shuffled “Portal Deck.” In addition to the minimum-six cards in the Portal Deck, there are always at least three other cards available on the side: two inexpensive heroes to buy, and one monster to fight. Heroes and constructs are worth some amount of Honor, while defeating monsters draws Honor points from the Honor pool. The Honor pool works as a timer for the game: at the start of the game, Honor is placed in the pool, and the final round completes when the last Honor points are drawn from the pool. Then the value of the heroes and constructs is added to the Honor points, and the player with the highest total wins.
– Real player with 405.7 hrs in game