Frost
Frost: A solo deck-building PC game
(This was originally posted on my blog, GoPlayListen . It is largely aimed at tabletop gamers, but hopefully others will find the review useful too)
I’m pretty wary of computer games that mimic ideas from the board and card game world. It’s very rare they manage to capture the subtlety required to make a truly great tactical or strategic game, focusing more on visual bells and whistles and (usually) adding too many luck elements to hold the interest for long. Unless they’re a direct port from an existing tabletop game, they rarely seem designed for gamers.
– Real player with 17.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Survival Card Game Games.
Certainly not a game for everyone, but if you’re intrigued by the theme or the thought of pushing your luck in a hostile card-driven affair, then Frost is a pretty cool pick.
Aside from being chromatically challenged, Frost is notable for being a solitaire experience inspired by real world deck-building card games such as Dominion and its subsequent imitators including World of Tanks: Rush and Resident Evil.
The action, such as it is, takes place in the sort of post-apocalyptic setting that author Kurt Vonnegut made popular in his seminal novel Cat’s Cradle; a freezing world where tribes must now band together for their very survival. In the game’s ‘Classic’ mode you become a leader who must collect the resources needed to traverse the land in search of a mythical place called the “Refuge” whilst also trying your best to outrun the titular snow storm that threatens to consume all.
– Real player with 16.3 hrs in game
Ratropolis
Call me a dues-paying member of ‘The Cult of the New’ when it comes to genre mash-ups like this. I can’t get enough of them. When Slay the Spire came out and combined roguelites and deck-builders I was hooked for 100+ hours and even back in my pre-COVID table-top gathering days, deckbuilders (Dominion/Thunderstone) were my favorite. The combination of control and RNG is so delicious and it’s exciting to see all of the ways developers are using this in either quality design or just experimenting with a gimmick.
– Real player with 90.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Survival Tower Defense Games.
A very tentative recommendation. In terms of my play-time, I’ve completed most content (including wave 120), so I feel I’ve enough experience with the game to give a moderately informed review.
In a nutshell, this game is a very polished game that reminds me of my days playing free games in the heyday of flash. Take a Newgrounds defense game and add a massive layer of professionalism and that’s this game. You play a defense game where your units, economy, and development are linked to a deck built throughout a session. It is hard. You will lose a lot. But there will be an “ah-hah!” moment where you understand what the game wants from you and suddenly it will be rare to lose.
– Real player with 87.3 hrs in game
Evolution Board Game
UPDATE I no longer work for Northstar. This review should be considered to be for the first year of the game.
So up front… I worked on this game. I want to be super clear about that. (In case you can’t tell by me having more hours logged in it than it’s been out in the wild.
So why review. Well obviously I want the game I worked on to do well… but there is more than that.
For those who don’t know, Evolution was a table top board game first and has been for years. It was one of my earliest modern board gaming experiences and I still love to break it out and play it. The constant evolution of strategies and plays with the traits that can be played makes the game very replayable.
– Real player with 967.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Survival Card Game Games.
I’m definitely addicted to this one. Good game balance, I never feel like any build is just too powerful. Challenging AI. Cute/Beautiful art. Fun facts. Satisfying sound effects; glad I can turn the music off without turning them off (though the music is good to).
I assume you could unlock brutal mode right away but playing through the campaign on both difficulties has been both an enjoyable difficulty progression and given me plenty of content to consume. Especially with the fun of trying to unlock sketches. But Darwin gets super annoying on the second go through.
– Real player with 99.7 hrs in game
Survival Draw
I think this game might be a good one, its not great at the moment but can be fun. I palyed it till day 113. I tried to kill me with cards at the beginning of day 100 and that was somehow hard. So i found it not that hard, im sure i could play the game with no end ( meaning that its not a challange). the hard mode becomes very easy with the possibility to creat a custome deck.
There are a lot of tweaks needed (Like the layout, the card giving system (the cards bonfire and more cards are basicly usless after day 20), there should be levelup options and funny interactions for discarding speciale cards. Also more random diasters/blessings, maybe a funny story or a sidestory in form of a sketch after some days. More cards (diffrent one) and it needs to be alot harder as you go on.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Survival Draw is a card game where you have to keep your stats up - you have health, hunger, water, sleep, and sanity, as well as whether you’re sick and/or injured. cards can either raise or lower your stats (or raise one while lowering another). a cool game in concept, but it quickly gets boring; rarely is there any strategy as to which cards to play and which to discard, and I found I could easily raise all stats back up to max within a few turns.
– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game
The Zone: Stalker Stories
This is the Zone – a post-apocalyptic world of strangeness and confusion, treasure and danger, exploration and tactical card battles.
Advance through twisted monsters and deadly anomalies. Unearth artifacts of mysterious power. Develop your psionic abilities and crush foes with the force of your mind.
Create your perfect deck by equipping artifacts and researching new powers. Carefully manage your expedition to maximise your loot and how far from home you can go. Take side quests with unique rewards. Make friends… Make enemies.
Inspired by games such as Slay the Spire, S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Darkest Dungeon, the Zone blends a new take on deckbuilding with a full narrative RPG – a rich story crafted by industry veterans (Mount&Blade, The Next World).
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Gorgeous hand-drawn art
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Gripping story, colourful characters
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A beautiful, dangerous world to explore
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Deep inventory management - Assemble your deck and abilities by carefully choosing your equipment
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Research powerful upgrades for combat and exploration
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Complete side jobs to gain unique rewards
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Many different items and abilities to mix and match your perfect playstyle
Broken Universe - Tower Defense
I have changed my mind!
Why I changed my review:
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The Devs are super engaged with there community!
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The game already has a ton of content!
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The art style is really nice and easy on the eyes!
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Thought a limited soundtrack, its good whats there!
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Game gets regular updates almost every day!
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Extremely customizable gameplay!
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Very easy to run, and super responsive.
That’s not to say its perfect!
There are a bunch of annoying things in the game.
– Real player with 104.3 hrs in game
This is a really solid tower defense game. The devs update it to fix balance issues and the game is very polished. Sometimes when I rush into a level and use my usual strategy I can skate by but there’s a lot of times where I have to change my strategy or invest in upgrades to complete a level.
– Real player with 71.2 hrs in game
Pick, shoot, repeat!
It is a gun-building game, where the goal is to survival as long as you can to unlocks new maps. The mechanic is:
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PICK your upgrades.
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SHOOT to survive.
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REPEAT the process.
35 upgrades
12 levels
Endless combinations, but which one would help you survive the longest?
Tainted Grail: Conquest
Song: Tainted Grail Artist: Vlakabaka
“Sometimes I feel I’ve got to, run away, i’ve got to, play a chill card game for a run or two
And the love we shaaare for card games is all in d’ere, with 9 classes, lots of deckbuilding and re-play-aability
Some runs might end baaad and some might go well but with this game time seems to goo noo-where
And this Tainted Grail is full of story, voiiiice acted characters in a daark tainted woorld
So taaake Gabens tears awaaay and buyy diz game here, cause you dont want to hear any-moe from mee
– Real player with 73.6 hrs in game
It’s very similar to Slay the Spire and Monster Train but you’ll like it more than either of those if you prefer a dark aesthetic. The music and story are also more substantial here than other games in the genre. You get access to 3 classes (basically archer, fighter, invoker) which determine the type of base deck you’ll play. Every class is broken into 3 subclasses (i.e. invokers can be summoners, blood mages, or necromancers) that each have unique passives and a unique subclass ability. It’s honestly pretty remarkable how each subclass feels very distinct from its counterparts.
– Real player with 69.4 hrs in game
Zombie Strike
honestly i have only played 3hrs and that was from first login. i will be continuing as i have no reasons yet not to. consequently, this review is subject to change
the incredibly naive will quote this as a pay-to-win game, which is utter nonsense. only game i ever played (in 40 years of gaming) that falls into THAT category is zynga’s poker game which you could win actual money playing…….. as long as you were an american living in america. you can pay but you don’t win anything.
this game does NOT target your wallet……..that’s just cheap. no, this game is SO overly priced it targets your savings account :D
– Real player with 101.0 hrs in game
good game😊 . but it can be better than that 😐😑
– Real player with 48.4 hrs in game
Supernova Tactics
An alien invasion seeks to destroy the star in your home system. Assemble an army and do your best to protect your homeworld. Strengthen your group by upgrading your units, equipping them with items you earn and additional rare items you may come across.
Key Features
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Permadeath - You’ve got one chance to lead your people to safety. One wrong move and your civilization will be lost forever.
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Random Battles & Loot - No two playthroughs will be exactly the same. The enemies you face and the items you receive will vary with each encounter.
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Hidden Monsters - Every round has a Hidden Monster that has a small chance of appearing. If slain, this Hidden Monster has a chance to drop a special item specific to that monster.
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Upgrade Your Units - Use your gold to buy units from the shop, acquiring three of the same unit will upgrade it to the next tier!
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Compete on the Leaderboard - Compete with other players on the leaderboard, Supernova Tactics features an endless mode. See how far you and your army can reach!