Frost

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 Deckbuilding 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

Frost on Steam

Insane Robots

Insane Robots

I am half way through this game and I am loving it! So many different robots and maps, so I must think of different ways to defeat them every time. I had so many close shaves but tries something new and beat the enemy robot. It’s fun to play with friends too, though not so many players in the online.

I wanted to post a quick review now, but will add more when it is all finished.

Real player with 96.7 hrs in game


Read More: Best Survival Card Battler Games.


It deliver a 15 hour campaign as promised in the description of the game, and although it having a few cons overall its enjoyable.

Lets start at the pro’s

  • Fun multiplayer

  • Extra difficult levels, providing replayabilty value

  • Easy to get into

  • Appealing card battling

  • Updates promised

And the cons

  • Small multiplayer community (at the time of writeing this review)

  • May feel grindy at times

Real player with 17.5 hrs in game

Insane Robots on Steam

Ratropolis

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 Deckbuilding 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

Ratropolis on Steam