I bought this game, and most of its dlc, during sales, so I won't be discussing pricing. What I will say though, is you can see my hours, so I got my money's worth out of it, at least, and I'm still playing. Although this is a positive review (because I have fun), this is mostly intended to be informative so you, the reader, can figure out whether any of it is worth it for you.
This is a fun, light-hearted little roguelike deckbuilder RPG (I know, a mouthful, lol). The base game has four acts, of which act 1 is static (minus some random seed events that can change things up), acts 2 and 3 are interchangeable (and expanded to have more options with dlc), and a single act 4 (two with the newest dlc). The base game also comes with 16 characters to choose from, all of which have unique use cases, even within the expanded cast, [b]especially[/b] with the expanded cast, as the new cards and characters often create new or stronger synergies. This does mean there's a certain level of power creep with each dlc though. There are, however, difficulty options: Madness levels each add a modifier that makes the game harder, and you can select extra modifiers on top of that. There's no real, inherent reward for doing this other than score and cosmetic unlocks. There's also a sandbox mode that lets you test things out, make the game easier, or make the game unreasonably harder. The modifiers seem to include whatever they could think of not already in Madness. No unlocks during that though.
Each character is part of 4 distinct classes, which are related to card choices: Warrior, Rogue, Mage, and Healer. The names are a bit of a misnomer, as characters can play drastically differently even within the class confines. The only thing they share are a card pool, which is far too broad for every card to be useful to a character. But each class' card pool will share certain limitations and strengths, and at least some of that is related to the namesake, so it's not completely without merit. In the end, what defines what a character can do and what cards are useful is firstly, their class and starting deck, then their innate abilities, then their teammates (an innate fire mage will not play well with innate water spammers, for example), then their selected perks (perks can drastically change what a character is capable of if the deck modification is affordable). It is possible to play without all of the classes, within reason. For example, there is a Rogue that can support and heal, and you can therefore substitute a healer with him. It is also possible to play any class as a dps (some characters within a "defensive" class even prefer it), so if you don't like a particular class deck for dps, you can go without also. There are also options to play without a designated tank. There are bruiser options outside of warrior too, such as defensive ice magic (and even supporting perks), defense divine skills, vitality and regeneration buffs, and damage resistance buffs. If you play without any of these though, you're going to have a bad time. Probably.
Owning the base game allows you access to experiencing the whole game with others, [b]if[/b] they are the driver, but not by yourself. You also won't be able to see or choose options for dlc you don't own. Similarly, because of this, you can receive unlocks for content you do not own, including character unlocks where relevant, but will not be able to select those unlocks in personal shops and whatnot until you purchase their related dlc. You will, however, not have to unlock them a second time. I believe, in the case of random drops such as gear, since there is a common pool the whole party chooses from, you should be able to select them.
There are 4 modes to play:[list]
[*]Adventure Mode: The basic structured adventure, covered above. As you play, you can level your characters, which increases the power of their inherent cards, and "your" level also increases, unlocking perk points for all characters, making every one of them and their capabilities more unique. This is where unlocks happen also.
[*]Obelisk Mode: A randomized adventure. Literally. You don't even start with the base deck of a character, nor perks or ranks. You start with 5 cards, then select 3 boosters with 3 cards weighted toward specific playstyles and a "random" from their whole pool, then a final card selection based on the 3 boosters. You do see the card choices. After that, you select 4 minor perks to synergize with your card choices, then finally random gear selection. Randomized act 4 map events, scaling at a pace you can withstand with some understanding of deckbuilding and good choices for stat gains along the way.
[*]Weekly Challenge: Rotating challenges with set characters and rules, but otherwise takes from Obelisk mode.
[*]Singularity Mode: Follows the format of Adventure Mode, but changes the deckbuilding rules. You can only have 1 copy of a card, and as such the starting decks for each character are changed, there are no town upgrades, but your card selection at the beginning doesn't require resources. Perks and ranks are allowed.[/list]
All in all, there's a lot to love in this game, especially if you like depth and complexity, because there's a lot of that. Not to say there aren't downsides. Certain gear are only found on certain nodes and some of that gear is best in slot for a particular character or build, which means there are optimal paths, and not all those paths are compatible, and not taking those paths can impact the endgame. This mostly matters in higher madness though, not really in the base game or even lower madness. But it does have an impact on replayability in some capacity. Also of note, there are perk options that can affect the whole party. In general, this is a positive thing, but there are a few options that, if chosen poorly, can troll the whole team because they fundamentally alter how something works. Looking at you, burning does cold damage, leech explosions apply chill perks, bleed on enemies activates at end of turn, dark explodes at the end of turn, and any buff/debuff only lasting 1 turn perks. Most perks work as stat boosters, expansions of use, or changing something for that single character rather than direct changes to mechanics for everyone, but these do, and come with significant downsides in exchange for something, which can either not be worth it in normal cases, or fundamentally changes card usefulness in a bad way for someone. I don't play with people I don't know, so I don't know if people select these without informing others, but the fact that they can is questionable design. The fact that no one complains about it in reviews means it must not be common though.
Lastly, there are occasionally trap options for a character (not every character) within their own skillset or characters that don't have cohesive enough design to do what was intended in a satisfactory way. This is clearly not the designer intent. You can see people talking about Tulah (a dlc character) not functioning well as a healer (a literal healer, not as in completely useless) despite an entire side of her skills dedicated to it and holy magic. It isn't the only case of this, though this is the most extreme. For example, I can make Bernard a (literal) healer, but I would never pick his Healer Duality skill option. Just that the opposing option has +1 rust debuff charge is enough for me to pick it, because support Bernard wants more rust on himself, let alone that he innately casts it on enemies every turn. That's not a game-ruining option, but it is a trap, and the devs clearly didn't intend that. Anyway, it's not a perfect game, but it is a loveable one to me. Whether it would be to you, or not, I hope this review helps you figure out. Peace.
