Card Crawl Adventure

The developer wants reviews. Ok, here's my early review. The game is great. I loved "Card Thief" on my cell phone long ago, and this one is just as good. However - it is very, very difficult to understand what the heck is going on. The tutorial is way too basic, and there are so many unexplained things that you just have to "try" to figure out and understand through repeated plays. Even so, I think I maybe understand some game mechanic or card or effect, but I'm not really sure because everything is just so obscure. So . . . early review . . . great game, but it REALLY needs to explain itself much, much better.

An adventure style, rogue-like, solitaire deck battler game. It does have a steep learning curve but if you play the tutorial and a few rounds afterwards you will get the hang of it. Basically learn by playing. The more you play the better you will master it, and the more you will come to enjoy it. At such a nice price it offers a lot of replay-ability and one adventure takes about an hour, but with saved progression you can come and go as you please and it will save your adventure upon exiting. [h1] The Highs [/h1] * Very interesting and quirky art style. I love the look of this game. Hand drawn art is so charming, it really makes it unique and fun to play. The music is nice too, relaxing and unobtrusive as it plays in the background. * It is a game you can play when you have the time. A full adventure takes about an hour depending on how fast you play. But if you quit earlier it does save your progression so you can jump back in and continue later on. * Deeply layered mechanics. This game has substance to it. Status effects, passive & active bonuses, and turn mechanics. * A variety of characters to choose from. Each has their own abilities that jazz up different play-throughs. Game is polished. I play it on ultra wide with NO crashes. * Lots of replay-ability and the price is nice even at full price. Affordable, enjoyable and re-playable. [h1] The Lows [/h1] * Steep learning curve. After a few games you start to get the hang of it. The tutorial is okay. It could do more to guide a new player. I would not recommend this game as someone's first deck builder/deck battler experience. But if you enjoy those games already you will pick up as you keep playing. * Some of the monster bosses are really challenging. I hate the bat monster. Some balancing might be in order as I find them too strong and frustrating to beat. However I could just not be getting good card hands or I am not that great of a player :) [h1] Final Thoughts [/h1] I recommend this game to players who already enjoy deck battlers. I would not tell anyone new to the genre to start with this one. The learning curve is too steep and it is challenging even for those used to playing these games. The price is great though, and the game is fun. Lots of replay-ability that you can sink into, either in chunks when you have the time or for an afternoon and you just want to chill. 🔹

This is a fun game that dared to try something new with several improvable points like QoLs and a few unclear aspects. But why did I give it a not recommend? Well, It's from someone with 1k hours+ in rogue-like card games. If this is your first few games of the genre, then it might worth your money and time but if you're someone like me, then you're likely to have a better experience with other games.

I've played lots of rogue-like card games, including Monster Train, Slay the Spire, and the original Card Crawl, all of which I greatly enjoyed. So, I was really looking forward to playing Card Crawl Adventure. Well, this one has the most unintuitive and convoluted game mechanics that I've ever encountered in a rogue-like card game. To make matters worse, the tutorial shows the bare minimum on how to play, and the rules are explained poorly on the card texts and in the documentation. As if this didn't make the game challenging (read: frustrating) enough, the random (but you suspect otherwise) card placements on the board synergize against you all too often. This was tolerable if not enjoyable for the first few dungeons - er, taverns - that I played through. But as they ratcheted up in difficulty, it resulted in way too many cards in play getting afflicted with a confusing variety of penalizing status effects. It all got to be too much, and so I uninstalled. This game is cheap, and I got it on sale, so it's no big loss money-wise. But I already regret the time that I spent on it, and if I hadn't already played past the 2-hour mark, I'd get a refund just to spite the developer(s) of this twisted game.

Don't let yourself be fooled - Card Crawl Adventure may replace the gloomy, abomination-infested dungeons with cozy taverns, full of whimsical, drunk monsters and goblin bartenders who expect you to pay before leaving (or face the consequences). It may also replace your swords, daggers, potions and a myriad of spells with a simple deck of cards. It may even replace your typical fantasy open world with something akin to a map for bar-hopping. But what it won't replace is the sheer joy and excitement of a hard-won battle with a tough boss after dealing with an army of minions beforehand. A diverse set of classes (each with its own special cards), equipment and chance-based charms allow for different strategies and a lot of experimentation. The seemingly simple and easy-to-learn gameplay gets deeper and deeper the more you play (and the more difficult your challenges become). And even though some card descriptions may appear vague at first and the difficulty curve - a bit steeper - I strongly recommend this gem of a game.

This is what I would graciously describe as a "Toilet Game". And while that sounds dismissive, it shouldn't be! It's incredible creative with its world-building, mechanics and systems. It helps that the card art is simply gorgeous (even if a LOT of resources are recycled from the Card Crawl 2018 release)! and the interface elements also look good. Sadly, there's not much in terms of progression aside from getting to see all the Cards (Library) and a few tasks that provide much needed Equipment for each Character (3 unlockables each). No cards added to your starting stock, no new bosses, gameplay mechanics.. just harder content! It's clear to me that the developer has had a focus on short mobile games, with "highest score" and "leaderboards" as the main incentives to come back to their games (which can be felt as grinding), instead of actual sense of progression and an "Adventure". The gameplay loop gets dull rather quickly, and feels a tad frustrating at times. I've had more than one run when new cards are shuffled in and dealt, and something kills me simply by being placed on the table (worst of all, it goes by so fast that you can't even see what dealt the necessary damage to "end the run")! While I've had many successful runs, sometimes it's hard to know if a choice you are making NOW will cost you a couple of turns ahead. It tends to lean heavily into randomness and pointlessness rather frequently when no choice offers a way out.. instead of feeling like you actually had a choice. With pesky treasures that can't be solved due to their thoughtless positioning, useless equipment, cards or charm rewards, and many more.If you've played Card Thief before, the loop is similar.. it is still a fun and cheap game that can be enjoyed when you have half an hour of free time, but beyond that, doesn't quench my thirst for "Adventure".I would love for the talented Arnold to get out of his "comfort zone" and create an expanded game with these settings and mechanics. More deckbuilding, progression and content.

Why is this game in german despite having my windows, steam and game settings within steam in english??? Where is my save file after reinstalling the game? Couldnt make it through the german tutorial before loosing my mind so i gave up and uninstalled it again. 0/10!

It's pretty good. The basic gameplay loop is selecting 2-9 cards, which is good moment-to-moment tactical play. Add some strategy layers of deckbuilding and the cross-turn planning for setting up those sets of 9 cards. There is not a lot of depth (I feel like I've seen everything in 5 hours or less), but the basic gameplay is solid. The rules are not necessarily the clearest, but there is an actual MANUAL, which is hard to find in games these days. You don't need 100% understanding to play well and enjoyably. This will not be the most amazing or long-lasting game you have ever played, but if you enjoy a bit of roguelike deckbuilding, for $5 the only question is whether this is worth your time. Yes, this is worth your time. In a few runs, you can see how much you like it. If you like it a lot, this will be a great buy in terms of replayability, with a variety of characters to try out, although the overall variation is somewhat limited. More options may exist by the time you read this, as updates show post-release development of new characters.

[h1]簡介/機制/注意[/h1]一輪的遊戲長度約1~1.5小時，遊戲流程先從5名不同流派的角色中擇一入場，通關5場酒館關卡就算完成。關卡的機制類似於該製作團隊之前的作品《Card Thief》，牌面由9張牌組成，我們可以選任一張牌做為起點，並選擇其他牌規畫路徑，被選到的牌將觸發技能後洗入棄牌堆，場面的空位將從牌庫補滿。牌庫是由玩家和敵人的牌組一起組成，當牌庫抽完後棄牌堆會重新洗入牌庫，三輪洗牌後便會添加一張出口牌，到達出口牌就算完成酒館關卡。需要注意的是，因為系統機制獨特，卡牌的技能敘述會比較難理解，前期要花多一點時間閱讀跟嘗試，熟記技能觸發條件是必要之事，幸好在角色死亡時會有系統告知，可以返回重做選擇，對策略類的遊戲來說算是滿貼心的設計。[h1]角色/Rogue設計[/h1]角色大致分為流血、火焰、冰凍、雷電、自傷五種流派，各自都有預組好的牌組跟初始的專屬裝備，關卡中可以從商人卡牌獲得卡牌三選一；通關後則有裝備、卡牌升級可選擇，當中也會有其他流派的牌跟裝備可選。不過，雖然說是rogue lite，但可繼承的局外成長部分滿少的，除了初始裝備外，每個角色只有3個可以達成特定條件解鎖的專武，每輪也只能擇一帶入。以這點來說，體驗上更像傳統的rogue like，很容易找到固定的攻略套路，有所限制的詛咒模式，也只是對自己的挑戰，不太會有新鮮技巧跟驚喜發生，耐玩性不高。

半价才11块，也没啥好挑挑拣拣的了。不同职业共享成就，刷得不累。机制简单而复杂，更推荐受其影响的《星陨传说》。如果手感更畅快一点就好了。