Cards of Heart

Short game (2 hours) painting mental health struggle themes in a colourful world. Great delivery for this topic. The card gameplay itself is relatively basic but not a cakewalk either.

A wonderful game about facing the shadows of the past and coming to terms with your inner demons. Visually speaking everything is very beautiful, from the environments and the character sprites over the character portraits to even the individual cards. All of it is lush with detail, including the UI during battles and even the settings menu. Equally nice and wonderfully utilized is the music. Especially the nature soundeffects fit perfectly with the setting and even become narratively relevant in one scene. The card battles have a nice balance of deck building as preparation before the battle and resource management and chaining cards together during the battle. It's a bit of a shame that there are only four battles in the game, this combat system could easily stay fun and fresh over a few more battles. The name for the foes being Shadows is quite smart as[spoiler]they are not only Amalia’s inner demons, but also shadows of her past in a sense[/spoiler]. That the story is mostly confined to a small village is practically perfect. This gives it a more tangible sense of scale, which matches with the relatability of all of the characters if with a touch of fantasy flavouring. For example[spoiler]struggling with studies even if you aren't studying magic or having a lot of work to do even if you aren't a blacksmith (or maybe you are!)[/spoiler], these issues are so simple yet impactful that anyone can understand at least some of them. There are allusions to a broader world in the vein of fantasy with fantastical adventures, though grounded at the same time with a realistic sense of danger that comes with such a world. At the end of the day the fantasy aspect is more of a pretty coat of paint rather than integral to the story. It's almost criminal that this game is completely free and doesn't even have a Support the Devs DLC. There is clearly so much love and care that has been put into every aspect of the game. As there is also a story difficulty that makes it accessible to anyone I definitely recommend it to everyone.

This is a short and simple game, but it has a beautiful concept and touching story. It's obvious that it is a work of passion. The gameplay was enjoyable, though a tad easy even on Standard Mode (I haven't tried Story Mode, but considering that Standard Mode is already easy, I wouldn't recommend Story Mode unless you literally just want to read the story). The game is about a girl going through mental health challenges and needs to use her positive thoughts (in the form of cards) to combat Shadows (negative thoughts). Mental health practices were incorporated so well into the gameplay mechanics and story. It's not perfect but the little imperfections were not overly distracting (some of the art could have been better, the footstep sounds did not match the walking animation, small things like that). Overall, I really enjoyed this game and would love to see a new version of it on a bigger scale so that I can enjoy it more! :)

Wow, this game was such a delight to play. Throughout the story, it felt so touching and personal, I could truly see my past self within the Protagonist. This made me realize how much I've grown as a person, and watching Amalie do just the same, warmed my heart. To persevere all the trials when living with guilt and grief, feeling like you weren't worth it to the one person who meant the world to you- It sent chills throughout my body while living through this story. I highly appreciate the team for reaching out to mental health professionals for what I assume would be depression, as all of the characteristic and mannerisms the Protagonist was showing, I remembered those thoughts and feelings all too well. The writing was absolutely wonderful, I loved how interactive the characters were, how they were filled with various and copious amounts of personality. I enjoyed reading all of the small snippets to their personal lives, helping them with errands around town. Which, helping out the townsfolk making Amalie realize her worth was such an amazing mechanic, I enjoyed it so much. I loved seeing each new card, what it would be connected to with her interests in life. I loved watching her grow with confidence and love herself once again. For anyone who wish to experience a wonderful story that includes enjoyable art and an amazing soundtrack, I highly recommend giving this game a good try. It probably would take much less time to play (maybe 2 hours?) than I did, I got a bit too into the story and played it quite slowly haha. Please, give this game a go! It is so highly worth it.

A short game, but beautiful. The art and graphics are gorgeous and the story is very uplifting. I only had a couple of issues, one was that settings don't seem to save between sessions properly, and the second was a bug I encountered once during combat that didn't end the enemy's turn properly so I couldn't take my turn, but thankfully there's a way to exit out of combat so I didn't lose my progress. The character and enemy designs are beautiful, and the message of the story is reassuring. As someone who struggles with their own Shadows constantly in life, this story made me feel seen and gave me hope.

This game is adorable, and it's free! But... if a friend genuinely asked me if it's worth playing, I'd probably say no. For a few reasons: [list][*] It's a bit too heavyhanded for me - your stats are "empowerment" and "connectedness". Your magical critter companion talks to you kinda clinically like a therapist would, not like a mysterious fantasy creature. It's not very immersive. [*] Most of the game consists of Amalia being too anxious/depressed to complete a task, the therapist companion saying "Why don't you just give it a try?", Amalia instantly agreeing with no pushback whatsoever, completing the task and being happy. What's the lesson here? Do they think depressed people don't know that completing the tasks they are putting off will make themselves feel better? The question is how to build the resilience and motivation to do it. The ease with which Amelia overcomes every hurdle results in a lack of depth and realism. [*] While the card game is a great metaphor for mental health coping mechanisms, it's not particularly fun. You just play whatever card lights up on each turn and slowly whittle the enemy down. You can easily win by just taking most of the cards out of your deck and unbalancing it. [*] There are only a couple of fights in the game, most of the gameplay is actually running from A to B doing chores for the villagers and listening them all talk about mundane things or their hobbies. The point is that Amalia is connecting with others and building her self esteem as part of her rehabilitation, but that doesn't make it fun for the player.[/list]

This was a delightful and charming game, and one of the best free games I've ever played. Yes, it does have some limitations; most obviously being short, and not doing anything too original in terms of gameplay. The relation between the events of the game, and mental health self-care, is also pretty blunt. But, again, it's free. What gameplay there is is well executed, and not everything needs to be hidden behind layers of metaphor; sometimes, being direct is the right thing. One thing I liked about the gameplay is how the best cards come from connecting with the town outside of battle, This is a good example of gameplay and narrative reinforcing one another; the message that it is easier to deal with depression with other people comes through well. Aesthetically, the art and music are nice and fitting, and the character portraits all evocative and characterful. Finally, I want to say something nice about the ending, so obviously spoilers. [spoiler]I really liked that, at the end of the game, Eleanor does not return and her fate is left open. A more conventional story would probably have had her return, reunite with Amalia, and the two resolve their differences and heal that wound. But, this would fatally undercut the point of the story. In real life, people leave permanently, through death or just moving on, and the grief that comes has no trite and easy resolution. We must learn to accept the loss, learn to heal; and that is what this story is about.[/spoiler] In all, I am glad to have picked up this game. It helped me start this year on a positive note, and I definitely recommend it.