Draconis 8

Draconis 8 Steam Review: I'll start with a TLDR: 9/10 - Game plays fast, unlike any other TCG or CCG out there I've encountered, and is a TON of fun. Every game feels like a unique puzzle to solve. It can be played F2P, but its not designed as a F2P game, more a super affordable CCG with some F2P modes and some slow but free rewards to encourage being active. High recommend to anyone who likes card games of any type, but especially if you're looking for something more novel then the typical MTG/Hearthstone knock off. Full Review: As some one whose played TCGs, both physical and more recently digital, since the 90s, I've reached a point where the acronym can actually scare me off. I don't want to invest tons of money to compete, and even the most F2P friendly digital ones tend to feel very samey or predatory, most some variation of the same MTG formula I've been playing for 30 years and huge gaps between the haves and have nots in competitive viability. Consequently, I was skeptical of Draconis 8. But, as I think my hours of play suggests, to say it won me over would be an under statement. Gameplay 10/10: This is the real selling point, the game is quick, intuitive, novel, and above all, for me at least, a LOT of fun. Every turn of every match is a mini puzzle thats just complex enough to be interesting, but just simple enough to still be fun after an exhausting day of work. The developer has also been very responsive to both the player base, and the raw data, resulting in progressive balance changes that now have the game in a ridiculously well balanced place. Like any card game, there's SOME randomness and some value in certain stat distributions over others such that a large collection does defer advantages, but this is primarily a skill based game, not a who drew best, who spent the most, or whose following the meta best. Art 8/10: This is almost certainly the most controversial aspect of this game. As I understand it, all art in this game is HAND DRAWN by a paid artist, however, the team hired an artist who drew the art, then used AI to modify said art, then hand modified what the AI output, fed it back into the AI, and repeated till they had things as the artist liked. No prompts were used, and the kick starter for the game shows a step by step example of precisely how the artist used AI in their process. Again, all art was created by an artist, who hand drew the art, then modified it with AI. If your opposed to all uses of AI, then unfortunately this game isn't for you, but the design team has been very upfront and open both about how it was used here, not to avoid paying an artist, but to assist the one they paid. Overall, I think it looks pretty good, but I know there will be people for whom the AI feel of it is off putting, particularly the animations (there's a 1 in 100 chance for any card opened to be animated) which admittedly some of them have noticeable AI "jank". Sound 6/10 : Not a ton of music or sound effects going on, but whats there does the job well. Story 2/10 : Currently there's some subtle hints at a story in the campaign mode, but nothing meaty. Its pretty clear the focus was on gameplay first, and I think thats fine, though as a lover of story I wouldn't mind if they expanded it some day. PvE only Player Friendly 5/10 : The game features a rougelike rpg-ish campaign mode, where you take a pack you own through a series of branching battles, against enemies with rule breaking powers, balanced by the player getting rule breaking spells, unique cards, and power ups to their existing cards with each battle. There's also a vs AI mode with 3 difficulty levels and 3 game types (though vs mode does not currently provide in-game currency as rewards, only the campaign). There's also the ability to turn on ai bots in the pvp arena who you will get queued up with if no human players can be found after like a minute of searching, such that if you really hate playing aganst other humans, you can queue up during off hours and have a pretty good shot at earning pvp only rewards by beating the bots. The hardest AIs are no joke, as well, providing a nice challenge. All that said, this is a PvP game with lots of PvE options, not a PvE game with optional PvP, so while I think it can be enjoyed as pure PvE, I would not come in with the same expectations of it, of a PvE focused CCG. F2P Friendliness 5/10 : There are multiple modes which don't require owning any cards to play, and ways to earn packs through playing which would then unlock the other modes. That said, as of today, the ways to earn new cards is limited. You either need to win 3 pvp matches 8 days in a row to get a single pack, place well in a tournament, or clear the pve campaign 8 times (and only the first clear for each pack you own generates said reward so you can't grind this forever). I've played TCG and CCG with worse F2P options and rewards, if you like the 3 pack ethereal sealed mode you could genuinely play this game forever at no cost, on even ground with all your opponents, but outside of that mode you do want at least some packs, and the grind to more is a slow one. Light Spender Friendly 9/10 : Honestly you can have a lot of fun with just a single 2.99 dollar pack, but as mentioned there is a monthly sub that will next you a pack a day for 30 days for 10 USD that should allow you to fully engage in all the modes with plenty of novelty for a good long while. There's also a 100 USD version for a full 12 months of daily packs, so if you want to dolphin and just sign in every day, even with out F2P packs, you'll have quite the collection by years end. You can just whale it up if you want as well, but I feel like the game doesn't really try to push you toward doing so. Trade-ability 1/10: As of the time of this review, there is no trading in the game, this is a CCG not a TCG. From what I understand, they intend to allow trading of cards scanned in from the physical packs they intend to release in the future, but aren't currently planning to allow trading in digital only cards. Final Thoughts 9/10: The developer of this game is very active and responsive on their discord, he's said he set out to make an unique highly affordable tcg that didn't fall into a lot of the common toxic TCG pitfalls, and I think he succeeded. To me it's clear this is a labor of love, and one worth supporting. I can only speak for myself, of course, but as some one whose repeatedly tried to get into many TCGs, both physical and digital, as an adult, to recapture that spark of joy they once gave me as a child, and always seemed to lose interest quickly, this is the first game that's really re-ignited that joy for me and held on through the honey moon phase. There's something truly special here and I'd recommend at least giving it a look.