School of Magic: Deck & Slash

I decided to give this game a try because I was curious to see what the AI and developer had created and how it would turn out. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even play it properly, so I eventually gave up. The demo version actually ran much better. In the full release, I experienced constant FPS drops and freezing; my PC was practically burning, even though the game doesn’t look that demanding. I managed to beat the first boss, but then got stuck in the arena with nothing happening, so I had to quit.

Runs really poorly, fps drops when just hovering over cards or at random moments. Game even crashed. And i'm running on a decent machine so yeah... (i12500 & RX 7800 XT & 16GB ram) Gameplay is okay, but not that special. Getting hit stuns you for like 2-3 seconds, which is just really long. Also i once got an upgrade to Projectiles, but is fireball a projectile or not? It doesn't say it anywhere, should be a lot clearer

まだ買わないほうがいいです。 日本語で翻訳されているのですが、機械翻訳です。さらにところどころ□□と表示されてしまい読み取れないところが多々あります。 ゲームの最適化が出来ていないのか、オープニングからガクガクでまともにプレイできません。 ゲーム自体はおもしろそうなので、今後のアップデートに期待しましょう！

It really lives up to its name, the combination of deck building and hack & slay is really addicting. Wanted to play a quick round, ended up playing longer than I intended.

Tbh, the game isn't even as bad as I expected. I still won't continue playing it because of the awful looking AI art. Bro, just hire an artist and the game would be like actually ok.

Nachdem ich nun den Early Access durchgespielt habe, kann ich Folgendes über das Spiel sagen: Nicht alle Karten sind bisher ins Deutsche übersetzt. Das ist kein großes Problem, aber es wäre schön, wenn das noch nachgereicht wird. Exploit: Wenn man kurz bevor ein Kampf in einer der kleinen Arenen beginnt außerhalb der temporären Absperrung steht oder mit einer Fähigkeit dahinter geschubst wird (z.b. bei Fähigkeit Summons), spawnen zwar alle Gegner, sterben aber direkt danach – man gewinnt also den Kampf, ohne wirklich zu kämpfen. Ein möglicher Kompromiss wäre, die temporären Arena-Grenzen ganz wegzulassen, um mehr Bewegungsfreiheit zu bieten. Dafür könnte man ein Risiko-Element einbauen: Läuft man zu weit weg, spawnen zusätzliche Gegner. So müsste man abwägen – bleibe ich in der Arena und kämpfe normal oder entferne ich mich, um mehr Platz zu haben, riskiere aber, gegen mehr Gegner antreten zu müssen. Eine Zoom-Funktion (rein- und rauszoomen) wäre ebenfalls wünschenswert, um den Überblick besser zu behalten. Abgesehen davon ist das Spiel wirklich gelungen. Die Idee mit dem Kartensystem – dass Karten zufällig wegfallen, neue hinzukommen und bestehende mit etwas Glück aufgewertet werden – ist genial. Die passiven Fähigkeiten haben endlich einmal einen spürbaren Einfluss auf das Gameplay und wirken nicht wie bloße Zahlen in einer Tabelle. Die aktiven Fähigkeiten sehen gut aus, haben Wumms, und vor allem sorgt die große Auswahl an Karten und Kombinationsmöglichkeiten für einen hohen Wiederspielwert. Für ein Ein-Mann-Projekt ohne Studio, Publisher oder externen Support ist das ein beeindruckendes Ergebnis. Mit ein wenig Feinschliff kann daraus ein richtig perfektes Spiel werden. in Englisch After finishing the Early Access version, here’s what I can say about the game: Not all cards are translated into German yet. That’s not a big deal, but it would be nice to see that added later on. Exploit: If you stand outside the temporary arena barrier right before a fight begins, or if you get pushed behind it by an ability (for example, with a summon skill), all enemies will spawn and then instantly die – meaning you win the fight without actually fighting. A possible compromise could be to remove these temporary arena borders entirely, allowing for more movement freedom. To balance it, there could be a risk element: if you move too far away, additional enemies spawn. That way, players would have to decide – stay and fight normally, or move away for more space but risk facing more enemies. A zoom function (zooming in and out) would also be great to help maintain better awareness during combat. Other than that, the game is really well done. The idea of the card system – where cards randomly disappear, new ones are added, and existing ones can level up with some luck – is brilliant. The passive abilities finally have a noticeable impact on gameplay instead of just feeling like numbers in a stat sheet. The active abilities look great, hit hard, and the huge variety of cards and possible combinations gives the game excellent replay value. For a one-man project without a studio, publisher, or external support, this is an impressive achievement. With a bit more polish, it could become a truly perfect game.

It's not bad, but I can't really recommend this for anywhere close to $20. Unfortunately the free prologue is a bit too generous and the paid version is barely any bigger. So you might be expecting more content but there's really not much to see yet. + The deckbuilding mechanics are unique and interesting, but it'd be nice to skip the annoying animations and just show static icons for whatever happened to the spells that turn. - In this sort of game you might hope for some emergent mechanics. You can modify your spells but in extremely limited ways, and not in ways that are terribly satisfying. Leveling up a spell rarely feels like anything decisive, you're constantly just inching up 3% increments - except when the game grants you a 100+% critical chance for the cost of the gold you'd earn in like one battle, as a reward for *beating the first level*. - So yeah, balance is dogsh. Early levels are a little tense but it's very easy to get your HP beyond anything enemies can touch, or have so many summons on the field that you don't need to do anything, or shoot 20 projectiles at a time. It doesn't feel fun because that "power spiral" feeling hardly feels earned. And when you have attained that level, you're rarely challenged so the difficulty curve is reversed. - Combat itself is pretty flat. Enemies charge, you shoot, you move on. I don't think a single combat really stands out to me. Oh there was the boss, but the only thing different was that it was a boss. He also charges, you shoot, you move on. - Map design I'd call poor. You're just kind of hoofing it slowly across a featureless landscape with not much to do. You will fight about 2 dozen very samey battles as you explore the level, and in my experience up to half of the landmark features might be mysteriously un-usable. No explanation or hint is given, but something marked on the map seems to do nothing. Other games give you *something* to feel like you're on the trail of interesting, but this just feels like I made a special trip to go read a "placeholder" sign. ~ The minimap is almost worse than useless, being so distorted that it can hide bridges or make disconnected landmasses look connected. The one thing I do like about it is the player trail that helps you remember where you've been recently. - Is it fun? Yeah, in that way that you have a task before you broken down into a checklist and you have a chance to check things off the list. But the combat isn't interesting or skill-based enough to register. If I lived or died it was because I found the right stat boosts or spells or whatever. Which is the premise yeah, but you do need a little bit of room in there for player skill. If the core experience of the game isn't intrinsically satisfying, all the polish in the world won't be able to help it.

아직 사지마세요 한글번역도 ㅁㅁ으로 깨지고 최적화도 잘안되있어 첫시작부터 아예 뭘 할수가없네요 보기엔 잼써보이는데 차차 업데이트 잘되길 바랍니다.

Great Game! The Deck System is beautifuly designed and motivating Enjoyed every run so far. I didnt have any performance issues, runs perfectly smoothhhhh.

Let me preface this by saying, I played the DEMO and there were issues that I found in there that the developer was more than happy to make changes to and work out. Not to mention they were VERY open to making changes to how things worked and took feedback/made changes where they seemed right. Pros: Replay-ability (lots of card and ability combos) WASD and mouse control options Active devs who listen Cons: The game itself feels a little...dull? Not alot of map or content was released since the DEMO (there is a new map) All in all, I am 100% excited to see where this goes and the promise is there. Someone poured their heart and soul into this game and I have already seen them making changes PRIOR and listening to their testers. They are aware of the lag and crashing, so I will hopefully be able to update my review (if I remember) when they fix that issue and be able to take those off the cons list. <3 Happy deck building everyone and I hope you give this game a chance. There is potential here if you are willing to see it.