Sealed in Wax

[i] My Experience [/i] This was just [i]excellent[/i] all-around. I downloaded a few game demos last week, including [b]Sealed in Wax[/b]. But after trying its demo I just went ahead and bought the game (instead of trying any of the other demos I downloaded), and it was pretty much all I played on Steam until I finished it. When it comes to deckbuilders, I must admit that it's hard for me to cross the empathy gap and understand why someone wouldn't like them. However, it's possible that potential players would need to have an affinity for the genre to fully appreciate what [b]Sealed in Wax[/b] brings to the table. You have a hero that starts with 0 gold, 2 attack power, and 30 health. Each level features a boss (with much more health and attack than you start with) and a few level-specific cards that will pop up as you progress. Other than the boss and these specific cards, though, everything is up to you. You'll create what is essentially an encounter deck of enemies, items, and abilities. It not only matters what cards you choose to include in your deck, but the order in which you play them over the course of the level. The entire level consists of eight pages of four cards a piece. You'll accumulate power (this may look different depending on your deck theme) until there's a final showdown between you and the boss after the completion of the eighth page. You're certainly not expected to win on your first run of a boss, as you'll mostly be noting the effects of the level-specific cards and brainstorming how you might create a deck that complements them. Once you win, you'll be rewarded with another card or two that you can incorporate into your decks moving forward. By the end, I had used all of the five deck slots allotted to players on the deckbuilding screen. I had a generic power-ramping deck, a "gold slam" deck, and an "armor slam" deck. These latter two decks can deal damage to a boss based on the amount of gold and armor you've accumulated, respectively. In addition, I had a few creations that were designed for a specific level/boss. The deckbuilding tool is easy to use, and developer Raven Blue Studios includes the handy ability to copy an existing deck to another slot if you want to make some level-specific tweaks without disturbing your original creation. Although the core of what's here is a tremendous amount of fun, I also wanted to praise some of the creative thematic choices made by the developer. One series of levels essentially amounts to an Indiana Jones-like adventure, complete with an escape from a collapsing temple/cave at the end. Another set of levels has a medieval dueling theme, and a favorite level of mine within this set is the concession stand (I can't recall the exact name of it off the top of my head). Upon completing this stage you're awarded with a picnic basket item card that heals you on use. Unfortunately, it also puts a "stomachache" card in your deck upon use that will later deal a bit of damage to you (though not as much as the basket originally healed). As someone with an iffy stomach, this very much matches my experiences eating big meals at events! There is also an awesome card that transforms into an escalating series of duels, providing you with an item that temporarily doubles your damage upon completing the set. I honestly have almost nothing negative to say about this game, and it's my favorite thing I've played so far this year. But if I were asked to point out a con, I would say that the game needs better marketing! It's great that it has a demo, but the blurb at the top of the store page doesn't do much to explain to potential players what it is they're getting into.