Signs of the Sojourner

I played this back when it was on Game Pass and liked it so much that I bought it. Years later, I hadn’t heard anyone else talk about this game, so here's my review. I like that it tries to gamify conversations. You succeed at conversations by matching like symbols on cards alternating between you and your conversation partner, and it's not always in your interest to succeed. With a limit of 12 cards and replenishing to 5 playable cards, it might not be your choice either. After each conversation, you have to replace one card with another from the up to three cards of your conversation partner's response. You change your personality with each conversation, and you will need to change, that's just great. But how the cards are analogous to having a conversation is unclear, especially at the end of the back-and-forth card placement, the other person has real dialogue. This is perhaps the largest hurdle to enjoying the game. The randomness of card symbols, the fact that cards can have additional abilities, and which cards are drawn means that the replay value is there, even outside of the game's various endings. The randomness can feel unfair if you want to do something specific in the game, as you can be easily stopped. It would be more forgivable if the structure was more accommodating. Going around the map 5 times - really 4.5 rounds, as the first round is the tutorial - makes it too tight to experiment. This tension is appropriate to the game's story, but it does undermine the sense of meaningful choice. Each game takes about 3 hours to complete, so ymmv if this is too long or not to replay after a failed attempt.

[u]Signs of the Sojourner[/u] is a cosy game with a simple card mechanic about communicating with different communities. The story of learning about your late mum’s life and stocking her shop is pleasant, with optional side stories that vary depending on where you travel. However, the card system never became interesting enough to encourage multiple runs. If you want a richer card-based story game, [u]Black Book[/u] is a better option.

This game is quite something. It merges narrative and mechanics flawlessly. Characters tell stories with how and what cards they play and you'll be able to read their hands by how they talk to you. I played through a beautiful story of finding where home is, and i can't wait to go again to find all the different possibilities of what this tale could have become and meet all the characters i didn't ever see, all the towns i couldn't visit and all the help i couldn't provide.

The metaphors of the game are spot on -- as in, the gameplay mirrors my emotional experience

👍

I love the way this game forces you to meet people in the middle on their perspectives as a gameplay mechanic and that you come away from every conversation changed by what they had to say. The cozy gameplay and beautiful art is wonderful as well, but the core mechanic is so unique and interesting.

Great concept, but hard and unfun to play

Really love how the game creates profound messages without being super on the nose. I enjoyed how the mechanics gave the story structure and urgency while still letting me fill in a lot of the "blanks" in my own mind! It's really nice to see a deckbuilder with cool mechanics like this.

Amazing game. Short, but great for a few playthroughs and very worth the money. Also a gem for anybody interested in game design and strong ludonarrative.

A game that uses cards to simulate how your experiences change the way you speak with those around you. Genuinely the only card-based games I've played that made me have emotions (other than elation at an infinite combo or anger at bottom-decking a useful card). Your first game will probably be a failure. But don't be discouraged! It's only a couple hours to get there and you'll learn from it.