TLDR: I would say the game was worth the price of entry. I only have 14 hours thus far and can say I enjoyed this game and if you enjoy deckbuilders this game is like a crack epidemic for your brain. This is also the first deckbuilder I have played to intentionally include such a combo system and if you like big numbers getting bigger then this is your game. Progress feels like it gets made each run, you unlock more cards, fusions, characters, and maps. I do have a long list of balance complaints down below but I still like the game a lot and think people should judge for themselves how they like it.
I like the systems the game has in place but at the same time to achieve this it sort of throws balance out the window (which to be clear I'm totally okay with). You can create some insane synergies - though most of them involve the same few broken cards, mostly the draw card and mana card which are basically required to do anything later into the game. I like the combo system, however once you get wild cards and can draw enough of them this system becomes pretty brainless in my opinion. What once felt thrilling intentionally building a deck with specific energy costs in mind to go to higher and higher combos just turns into you spamming wild cards infinitely. On the same note, the gems are an incredible idea and system. However there are some seemingly useless feeling gems and then some absolutely insane ones. I often just keep picking the same gems every run unfortunately but regardless it was a good attempt.
Next, I want to talk about the anti-infinite system which royally confused me at first. Basically when you use a card like 3 times in a single turn it begins to crack, then if you use it a couple more times (wish the game made this more clear) it completely shatters removing it from your deck and spawning a reaper miniboss. I am so so thankful I found out about this system early in a dungeon because if I found it late and died to this I think I would have deleted the game. Working around this system is fine enough but it severely slows down the pace of long battles when you need to keep watching your cards crack slowly then judge how close they are to breaking based on the sprite.
Visually, game looks great - uses the same art style from Vampire Survivors which is hit or miss but personally it hits. Game can run on a computer made in the early 2000s I'm sure. Music is amazing and has a ton of earworms that stick with me. The game has a bunch of parts you can just turn your brain off to and play to, it is not as methodical as a slay the spire or something like that which may be a good or bad thing. Overall, good game and I look forward to "completing" it.
