Verses of Enchantment

Not for the current price. The content is too small. There is barely a story. Mechanics are fresh, but too few. The ambiance is fabulous but it s painting made by famous people, that s it. The combat is repetitive. Dueling about 12 opponents, at least 3 times each, is the entirety of this game. That s skinny for the asked price. For now it s like paying for Gwent and have 25% of the game. Maybe for 8e I ll recommend in the current state. But not one euro more.

Spell-based Magic The Gathering with a touch of poetry? Sign me up. I'm a big CCG fan so anything remotely using deckbuilding already has my interest, but a mix of clever ideas here really sold the deal. Your cards form poetry and your next turn is heavily impacted by that poem, it's a very unique mechanic and the flavour behind it is well-thought-out. For the artwork, public domain paintings were used, which is just such a smart way to handle the need for captivating visuals that fit well in the baroque spell-slinging universe it sets up. I see myself spending a lot of time with this game and will be looking for online challengers soon ^^

Fun game and interesting use of AI. Works great on Steam Deck but selecting things can be difficult. The indicator for selecting rewards is hard to see for example.

Love the concept. The actual card game doesn't have enough depth to be very engaging for long. Most of the time your decisions are obvious. Wanted the actual poems to matter more, since that is sort of the central conceit. Dueling the same opponent over and over again because it's the most efficient thing to do is boring. Animations are slow even when set to "Very Fast". Game loop has extra unnecessary clicks to advance the poem that slow things down. If you're going to make me make 100s of obvious decisions, at least let me make them quickly.

The most artistic game I've ever played. Loved the concept, the poetry, the art, the music, the challenge! One of the best and most addictive card game I had the pleasure to experience. Its a must!

Absolutely fantastic game that dragged me in faster than I ever imagined. So you say I can be a Wizard, writing poetry, travelling the world, duelling and collecting cards? Hell yeah! Where other deckbuilding games fell down for me was all the stress of the battles, worrying too much about every step. In VoE this stress is all gone! The beautiful art and the AI-generated poetry all add to the cosy vibes of this game. Every duel Im amazed by how versatile and interesting the poetry is and they all connect into the duel mechanic. Very unique system. I cant wait to play more! Higly recommend!

You're a mage who battles other mages with poetry magic. Your cards have words that are used to generate AI poems and also serve as keywords. Mechanically, it's a very interesting and fun concept, the balance is good, and there is a decent amount of synergies between the poetry themes (nature-themed, gloomy, romantic...) You have 5 deck slots that can be edited and swapped between fights. The atmosphere and look of the game is pretty good and definitely makes it stand out from other deckbuilders/cardbattlers. However, there is one glaring issue: lack of content. I bought this game on sale (paid ~15 EUR) and the '1 h playtime per EUR = worth its price' formula doesn't hold up. At just under 14 hours playtime, I have beaten the campaign and the gauntlet mode, and except for some bits of dialogue, I have seen it all. There's not much of a story. You battle mages, get their cards, whenever you reach a threshold (x cards collected), a new map area opens up, rinse and repeat. There's a total of 15 enemies (+ a boss), each can give you 3 - 4 cards, and that's it. No region/stage bosses. Enemies don't change their decks or tactics, so every battle is the same and it's very easy to see what deck/cards to use. The total number of cards to collect/unlock is 100. There's no gear like artifacts or consumables (other than a fairly pointless need to buy food rations to travel), nothing other than cards from magic schools to buy. I ended up with my gold capped at 999 and nothing to do with it. I enjoyed the gameplay, repetitive as it was, but even at a discount, there really is no justification for the price. By far not enough enemies, and barely anything going on in the overworld/out of combat. It's like if Slay The Spire had only 1 character, 1 stage, 1 elite, 1 boss, no shops, no upgrades, and no items. I'd only recommend it if it was heavily discounted or a lot more content was added.

Full disclosure - I helped bring this game to life as composer and writer, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it! Especially considering just how much fun there is to be mined here; a relaxing and moreish gameplay loop that constantly surprises you with high quality poems and genuinely unique game design. Fantastic work all round.

I'll be honest, I really want to like Verses of Enchantment. I love the early modern oil painting aesthetic, the card battler system, the character dialogue... and the concept of AI-generated poetry battles is fascinating. However, the quantity of content is not worth the price. The card variety is low compared to other card battlers, and the battles themselves are largely your only way of interacting with the other characters. If there was some quests with branching choices and dialogue, or perhaps the opportunity to travel in a party with other characters, the content would be higher-quality.

Roses are red, Violets are blue To my love, I write this review After all that hard work You made something that's beautiful through and through And for all it's worth I'm rly proud of you Waxing poetic aside, I want to add some actual thoughts as well... This is my first venture into card-based gameplay and deckbuilding, so I'm not much of a tactitian. Yet. I am enjoying figuring things out in that regard though. But what has me... enchanted, if you will, and compells me to return, is the atmosphere. To me, Verses of Enchantment is not something I want to sit through in one go (totally valid as well though), but a world I want to immerse myself in every once in a while. The music, sound design, art work, etc. They all come together beautifully to create a calming little pocket dimension just for me. And if that's your vibe as well, then here's my recommendation :)