Spellsword Cards: Origins

I usually like deckbuilders - but I couldn't find much to like here. This is not like Slay the Spire. This is more like the mobile game Meteorfall, but without that game's charming art, serviceable design, interesting character variance, or streamlined mechanics. The card design is terrible: random costs and bland effects. The different enemies have no personality. My character and deck had no personality. The art and setting are so lame I couldn't describe any part of them to you, even though I just finished playing. My first playthrough was trivially, tediously easy until the final boss. Then, the final boss is a trainwreck of anti-fun mechanics: counters, deck-clogging, and action point draining. I didn't get to do anything after the first turn. So yeah, the first enemy with any personality is the last boss, and his personality is "if you deleted all your cheap cards, you lose". Fun. This game will take some heroic redesigning to be playable.

Very interesting game in a good way. I knew nothing going into the game, no reviews yet so didn't know what to expect. This will be a long review since I think it will be the first one and want people to know what they are getting into. You pick from one of 9 classes (Warrior, Rogue, Priest, Mage, Ranger, Ninja, Druid, Bard, Necromancer, a tenth (Monk) that said it will be released soon. Each class has a description of how it plays, Ranger for example says: Bow at the ready with trained familiars in tow. These individuals prefer the wilderness to the cities. You then pick from one of six races. Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Orc, Dragonborn, Demonspawn. Each race just has some flavor text, I didn't really know what the benefit of each was. The last thing you pick is a Path, Darkness, Ice, Nature, Fire, Light (the symbols look extremely similar to the five Magic the Gathering colors). These also have some descriptions, Nature for example says: Nature provides nurture and protection t...

I really wanted to like this after watching a YT review and reading the reviews here. I was hooked on the classes and paths. However, the GUI is pure mobile IMHO. I usually don't care about graphics, but it feels like a placeholder game that focuses on swiping cards up or down. It's a poor man's Slay the Spire, but overpriced at $5.99. No hard feelings, but can't recommend this if you are looking for a deep CCG/RPG.

There's a difference between challenging and poorly designed. The lich boss is an excellent example of this. He counters the first card you play each turn, then fills your deck with skeletons that explode when you draw them and, as a final kick in the pants, he has a spell that renders him invulnerable for a turn. My only regret is that I putzed around for too long to return this piece of garbage. Knowing what I now know, I wouldn't have it in my game library if it was free, much less pay for it.

So I read through a few of the other reviews and I can see how some may find it negative. No it is NOT flashy and doesn't have 'interesting' characters, but to be honest, it's kinda refreshing. I'm an old school gamer and I've played Many card games, rpgs, whatever and I have to admit I'm addicted to this for some reason. I'm determined to beat the stupid lich with all my characters if possible. That being said, it's also VERY frustrating and will P1ss you off many times! The cards are a bit unbalanced, for example I've reached the lich with no access to mana or healing cards depending on who I choose. This makes it a bit unfair, as well as not being able to meet the boss with a full health. No matter how hard I try to finish the previous battle with as high health as possible, it just doesn't cut it. There was one game I used to play a lot, had over 400 hours until some new dev, crappy pants, redid the whole thing and made it vegas like...I truly hope these devs Don't do that to this ...

Refunded quite quickly. I can't stomach games that are just put from mobile directly on PC. This is full of menus that are set for phones (where you have to scroll to see all options) and language that includes a lot of "tap" and "swipe". It's also bizarre (as one other reviewer noted) that you can discard any card to regain an action. This essentially let's you bypass negative or junk cards.

Wanted to put in a preliminary review that I'm enjoying this very much. I already have a couple hours into it and I can see how this is going to continue to capture my attention. I'm not exactly sure if the campaign continues after the Litch boss, and I'm guessing it doesn't. So that would make beating the game quite short. That said, there are benefits and in game achievements to master by beating him over and over. I found him to be tough enough to need a couple runs to beat him the first time. Much like DnD there are plenty of classes, races, paths and so on to build your deck/pc. I was hoping for a bit more lore like an intro between areas or something to latch onto but there isn't much depth there. Also the book idea is nice, but other than opening and closing it, it doesn't really turn pages or do anything else like that. But the gameplay is still good with balanced mechanics and some interesting combos that arise depending on which path you take (like fire magic, nature, etc). ...

Maybe not hard game per se but there is some unique charm to this game. It has similar vibes to slay the spire but is less luck dependant but also only real challenge is final boss, which is a bit overpowered in a good way. Also it could be easy going to the final boss and then you dead ;]

An interesting take on Card Game / RPG / Roguelike hybrid. I like the mechanic of dumping cards to the discard pile to gain extra action points (earned quite a few 1 turn kill combos that way). I do like the card combinations and various synergies thus far, and I due appreciate the card upgrades system as well. EDIT: Some previously written issues turned out to be user error, and thus deleted that portion of the commentary above. Other than that, the above aforementioned is exactly the same prior to the deleted, and erroneous (on my part again, *sigh*) critique.

TLDR; Beyond the simplistic graphics and UI lies a game that, in my opinion, is slightly better than Slay the Spire (without mods). Pros: Cheap. Less RNG - it's not too difficult to get the cards you are looking for, but it certainly isn't guaranteed. The paths also have guaranteed stores, but they can happen at any time per chapter. Lots of choices - 10 heroes, 6 races, 5 paths. The heroes and paths have their own cards, as do a couple of the races. Easy pathing - book-styled adventure, where you are not locked into any path. Can also keep the store as one of the 3 "pages" and keep going back to it, but at an increasing price. Cons: Compared to competitors, the graphics are not that great. It fits the style, though. The UI is workable, but could use some QoL improvements, like when you've a lot of cards. Only being able to see 5 previous cards played (at top of the screen) is also not much when nearing the last chapter. Some variation in the Lich and other bosses would be nice. No ...