Devil’s Deck is similar to an Old Country Buffet. A little bit of one game with small scoops of another mixed together to create a solid dish. You see, I never got into Hearthstone much, mostly because you have to pay real money for cards and it feels gated behind pay-to-win walls, but Devil’s Deck fixes that by putting it into a Slay the Spire type system where each run you start anew.
After you pick your character, you move around the board to different events and every movement is one day. Every five days, you battle an enemy, and every three enemies is a boss. Repeat three times and you win. Battles follow a Hearthstone system where you start each fight with one max mana, which is used to summon minions. To gain more, you sacrifice cards on the altar. Fiber is important for the devil too! If your minions are blocked by an enemy, it attacks his minion. Otherwise, it attacks the commander directly. This continues until one commander hits 0 and if it is you it is game over.
Every battle you get your choice of a card, some gold, and forty XP. Fill up the XP and you get a new relic which boosts your power. The big negative of this game is that there’s nothing new in it. Its core is a mix of existing and there are no new layers. There’s also an unused currency, which I think will be used later in the early access.
Also, if you’re struggling regularly to reach the third level then I feel like the game should offer you more, and more powerful, buffs to keep the risk vs reward balance intact. No gamer feels joyful losing over and over again (not like this is a personal experience), without an increasing incentive. The game turns into a 21st-century punching bag. At this point in development, Devil’s Deck knows what it wants to be, and has a great start at that. If it comes up with a unique element, I feel this might be one of my all-time favorites.
Devil’s Deck was developed by Touch Times Studio and published by HeyBox Interactive.
Price: $14.99
Point of sale: Steam
A Steam review key was provided by the developer.
Djf1107 has awarded Devil’s Deck the Indie Gamer Team Seal of Approval.
Indie Gamer Team 