Dungeon Drafters PC Review 8/10 "Big Deck Energy" 📕 @DungeonDrafters #IndieGames #GameDev

A mage, cloaked in a purple, erm, cloak, pushes the heavy stone door open and peers inside the crypt beyond. The brawler, muscles glistening in the barely visible torchlight, stands behind his companion, ready to step forth into the unknown. The block of granite slides open and the duo step into the cobweb-bedecked room ahead. Before they draw breath they are set upon by hellish creatures - two gelatinous blobs, a giant beetle and a mighty winged dragon! 

The mage flashes a knowing, smug glance at her warrior friend and smiles fiendishly at the beasts before her. They know not of what is to happen next, as she reaches under her cloak and brings her hands back out in front of her, brandishing… a pair of playing cards. The beasts attack and devour the two heroes, as their small pieces of cardboard offer no protection at all, though possibly do provide some added fibre to the meal they become.

That’s how this story SHOULD go. But no. Fortunately, in Dungeon Drafters your cards are magic. Phew. And there are a lot of cards. But let’s rewind a little, shall we?

First, you’re going to want to pick from one of six characters. They include the Mage and the Brawler, but there’s also the Shinobi (which, along with the graphical style made me think the creators were from East Asia, but it turns out the outfit is from Brazil), Monk, Bard and Explorer.

This choice dictates your starting blend of cards (weighted more towards defence, movement, ranged attack etc) so you can base your choice on a basic style. There is so much depth to this game in terms of cards and other perks though, that this choice doesn’t pigeonhole you forever.

The gameplay is (mostly) straightforward enough. Your character inhabits a pixel-graphic, grid-based world, reminiscent of many other games within the broad RPG universe. There are two parts to the game, essentially. There’s the town, where you amend and append your deck of cards, ready for the next battle, and the dungeons themselves, which are the main event.

The game is a series of turn-based battles where you and enemies move about on a grid, taking up positions to attack and evade. Whereas with games like XCOM or Rabbids, the ‘luck’ element was the ‘hit chance’ mechanic, here your battle efforts are affected by your hand of cards. You get to choose which cards you take into battle, but fortune decides which you have in what order.

Dungeon Drafters looks really good. Its retro look belies a smooth and slick presentation that is very polished, and there isn’t too much time spent wading through dialogue and such (for those impatient types like me). The music is pretty par for the course (synthy, obvs), and works well with the gameplay. 

The battles themselves, the core of the game, are mostly well-balanced and reasonably varied. I say reasonably as although there are more cards in this game than I receive on the 14th of February (i.e. THOUSANDS), the effects on each fight are relatively limited. And I found early on that straightforward hand-to-hand combat was quite a reliable option when your cards weren’t offering anything helpful. 

I found that battles swung between walkovers and insta-death obliterations on a few occasions, with little curve in between. But then this is a roguelike game, designed to have you go back in and further each time, with an improved armoury of magic cards at your disposal. 

But. BUT.

The further I went into this game, the more I found that my deck build could be my downfall, with the bosses in particular (who are found in each dungeon) having protection from many of the more interesting cards. This made them tougher, as you’d expect, but essentially meant that a duller choice would win out, which meant that after unlocking a plethora of exciting combat options, I was best off going for simple and effective cards over the more ‘out there’ ones.

SUMMARY

This game has a pretty unique combination of roguelike and deck-building mechanics, and a huge variety of cards, as well as some nifty mini-games too.

My gripe about dull builds prevailing aside, there is a large, beautiful and challenging strategy game here to enjoy. It’s not accessible enough to convert anyone to the genre I don’t think, but for existing fans, it’s definitely one to add to the roster.

 Dungeon Drafters is available on Steam now.