Only a few runs into this one, but already I can tell it's a winner. The game mixes humor with innovation, all to the tune of a tasteful aesthetic and very streamlined gameplay loop that rewards trying new things.

I really like that you are always given very informed options when it comes to upgrading cards, something similar card-battlers fail on consistently. Say you have an attack card that deals 1 damage, most games would just slap an additional damage point on and call it good (forgetting that many cards of the same rarity grade do this better). This game instead goes with the approach of 'hey, we COULD go with that formula, but let's try for something better, something more flexible that might empower players to decide for themselves what is best for their deck', things like reduced energy, tripled damage at the cost of Exhaust, or adding a draw effect. I am continually engaged when narrowing down my choices, trying to optimize certainly, but also happy to play with all the cool and interesting different effects they think up, particularly for rarer cards.

There's lots to experiment with and unlock, you can save/load at any point, even in fights, with no lost progress, and it's small enough there's no egregious loading screens either, you can always just jump right back into a run, or discard a losing run and start over fresh. I also appreciate that passive bonus items don't cap, so there's no penalty for choosing all one color, and they often compliment each other so picking up a strong one that carries a rough penalty, can still be offset later in the run if you're building smart. Basically you can never screw yourself completely out of a run just for trying stuff (maybe on the Harder difficulties, haven't tried them all yet), which I've always found to be a very compelling core design element that brings cohesion and replayability.

And the music be boppin :D

EDIT: Played the whole way through and gotta say the ending is super sweet! TwT I loved getting all the memories and getting better insights into all the characters' personalities and backgrounds, it helped give them life and redeemed a few I was on the fence about, which I think is great storytelling. If you've gotten this far, give it a play! :D

Only a few runs into this one, but already I can tell it's a winner. The game mixes humor with innovation, all to the tune of a tasteful aesthetic and very streamlined gameplay loop that rewards trying new things. I really like that you are always given very informed options when it comes to upgrading cards, something similar card-battlers fail on consistently. Say you have an attack card that deals 1 damage, most games would just slap an additional damage point on and call it good (forgetting that many cards of the same rarity grade do this better). This game instead goes with the approach of 'hey, we COULD go with that formula, but let's try for something better, something more flexible that might empower players to decide for themselves what is best for their deck', things like reduced energy, tripled damage at the cost of Exhaust, or adding a draw effect. I am continually engaged when narrowing down my choices, trying to optimize certainly, but also happy to play with all the cool and interesting different effects they think up, particularly for rarer cards. There's lots to experiment with and unlock, you can save/load at any point, even in fights, with no lost progress, and it's small enough there's no egregious loading screens either, you can always just jump right back into a run, or discard a losing run and start over fresh. I also appreciate that passive bonus items don't cap, so there's no penalty for choosing all one color, and they often compliment each other so picking up a strong one that carries a rough penalty, can still be offset later in the run if you're building smart. Basically you can never screw yourself completely out of a run just for trying stuff (maybe on the Harder difficulties, haven't tried them all yet), which I've always found to be a very compelling core design element that brings cohesion and replayability. And the music be boppin :D [spoiler]EDIT: Played the whole way through and gotta say the ending is super sweet! TwT I loved getting all the memories and getting better insights into all the characters' personalities and backgrounds, it helped give them life and redeemed a few I was on the fence about, which I think is great storytelling. If you've gotten this far, give it a play! :D [/spoiler]