On the surface, Cardaclysm might seem like the dozens of roguelite deckbuilding RPGs that show up every day on Steam. To a degree, it is like them, but it abandoned the “roguelite” aspect and went the route of a more traditional RPG. While it can seem overly forgiving to play through a game without the risk of starting from the beginning at this point, Cardaclysm ends up offering a challenge – though in a different way than its contemporaries.

Abbreviated Review: https://youtu.be/y4btvAZcK1I

Cardaclysm could easily be seen as a “generic” game. Whether you’re looking at it from an RPG perspective, deckbuilding perspective, or just the inherent use of basic tropes, it’s predictable. You’ll accumulate cards to build out a deck of a limited size, swapping in bigger and better things to formulate a strategy. Then you’ll summon those creatures and cast spells based on your pool of resources that grows as you progress through the game. There’s nothing here that you haven’t seen somewhere before.

Even the nature of the cards themselves is reminiscent of other games. The typical attack and toughness values adorn the bottom of each card. These dictate whether the opponent it fights will live or die from each battle. The creatures summoned by the cards also encompass the many stereotypes of RPGs with wolves, spiders, knights, and so on – each representative of their generic overarching factions like fire, ice, and nature. However, I’m not sure that it’s a requirement that a game is wholly unique to be entertaining.

A moderate portion of Cardaclysm involves walking through procedurally generated levels collecting items and buffs and engaging with stationary enemies. At first, this seems like a strange formality since you’re always required to kill all of the enemies on a level to progress. As the game progresses though, the way you approach this becomes more important. Depending on the enemies you encounter, you may way to reformat your deck to have more of the cards you need to succeed.

The exploration itself isn’t particularly impressive though. The routes you can take are limited and easy to determine as you move around the map. Collecting items can usually just be done by following the path in its entirety. It’s also a bit awkward that the defining resources for combat are just arbitrarily picked up from the ground. It seems like they should be something you can’t potentially miss and isn’t determined by the procedural generation.

The combat of Cardaclysm is pretty straightforward, but it has some aspects that make keep it entertaining in its simplicity. The first is that your avatar exists on the battlefield. You have no real value outside of being the point of animation for spell casting, however, you must be protected. The five slots in front of the character can each hold a creature. If they’re all empty for any reason, the next enemy attack kills you instantly. You don’t have health and can’t do anything to stop it. So it’s important to maintain summoned creatures at all times.

Given the relatively limited number of creatures that can be on either side and finite summoning resources, battles are usually very quick. They can generally end within three or four rounds of back and forth combat. You can only work with the total amount of summoning runes and souls you’ve accumulated for each battle. So if you have 50 runes and play two cards that cost 25, you have to work with those two cards the whole battle. Some cards and gear you acquire can add to these resource pools in combat, but it is rare and usually not too significant.

This creates combat where you can make a seemingly small error that results in a total failure. At the same time, there are instances you can squeak by when it looks like you’re done because of one good decision. That kind of stuff usually doesn’t happen as much with roguelites where getting screwed by small margins would make restarting a nightmare.

Despite Cardaclysm’s overall generic feeling, it does provide a more traditional RPG feel to the experience. It’s possible to either play strategically to succeed or just grind at the game until you accumulate cards and resources so that little can stand in your way. It can be frustrating to get to a point where the difficulty spikes on a level, but you can always just abandon that level and start another one without much lost in the process. With the varieties in each biome and the potential to change up your deck at any time, it’s not too difficult to find success with enough effort.

Whether this is all worth the price is a bit subjective. The game is visually polished and the music selection is solid as well – though one track sounds like it was pulled right out of Ori and the Blind Forest. It’s one of those games that will probably end up as a common fixture in-game bundles, but one that you should give a shot. Just make sure you give it at least a couple of hours because it’s going to be much easier in the beginning than when you get into the meat of the game. Just don’t go in expecting the next Slay the Spire, because it’s not even close.

If you'd like to see more of my reviews, check out my curator page here: Endyo’s Indies, Abbreviated Reviews, and online at BagoGames

On the surface, Cardaclysm might seem like the dozens of roguelite deckbuilding RPGs that show up every day on Steam. To a degree, it is like them, but it abandoned the “roguelite” aspect and went the route of a more traditional RPG. While it can seem overly forgiving to play through a game without the risk of starting from the beginning at this point, Cardaclysm ends up offering a challenge – though in a different way than its contemporaries. Abbreviated Review: https://youtu.be/y4btvAZcK1I [h1]Back to Basics[/h1] Cardaclysm could easily be seen as a “generic” game. Whether you’re looking at it from an RPG perspective, deckbuilding perspective, or just the inherent use of basic tropes, it’s predictable. You’ll accumulate cards to build out a deck of a limited size, swapping in bigger and better things to formulate a strategy. Then you’ll summon those creatures and cast spells based on your pool of resources that grows as you progress through the game. There’s nothing here that you haven’t seen somewhere before. Even the nature of the cards themselves is reminiscent of other games. The typical attack and toughness values adorn the bottom of each card. These dictate whether the opponent it fights will live or die from each battle. The creatures summoned by the cards also encompass the many stereotypes of RPGs with wolves, spiders, knights, and so on – each representative of their generic overarching factions like fire, ice, and nature. However, I’m not sure that it’s a requirement that a game is wholly unique to be entertaining. [h1]Isometric Exploration[/h1] A moderate portion of Cardaclysm involves walking through procedurally generated levels collecting items and buffs and engaging with stationary enemies. At first, this seems like a strange formality since you’re always required to kill all of the enemies on a level to progress. As the game progresses though, the way you approach this becomes more important. Depending on the enemies you encounter, you may way to reformat your deck to have more of the cards you need to succeed. The exploration itself isn’t particularly impressive though. The routes you can take are limited and easy to determine as you move around the map. Collecting items can usually just be done by following the path in its entirety. It’s also a bit awkward that the defining resources for combat are just arbitrarily picked up from the ground. It seems like they should be something you can’t potentially miss and isn’t determined by the procedural generation. [h1]Killing with Cards[/h1] The combat of Cardaclysm is pretty straightforward, but it has some aspects that make keep it entertaining in its simplicity. The first is that your avatar exists on the battlefield. You have no real value outside of being the point of animation for spell casting, however, you must be protected. The five slots in front of the character can each hold a creature. If they’re all empty for any reason, the next enemy attack kills you instantly. You don’t have health and can’t do anything to stop it. So it’s important to maintain summoned creatures at all times. Given the relatively limited number of creatures that can be on either side and finite summoning resources, battles are usually very quick. They can generally end within three or four rounds of back and forth combat. You can only work with the total amount of summoning runes and souls you’ve accumulated for each battle. So if you have 50 runes and play two cards that cost 25, you have to work with those two cards the whole battle. Some cards and gear you acquire can add to these resource pools in combat, but it is rare and usually not too significant. This creates combat where you can make a seemingly small error that results in a total failure. At the same time, there are instances you can squeak by when it looks like you’re done because of one good decision. That kind of stuff usually doesn’t happen as much with roguelites where getting screwed by small margins would make restarting a nightmare. [h1]What’s It Worth?[/h1] Despite Cardaclysm’s overall generic feeling, it does provide a more traditional RPG feel to the experience. It’s possible to either play strategically to succeed or just grind at the game until you accumulate cards and resources so that little can stand in your way. It can be frustrating to get to a point where the difficulty spikes on a level, but you can always just abandon that level and start another one without much lost in the process. With the varieties in each biome and the potential to change up your deck at any time, it’s not too difficult to find success with enough effort. Whether this is all worth the price is a bit subjective. The game is visually polished and the music selection is solid as well – though one track sounds like it was pulled right out of Ori and the Blind Forest. It’s one of those games that will probably end up as a common fixture in-game bundles, but one that you should give a shot. Just make sure you give it at least a couple of hours because it’s going to be much easier in the beginning than when you get into the meat of the game. Just don’t go in expecting the next Slay the Spire, because it’s not even close. [quote] If you'd like to see more of my reviews, check out my curator page here: [url= http://store.steampowered.com/curator/28346672-Endyo-Gaming/]Endyo’s Indies[/url], [url= https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38271367/]Abbreviated Reviews[/url], and online at BagoGames[/quote]