Dungeon Drafters
September 4, 2023
Dungeon Drafters is pretty fun! I'd been craving a proper deckbuilder-like game after years of card games that are only either 1. live-service titles meant to wring your money for boosters, or 2. games like Slay the Spire where all the deckbuilding is improv'd over the course of a run. this is actually a lot more intensive than I was really looking for, but it's a good time in its own way.
Though it's a roguelite, you keep a persistent collection of cards between runs and open boosters, which definitely satisfies the collection/progression itch for someone like me. the near-complete info for everything like enemy patterns gives it a very "traditional board game" feel, which is cool. The learning curve is steep shit, though - between accounting for the movement+attack patterns of your enemies, the arena, and what to do with your selection of cards, it can really create some Analysis Paralysis not unlike some of the more intensive traditional board games i've played. I was expecting something a bit more rapid-fire, but even when I know what my deck is capable of, the pace and the way I have to rack my brain to figure out how to blow someone up without taking needless damage feels like a small step above the earlygame in something like Final Fantasy Tactics... this isn't a bad thing, but it very much strikes me as one of those games you will either play for an hour and drop, or it'll click with you and you'll dump 10+ hours into it without even noticing.
There's clearly a lot of depth - there's four (five?) archetypes, not unlike the way Colors work in Magic the Gathering, each embodying a certain playstyle - you can mix and match cards of different archetypes, but what types you can include and how strong the cards you can include are is based on the customizable "rune arrangement" of your deck. Of course cards can do anything from summon minions, to shoot fireballs, to create reflective mirrors to heal and well if you're familiar with any battling card game ever, this runs the gamut of varied TCG effects and abilities - the possibilities for synergies are immense, and you can expect to start brainstorming a bit the moment you open your first few boosters.
The spritework and visual style are definitely gorgeous and worth mentioning too, and the whole game's presentation evokes this vibe I can only describe as "hidden gem for the Nintendo DS i found in the games section at FYE". Some typos here and there, and I had some issues with the game's visual scaling (something about its resolution/screen options is a bit buggy), but overall it's been a pretty polished experience.
If you're looking for a deckbuilder/collector-slash-tactical-strategy-game with some nice complexity, maybe take a look at Dungeon Drafters?