Dandy Ace Review (Vitlöksbjörn)
Looks like Hades, doesn't it? Looks can be deceiving. It's pedigree is almost entirely from Dead Cells, down to the teleporters, branching paths, droppable heals, and trading "cells" for permanent upgrades. On that foundation it builds its own thing, and does it reasonably well.
You have four card slots, for every face button on the controller. You can assign any card to any slot. There are three types of cards: blue (dodges), yellow (long cooldown special attacks) and pink (spammable attacks). There are no restrictions on how many of each you have; you'll probably want to have one of each, and use the fourth slot for whatever you want.
And then there's four additional upgrade slots; you can use cards as upgrades to other cards. And this is where it gets fun, as creating powerful and explosive combo effects is what the game is actually about. For example, there is your regular "throw cards" attack. If you use it to power up another card, then that card's attack causes cards to fly on hit. So if you pair it with an attack that has a lot of projectiles... there's going to be a lot of cards.
The cards have tiers, which forces you to constantly on the lookout for new ones. Enemies get stronger (and different) in every area, so you'll have to find cards of higher tier. But be careful - having your card effects work well together is just as important, if not more. What's the point of picking up a "teleport-to-enemy" skill, if all your attacks are long range projectiles? But you gotta keep those cards circulating, or you'll be outmatched. Tough choice! You gotta improvise, and that's the main appeal of the game.
If you want to play this for the story, don't - there's not much of it. It could have no dialogue whatsoever and it wouldn't hurt the game. The aesthetic and character design are another matter, they shine bright even without any given story context. The main antagonist, Lele, serves as the game's narrator, and he's nothing special - but not annoying either. You can turn off the narration if you think you've heard too much of it.
Oh and one final note: the game is clearly designed with casters in mind. I mean, you're a magician, what would you expect? So the combat style from Hades simply doesn't work too well here. You gotta keep your distance, consider your crowd control effects (there are SO many), and only approach when it's relatively safe. So grab your cards and your top hat, and shine bright!