Iris and the Giant Review (Zubon)
Somewhat interesting but feels padded even while short. Also, the storyline is depressing.
You probably got here on a recommendation because you like roguelike deckbuilders like Slay the Spire and Monster Train. This game is not much like them. The combat uses a card mechanic, but it is not "deckbuilding" in the usual sense. Cards are one-time use. You build a deck by frequently adding new cards, and there are some ways to recycle cards, but this is a fundamentally different mechanic than games in the deckbuilder genre. Similarly, there are roguelike elements in the way enemies are randomized and you have some control over the order in which you face them, but the fields of enemies are a different experience than in roguelike dungeon-crawlers. This has similarities to some other games you know, but the Steam tags are equal parts misleading and helpful.
The card battling is straightforward, somewhat simplistic in mechanics but interesting in execution because of the number of things going on. Each card and enemy has a simple effect, but you have a full hand of cards and a full screen of enemies. At its best, each round is a puzzle to be solved balancing resources and damage. At its worst, it is either faceroll easy or an unfortunate mismatch of resources and enemies. There are more complex cards available, but they are either rare or must be stolen from enemies.
Enemies can become interesting as they interact with each other, when you need to prioritize targets and minimize their synergy. At a more advanced level, you can see the silhouettes of enemies to come, so you may want to avoid killing X to avoid having Y come onto the field. Player abilities become interesting by building synergy into your assorted upgrades and then building the deck around that.
Depth is limited and gated. There are 60 cards, but you will mostly be playing with 5-10. I don't know if it is mathematically possible to win your first run, assuming you already knew all the mechanics, because you need to unlock upgrades like memories and imaginary friends. For imaginary friends, you need to unlock their challenges and then complete the challenges to unlock them, so unlock to unlock to have another option for buffs. You unlock 1 or 2 imaginary friends per game. I have beaten the game multiple times and still have not unlocked all the challenges to unlock the imaginary friends; another review suggests just starting games and ending your turn until you die, having a few suicide runs to unlock content. This is not a good mechanic. Several of the challenges are another layer of suicide runs, because you need to do X by level Y which can hamstring you in the long run.
The game feels padded while short. I fully support shorter games -- if you have 10 hours of content, do not pad it out to 40. This has less than 10, padded both by those unlocks and by using the same content a lot within a game. The first time, this feels good as it gives you time to learn and master as new mechanics (enemy variations, cards) are introduced. Those come fairly steadily. But then you have another 100 skeletons and cats, and there are >20 levels of them, and it can become a trial of endurance both for your deck and you the player.
The story is depressing. It is meant to be. A little girl is in a downward cycle of bullying and declining mental health. The game is her battling her inner demons, although that metaphor is more informed than supported. That is, we are explicitly told these are her inner demons, but there are no metaphorical implications to the skeletons, cats, mini-bosses, etc. Why is Cerberus one of her inner demons? She likes mythology. Do the three heads stand for anything? Not really. So you get vignettes of a child being abused, along with her family feeling helpless, but only a few seconds worth of catharsis from part of the conclusion. Only two foes seem to take the metaphor seriously, including the final boss battle that is so different from the rest of the game that you can see many posts and reviews asking what is going on there.
The game describes its art as minimalist. It kind of is, and each individual piece is clear. Once you know what an enemy does, you can understand what you are seeing at a glance. But there might be 15 of them on screen at once, and armor might be indicated by a symbol on a shirt, and some of the enemies are large enough to overlap each other. It is mostly clear, but it can be a lot to take in at once, and you may not be able to see everything. By the time you have a full screen of enemies, you know enough to take it in at a glance, but I do not think it is an intentional piece of difficulty that sometimes enemies (or important parts of them) are hidden behind other enemies.
Not a bad game, but it could stand either to be shorter with less gated content or else to have more dynamic player options over the course of its length.
My personal tips:
- Shields and stealing are powerful mechanics, especially as you approach the late game.
- Having some will regain frees you up to take damage rather than playing defensively.