Is Ruina a deckbuilder? I thought it was from the tags and the screenshots. When people talk about it it doesn’t seem like it?
I have not gotten that far into it, but from what I have seen it is not a run-based deckbuilder like Slay the Spire or Monster Train where you start fresh each play session with a set of basic cards and add to it from there, but I think it counts. Each character (you start with one, but there are obviously more) has a basic deck of cards (“pages”) that are (at minimum, remember I only have one character so far) attacks of the various elemental types. You and the enemy take turns playing these (there is an initiative roll every turn), and when you beat enemies they turn into books that seem to be involved in summoning new enemies to fight, but you can also burn the books to get more “pages,” some of which are moves that can go into characters’ decks and some of which are character equipment.
So I managed to miss the Banner of Ruin sale so I’ll have to grab that next time. I went back to Neoverse
It’s actually good? I was turned off by the protagonists. I thought it made the game feel cheap. The game is pretty good. There are lots of gameplay quirks and systems in play:
- You can shop at anytime. Even during a battle.
- You can upgrade your skill tree anytime (skills = relics). The skills tree system is also interesting. It’s a 5x5 grid that you can buy any of the skills but the 5th one. To buy the 5th one you must buy the preceding 4 in an horizontal, vertical or diagonal line.
- You get 3 equipment slot. These slots can completely change the game. You equip them before starting the game
- You have 4 starter deck per character for 3 characters. Once again usually play very differently.
In battle the system goes to 11:
- You automatically draw cards everytime you use a card until the end of the deck. This REALLY confused me at first.
- If you get your armor = your enemy’s damage output then you block the attack and stun them until the next turn. Even bosses.
- If you kill your enemy so that their HP = 0 exactly you get extra gold.
- There’s also a combo meter. If you play the type of cards in the order presented then your next attack will have double damage.
- You also select which enemy you will fight every round. Each of those fight will have a mission that you can meet to get a big bonus (more gold, more skill points, etc). These missions are not battle specific. The mission reward can also be turned in anytime. Meaning you can use them during a battle. This does change your strategy quite a bit.
The game itself is pretty easy for this genre (I have ~80% win rate on the highest difficulty). The with all the system above it’s quite fun. For me it’s less if I win but more of how to a do crazy things with my deck.
The big plus is the runs are quite short and quick. It’s a good change of pace if happen to play game like Roguebook, Tainted, Griftlands, etc.
Neoverse is quite strong and also on consoles. I don’t like the aesthetic at all, but gameplay is solid.
Yup. I hovered on buy many times and never pulled the trigger. The Humble Bundle inclusion saved the game for me.
Hmm, I was a bit put off by the aesthetics, but it sounds like I should give that another shot.
Meanwhile, I’ve started to get back into Nowhere Prophet, which is still a pretty novel approach to the genre. I really appreciate the way each card is an individual who can be wounded or killed, making attrition much more nuanced than a single health value and leading to some interesting choices about what risks to take.
I would give it another shot. There are lots of systems but they’re not really that complicated overall. Good for a quick drop in and drop out session.
I keep trying play Nowhere Prophet but I feel it’s a better tactical game than a card game.
I also liked Neoverse, which surprised me a bit since I got it out of some bundle without actually knowing what it was. Played it a decent amount until other games drew my attention away. Close enough to Slay the Spire to scratch the same itch, with enough differences to not feel like the same thing over again.
also I think neoverse is still on gamepass or at least was last I played it.
Apparently I might have an extra Neoverse key? Is it possible to check if it’s redeemed?
Or if there’s anyone who posted on this thread who wants it just PM me and I’ll give it to you. Not guaranteed to work though.
So I got lucky and it went on sale @ Humble after it went off sale on Steam. Since I had credits from recommending Humble Choice to myself I got the game for free.
The game and the gamerplay loop is very good. But it’s also very short on replayability and the base difficulty is very easy. I usually goof around on the first 3 runs (blind selecting, RNG choices, etc.) to learn the mechanics. I won on my 3rd run and actually never loss again (on purpose) until my 6th run. That was against the optional boss (which should’ve been a lion aka Robin Hood :)). There just wasn’t as much Roguelike stuff to keep me on my toes.
However unlike Griftlands the base gameplay in Banner is very engaging and you actually have lots of choices in cards, abilities, combat that the difficulty doesn’t matter.
Lykurgos, I suggest you try out Star Renegades if you like this type of tactical combat. On higher difficulties you have to plan out 5-6 turns ahead. It’s glorious. It’s not a card battler however.
I think you have figured it. Banners of Ruin has pretty wonderful tactical combat, I would rate it less brilliant than Trials of Fire, but otherwise one of the best in recent years.
What it does lack is longevity. I have completed it three times now, completed referring to the ‘true’ boss. There are three possible endings and having now experienced all, there is very little reason to replay until or unless new content is released.
Still, those three full runs, preceded by a couple others, add up to more than 20 hours of very enjoyable game, good enough!
On difficulty, have you tried stacking up some of the nastier Oaths? Like those that add poison or bleed to your heroes or recovery to the enemies? There are a bundle of people on the Steam forums reporting they find the game too difficult. Like you though, I find it too easy, and whilst those nasty Oaths would make it more difficult, I think it might also make it a bit of a chore.
I have Star Renegades . . . yet to really dive into it though . . . Tainted Grail calls . . .
I didn’t even know about the other endings since I just skip all story related events.
I did try a high Oath run but really didn’t change too much. I used Bears, because I love defensive plays. The Oaths really didn’t change too much. I usually kill 1-3 enemies in a turn by the second map. 3 Bears on the back and 1 in the front. My mains cards are Double Team, Reserves and Red Powder. If I get lucky I’m usually 100 armor+ and 20 charges by the second round with 2-3 enemies dead. I
I actually found Bunnies and Beavers to be quite unpowered (as a Canadian that’s offensive!).
Play more Tainted Grail though! It’s a great game.
So I just finished everything for Dicey Dungeon:
I gave up on this game last year. I thought it was too RNG based and not enough skill. I am definitely wrong though. There are quite a bit of skill based decisions in this game. Initially the runs were ~30 minutes to completed but later It grew to an hour+ on higher difficulties. Once I figured out how the system works my win rate shot up dramatically.
The game works well for casual players as the initially difficulties are easy to just click along. Highly recommended if you’re a gambler at heart.
That makes 15 card games.
I had Deep Sky all finished too but the expansion added a few more achievements. DSD unfortunately and long so that’ll have to wait.
Next is probably Monster Train? I’m taking suggestions.
Monster Train is phenomenal
I know but I have to crave out time for it. I tend to focus on one game at a time.
I skipped Monster Train for a long time despite buying it in early access. I’ve been on a rogue like binge lately so I went in blind to give it a try this weekend. It gorged on my insignificant weekend then wretched it back up to be gorged on again. That game is one tasty morsel.
Seriously, my weekend was about… 35 seconds long. Take that as encouragement or a warning.
I see what you did there, and I approve.
I’m at 234 hours. It’s now one of my most played games ever. I just keep coming back and lose a couple hours to it. It’s perfect, at least for me.
Wow, some of these are seriously impressive, beyond the time sink aspect. Which are your favorites?