I can’t speak to the switch version, but while it is a pretty game with some interesting ideas, it isn’t on the level of the other two you mentioned, particularly in terms of build/item/run variety.
I’m liking the gameplay (with a few reservations) but I am shelving it hoping for a performance improvement to come along. It just takes way too long for my tastes due to all the loading and card play delay that crops up. If they cleaned up the performance I would like it a lot more.
Ugh, ok, sounds like another case of Switch being a bit behind on a PC port. And per @Misguided it may not be worth the sluggish performance. Thank you for the heads up guys.
Based on that I think I’ll just pick this up on either Steam or the PlayStation next time it’s on sale and just remote play on my iPad.
To be fair, while I agree it’s not S tier like these two examples, it’s still what I would consider (so far) A-tier and well worth checking out if you’ve played the hell out of StS and MT and are looking for something new/fresh.
However, the performance issues can be a bear on the Switch. It’s mostly “acceptable” but there are times, some boss fights, where the system was so taxed it was taking 5 full seconds to do the thing I selected. I hope it improves with a patch, and I haven’t tried docked yet to see if it’s a better experience there yet.
To be clear, I don’t own it. But I love deckbuilders and after watching plenty of footage of it in action, I’m just not convinced. There’s so many these days. Otoh, options on the switch are much more limited.
I don’t agree with this either - I have to say I’ve done three runs with the same character paring and had a very different experience each run with lots of cards and artifacts that really, really change up how the deck plays. And I only just tried one new character last night and that run was wildly different considering half the cards in my deck and on offer were completely new and featured completely new mechanics. Coupled with a strong and fast-paced meta progression, it’s really a fun card battle game so far.
I would urge you to watch more than a run or two or play for yourself - I think with the other characters/decks it’s got a lot of legs on this, but I won’t really know until I get into the triple-digits for time played like I have done with StS or MT.
This is the thing for me. Lately, I have really been enjoying taking my Switch with me to work and playing a bit of roguelike deckbuilder at lunch. It is why I look to collect these sorts of games on Switch and it is not like my options on Steam. My recent lunches have been a mix of replaying Monster Train on Switch and leveling up heroes in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. Putting a totally fresh game (to me) such as Roguebook was quite appealing when I saw it on the new releases. I also looked at Book of Ashes, but that didn’t seem as well reviewed.
Maybe I should still be looking at Roguebook given my uses. However, @Scotch_Lufkin 's warning about 5 seconds to load a card animation sounds like quite the minus for the idea.
I’ve watched WAY more than that, including runs with the modifiers all the way to max. It’s a beautiful game, and I really like the exploration mechanic (unlike many). I just wasn’t sold on the core gameplay experience.
Glad you are enjoying it, though.
@Chaplin maybe wait for a patch to address performance issues? I don’t think it’s up with the best of the genre (which I hoped it would be) but there’s certainly fun to be had if they work the kinks out.
To be fair, that only happened once with a particular boss, so it could be a bug with that boss. I actually encountered that boss earlier and it did NOT happen, so it may be a card combination during his battle. But I can’t deny it feels frustrating for cards to not play immediately when you select a target - under normal use it’s a half-second delay or so, but you feel it. It’s something I got used to pretty quickly, and I accept it as I’m playing a gorgeous game in hand held while I’m just upstairs watching TV, but it depends on your sensitivity to these things. Given the Switch tends to have performance issues with many games (Slay the Spire, for example, has a pause just after delivering the killing blow on every boss which is annoying but also something you just sort of get used to) I’d imagine it’s not much worse than anything you’ve already dealt with.
I’m seeing those delays really consistently playing on a Switch Lite along with two crashes in 3.5 runs.
I like the game itself but it’s just not fun for me to play right now