Nadir: A Grimdark Deck Builder - Prologue

Reviewing card games is what we do! As this is not a full game, the question I'll be asking is whether it's worth playing the prologue or wishlisting the main game. And the answer is mostly yes, but read on why it's not 100%. The novel idea here is that each card has either a blue or red border. This is important as in order to play your cards you need to match it with red or blue enemy attacks. Once matched the enemy takes that action. For example you will have a red card that does 5 damage, and you can match it with the red enemy action that deals you 5 damage, essentially trading blows. Of course, it gets more complex than that and essentially you are trying to play cards with maximum benefit but also trying to outmaneuver the enemy into taking weak actions. This introduces an entirely new level of decision making. Rather than just looking at the text of the card and it expands the decision making space, while it also, not intuitively, reduces it. Why? Because you REALLY want to avoid some particular enemy actions and try to go for the ones with weaker effects, which in turn already decides the color of the card you want to play which reduces then number of cards you should play for the turn. Because of the color aspect of the game, it can also influence deck building where color balanced decks may become more ideal and where large decks will hurt even more as there is a big penalty for not being able to match colors. It's difficult to tell whether the main game will inherit the same problems or will extra content and balance changes fix it. I believe all issues above are addressable but if left as, the replay value will be greatly reduced. My suggestion is to take some impact away from picking enemy actions and in turn have the enemy take a consistent minor action every turn in addition to the player chosen action. The positive + Grim and unique aesthetics. + Interesting and novel mechanic where your cards determine enemy actions. The neutral * The color of the card may end up being a bigger influence on what card you play than the actual card text. * Some card tooltips are too small and hard to read as well as damage dealt/received. * The room picker UI is pretty cool and thematic but sometimes difficult to see what new rooms will a certain path unlock. Conclusion: Fans of deckbuilders should try the prologue as it takes ~1h to see most of the content or keep an eye on the main game. Cards determining enemy actions is a pretty cool concept, but has the potential to overshadow other more fun aspects of the game. Looking forward to seeing how this one develops. FOR MORE REVIEWS ABOUT CARD GAMES, CHECK OUT OUR CURATOR PAGE: CARD GAME KING or TWITTER