Paperback Adventures

What a wonderful concept, with a fantastic pulp-comics presentation. If you like scrambled word games, that is the essence of the gameplay from hand-to-hand, but don't be fooled: the game has incredible depth in terms of the challenge each of its enemy types presents to the player; your ability to choose and build your deck of letters will have to be balanced with each of the player character's unique abilities with consideration to the types of challenges you will face. This game is primarily a DECK BUILDING and PUZZLE GAME than it is a word scrambler, the resources you will have to manage will vary in priority opponent to opponent, and some of them will feel impossible to beat - in fact they very well may be when you first face them; But losing in this game does not mean all is lost, there is a progression system that earns you XP for whichever of the three different PCs you're playing as, leveling up grants more card options, more "character archetypes", which come with different abilities; This is not a game you should expect to go an undefeated streak against, but rather learn and build your options off the backs of your failures. While some challenges seem downright unfair (looking at you, "Handsome") it felt more like a "Okay, I have to keep this in mind if I face it again" rather than a rage quit inducing experience, although I understand not everyone wants to have to accept failure in their games, so keep that in mind with this one. Extremely satisfying gameplay for me, and yeah, you'll end up using the same words quite often, but again it's more like using a safer, lower-string combo in a fighting game, when you get better you'll figure out how to turn those lower-letter words into longer ones, but given the situation you may want to even stick with a two letter word, and you're almost always given two "wild card" letters allowing you all sorts of dynamics depending on what you draw. I'm kind of just raving about this game at this point, I wanted to be clear what it is exactly and also how immensely I enjoyed it. 10/10 in my book, great fun!

I've loved other Fower games and I was excited to see a digital version of one I hadn't tried. I'm decent at scrabble and bananagrams, play wordle daily, solve crosswords on occasion. I thought a word deck builder game sounded awesome. I may be missing something but I've played 3 hours and yet to play through all the levels of the first 'book'. I'm at 3/10 I think it says. I can't count how many rounds I've lost, it's a lot. I think the closest I got was round 6 in the tutorial 'book', didn't clear that level either. It seems impossible to win, whenever I get close the computer player suddenly gains huge advantages or has unblockable attacks. Strategy also seems unclear to me, are short words or long words better? Should I be trying to get as many crowns for myself and skulls for opponent or be focusing on attacking/blocking? I've kept trying different ways, different strategies. I really wanted to like this game. I keep hoping the new updates will fix the mechanics so its winnable. I can see in other reviews some have won so maybe it's just me. But it's frustrating. Graphics are cute. Theme is delightfully well done. Soundtrack is slightly annoying too repetitive but you can easily mute. McGuffins and items and building your own deck intriguing - seems like you could play repeatedly and have different game each time. More healing items/mcguffins would be great (says the player who keeps dying). But yeah unless the kobayashi maru is your idea of a good time I can't recommend this game. Update a couple hours of playtime later: I finally beat a book! 1 down 2 to go. I am switching my review to recommended, because you know what, despite being unwinnable for so long I kept coming back to it. I'm not sure what if anything changed in the updates since I last played, but the strategy that finally worked for me was to focus on the items/mcguffins. Good luck adventurers!

I received this for free because I backed the Kickstarter for the physical version. This is a game that has obvious comparisons with digital deckbuilding games like Slay the Spire. You are curating a deck, based on particular archetypes (characters), that gradually gain abilities as you go through the game, increasing in difficulty between each battle. If you fail one battle then you have to restart from the beginning. The gimmick here obviously is that you are trying to spell words with the cards in your hand. I would say where this games differentiates itself is with the difficulty scaling. Traditionally, roguelikes have a steep challenge to complete the first time and then once you do so there are a handful of additional challenges or modes that help increase the longevity of the game. This takes a slightly different tact - completing your first run is not too difficult if you are somewhat proficient at word games/deck-builders, but there is a large amount of difficulty options available which upon completion unlock more cards and items for future runs. I actually find this approach quite refreshing as it avoids you hitting a difficulty wall early on, and runs are varied and short enough that it doesn't feel too repetitive. I really enjoy this game, dare I say more so than the physical version. It handily bypasses some of the issues with the board game, as it eliminates set up time and remembering all the different interactions between your cards, items, McGuffins, and enemy abilities. Also by default it is easier - you don't have to select the ability at the front/back of your word to activate, you can choose any card, though there is an option to use the original rules if you'd like. Finally, I want to mention this runs great on Steam Deck, if you are happy to use the trackpad as a mouse.

Great take on the roguelike deckbuilder with word building as the main thrust of the game. Lighter on the deckbuilding than something like slay the spire, but with a similar roguelike progression, and not really a full blown word game. It occupies an interesting middle space. Each encounter plays like a tight puzzle. Can be a little crunchy on the harder difficulty, but overall not a brain burner. Has moments of great satisfaction when the stars align for the perfect word. Love the pulpy art style. It's a fun game.

When I first heard about Paperback Adventures (the physical version), it didn't interest me much. Frankly, it sounded like a mess of ingredients. Some time later, I got the opportunity to try it out and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It IS a mess of ingredients - but it's a GLORIOUS mess. My compliments to the chef! There's not much I could probably add to the already overused description of the game as Slay the Spire meets Scrabble, so I'll focus on the experience. It took a couple of games to work out how important it was to balance immediate gains with long-term rewards. Particularly at higher difficulties, it's often vital to build toward a great turn rather than just make the best move you can each turn. Because of this, there is a fair amount of tension in the game. "Am I making the right move, or am I setting myself up to fail" is a constant concern - and it's where so much of the fun in the game lies. Do note, this is not a exact implementation of the physical game. There are some differences, but the essential format is the same - and for that, I'm actually glad. I appreciate that this version may well end up with more variety and have more replay value than the physical game. (NB. At this stage of Early Access, I'm unsure whether the differences between the physical and digital versions of the game will remain, reduce or increase.)

Paperback Adventures is a decent roguelike deck building game! If your a fan of Scrabble and you want to spell out words to defeat enemies and bosses in a roguelike game, this is the game for you! The game is not an easy game on normal difficulty, so expect a challenge and expect to spell good! However, there is an easy mode you can play on that makes the game much more manageable and if you want an extreme challenge there are also harder modes than normal with different gameplay mechanics. That being said I give Paperback Adventures a 7/10. There is fun to be had in this roguelike spelling game! However despite the fun that can be had within this game. I don't believe this is worth the full retail price of the game. Do yourself a favor and get this game on a sale! It would be totally worth it on a sale but I don't believe the game is worth the $15 price tag it has.

I'm a bit on the fence with this one. While I enjoy this game I don't know if it reaches the same heights as some other deckbuilder roguelikes.. Starting with the positives, the look, sound, and feel of the game are top notch. There is enough variety among the bosses that one doesn't just feel like the last with higher stats. It rewards well timed plays and negotiating the randomness that comes with each draw. But I don't get the same satisfaction I get in honing my character that I do with games like Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons. With each letter card being a one-and-done more or less it's hard to affect your strategy long-term. It doesn't offer the same feeling of trying something markedly different than previous runs, Also going in I assumed that it might feel rewarding when you make obscure or longer words, but most turns a player is going to use most of their letters anyway. It's a good game, and I certainly will play it now and again. I just don't see myself feeling that itch to explore every nook and cranny and 100% it as I do with some other games.