Dungeon Drafters Review

thesixthaxis.com:

You can get me to do a lot of things if you just toss a collectible card system into it. The rush of opening a pack, or the satisfaction of browsing dozens of card illustrations, and the thrill of discovering a brand new card could make even doing your taxes entertaining. Whether it’s in a physical card game or a genre-bending video game, card collecting is always a delight. So I was pretty excited when I saw Dungeon Drafters, a game seemingly blending all the best parts of turn-based roguelikes and Mystery Dungeon thrills with a robust card system.

There’s a story to your adventure in Dungeon Drafters, but it’s incredibly light. As one of six different adventurers with their own background and aesthetic, you’re tasked with diving into ancient abandoned ruins spread across multiple dungeons, vanquishing the monsters lurking in them and living to tell the tale. Everything in this game revolves around cards – your goal in the story is to rid the world of powerfully evil forbidden cards, and each of your playable characters has a differently themed deck of powerful cards they’ll just to do just that. As you win battles and escape dungeons you’ll earn new cards to let you build whatever style of deck you want, but having these archetypes immediately available to dive into and try out really helped me get a feel for what was possible in the game.

Some characters, like the Shinobi, are melee-focused and designed for direct and immediate confrontation. Others offer a similar focus on alternate play-styles like ranged projectile decks or summon & trap-focused cards. No matter what style you go for, the rules of engagement are simple. Dungeons will toss you into a series of small, closed-room encounters with multiple enemies. On your turn, you’ve got three action points to spend on moving across tiles, dishing out a basic attack, or activating a card. Once you’ve spent those points, your enemies get to act. Some games give you an immediate taste of your full abilities when you