Games worth discovering

This Swashbuckling Deck-Builder Made Me Question The Value Of Friendship - Journey of Greed Review

18K View2022-09-09

Ahoy, me mateys! It’s time to embark on a swashbuckling journey of betrayal, greed, gold, and...cards. I’m talking about Journey of Greed, the pirate-themed deck-builder where you’ll need to strategize and measure whether you’ll work with or betray your homies to collect the most gold.

While I’ve never been a huge fan of card games, Journey of Greed stands out from the handful I’ve flirted with in the past. Instead of battling my opponents like in Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh!, this game forced me to work with three other players online to collect gold and traverse perilous islands. It’s a unique twist that combines strategizing, teamwork, and of course, a bit of backstabbing.

Developed by Dird Games, Journey of Greed puts players into the role of a pirate on a treasure hunt. The game’s opening tutorial couldn’t possibly cover everything the game offers, so I had to learn the ins and outs through trial and error. This process overwhelmed me at first, but before long, I started to understand the game’s primary goal: to reach the last round of the island and get the most gold coins.

Each island has its own dangers and rewards, as represented through a color-coded system. Green islands grant coins, red islands can deal damage to players, and black islands lead to disasters such as a tsunami that is generally unblockable.

The dangerous islands were life-threatening, sure, but with great danger comes great opportunity. The fewer characters alive at the end of a round, the more coins I received. But I needed to weigh that against my likelihood of surviving the current and future islands. Was it more valuable to be a team player, or did I want to try and betray my “teammates” and take the gold myself? I had to ask myself this question before making any moves.

As with any deck-building game, success depends on putting together a deck of the best cards available… Some cards help the entire group by providing gold or defense buffs against island dangers, while others are more offensive in nature and steal gold or health from other players. Players are given the opportunity to choose new cards for their deck upon completing each island, and if they’re especially lucky, they’ll get to crack open a barrel, which offers cards of higher rarity.

The game has multiple characters to choose between, each with their own unique cards that highlight a specific playstyle. For example, when I played as a Witch Doctor, I could use the card “Blood Lock” to regain five health points at the end of each turn while boosting my defense.

Journey of Greed’s complexity and depth make the gameplay all the more exciting. However, the aforementioned tutorial only briefly touches on everything the game has going on, so you really need to play it yourself to get the hang of it.

Journey of Greed is online and designed to play against friends to get the intended experience, but the game features plenty of options to accommodate the preferences of a wide variety of players. I could create a private room where only my friends could enter, join a queue to get into a public space, or play against bots if I was looking for a more casual challenge. Playing against bots in your own room is also a great way to strengthen your character before joining other modes, which are unlocked only after reaching higher ranks.

Journey of Greed’s colorful artwork adds to the overall pirate immersion, even if you don’t get to see your character’s avatar besides a blip on the top right of the screen. Between the five selectable character classes (only two of which were unlocked at the beginning), I got a real sense of the variety of approaches available in the game.

I was forced to stretch my strategic muscles and employ a great degree of patience and thought. I found myself sacrificing health for coins, only to be taken advantage of by other pirates who would eventually split the gold I’d worked so hard for over my rotting corpse.

That level of depth and unpredictability makes for a rewarding experience in Journey of Greed. The unique “frenemy” relationship with your fellow pirates brings something new to the deck-building genre. Though it took a bit of work to fully comprehend the mechanics, once I got in the swing of things, I had fun on this swashbuckling adventure.

SCORE: 3 STARS OUT OF 5

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• Board Games. Journey of Greed plays like a tabletop board game, but it’s available to play online with friends!

• Deck-builders. It’s all about collecting more cards and building the ideal deck for bragging rights. If you like assembling an arsenal of cards you can truly be proud of and showing off to your friends, this is your game.

💬 Did you have a favorite adventurer character in Journey of Greed? And what are some more deck-builders we should check out?

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER RECENT REVIEWS FROM TAPTAP: