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This upcoming fantasy roguelike deckbuilder for PC and Mobile (Cloud) is fire | Combo Card Clashers

772 View2023-12-22

Combo Card Clashers

7.9

Turn-Based TacticsCard BattlerDifficultTurn-Based StrategyCartoonyStrategyProcedural GenerationTurn-based

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✨Overview

Combo Card Clashers is an upcoming single-player roguelike deckbuilder that promises to tap into your inner creativity with its unique turn-based combat system. Having recently tried the demo, I found myself pleasantly surprised by its simple yet addictive and entertaining gameplay. The game invites players to embark on a heroic journey through a medieval fantasy land, recruiting monsters, mercenaries, and discovering relics while engaging in intense tactical fights.

⭐️Score: 8/10

Pocket Playfest: An Indie Celebration 2023 Winter Edition

In a recent hands-on exclusive experience this past weekend, I had the privilege of testing a handful of titles on TapTap's experimental cloud gaming service, setting the stage for this 16-day event where indie game developers show-off their creations exclusively on the TapTap mobile platform — fully playable PC games without the need for an actual PC, Android/iOS version, or the need to download the games and install them. Granted, you’d need to have a reliable internet service to be able to stream these games, and preferably are located in US and Canada for consistent play and latency, at least for now.

🔗Join the Playfest >>
https://www.taptap.io/events/playfest2023winter

📅 Schedule
Dates: December 23, 12 AM PT - January 7, 11:59 PM PT.
Playfest Winners & Player Rewards Announcement: January 8, 12 AM PT.

For my personal cloud gaming experience in this specific, please see further below in the review.

📖Story and Premise

There is no set story for this game. Instead, players assume the role of a hero traveling across a medieval fantasy landscape, recruiting allies and facing strategic challenges. The absence of a rigid storyline gives players the freedom to craft their own adventure, relying on their strategic prowess in deckbuilding to shape the course of their hero's journey. You basically create your own narrative in this game. The role-playing and decision-making elements aren’t that deep, but they nonetheless provide an added immersion to the player centric narrative.

🎨Graphics and Art Style

The game adopts a hand-painted, cartoonish art style that perfectly complements its deck builder and medieval fantasy themes. This artistic choice enhances the overall aesthetic, making the game visually appealing. The soundtrack, characterized by orchestral, triumphant heroic music, further immerses players in the world of Combo Card Clashers, aligning with the tone of the hero's journey. The sound effects in combat are satisfyingly well done as well, with gratifying slashing, blasting, and casting that makes the game even more fun to play.

🎮Gameplay

Combo Card Clashers merges the auto-battler and roguelike deckbuilder genres. There is a world map in which the character is free to choose his own path in a hex-grid overworld map, and the player must travel across to the other side; encountering enemies, random events, merchants, and recruiting allies along the way. It all culminates in a final boss battle, and if defeated, takes you to another land waiting to be explored.

⚔️Combat

During combat encounters, players select cards for their combo grid, playing them all in a specific succession each turn. The gameplay centers around building a balanced deck, crafting powerful card combinations, and using tactical decisions to unveil each hero's mystery while attempting to save the world. The joy of the game lies in experimenting with different cards and their interactions, essentially allowing players to create spells and attacks of their own design.

There is a succession order as to how cards are activated, so placing them appropriately is key to success. Reading the cards description is very important, as you have to understand its mechanics and how it can possibly interact with other cards on your combo grid.

For example, you can add a cleave modifier card before a powerful attack, turning its attacks into splash damage. Perhaps, add a repeat card that basically repeats that whole rows effects, so you get an additional splash attack, provided that you have sufficient mana to activate the cards. A lot of ARPG games use this feature in its itemization, but here in Combo Card Clashers it is well integrated into the deckbuilding mechanics.

⏫Progression

The progression system in Combo Card Clashers adds depth to the gameplay. Players can choose from three unique heroes, each offering a surprising and distinct playstyle. Although the demo I was only able to play two, the warrior and the mage.

Customizing the attributes of each hero and crafting their starting deck maximizes their potential. The progression loop involves leveling up, gaining attributes, equipping gear, upgrading cards, and finding relics that open up new paths to victory. With each run being truly unique and offering a plethora of options such as over 100 cards, randomly generated landscapes, gear, and events, the game ensures that no two playthroughs are the same.

📊Technical Performance

I have no complaints about its performance, nor any technical issues. Everything appears rock solid, and in terms of stability, I’m comfortable in saying that it’s primed for release. The UI is well-crafted, and the interface is very easy to understand. The developers are even actively updating the demo version of the game as indicated on the store page, which speaks volumes about their commitment.

⚖️Conclusion

I have only played the demo version, but I can already see that Combo Card Clashers is a promising addition to the roguelike deckbuilder genre, offering a delightful blend of strategy, creativity, and replayability. Its unique combat system, where players craft their attacks and spells through card combinations, sets it apart from other games in the genre. Combo Card Clashers is a title worth keeping an eye on for fans of roguelike deckbuilders and those seeking a game that encourages strategic creativity.

☁️General Cloud Gaming Experience

This past weekend, I had the chance to be chosen as one of the testers for an experimental cloud gaming service by TapTap, and I must say, it holds a lot of promise. The quality is seriously impressive - we're talking sharp HD resolution, not like your typical streamed game. Looks and feels native and doesn’t feel like its streamed. The performance is also smooth (60FPS), with good frame timing (by visual observation only, as there was no tool to monitor this). There’s currently no way to play at a native 16:9 with black bars, as the screen is stretched out to the phone’s screen.

📶Cloud Latency

In my experience, my latency during the test phase was around 200ms --- only because the servers are currently located in United States for now and I'm connecting from asia. Even then, It’s still a bit playable, especially for games that are not latency sensitive like point and click games or those with simple controls. Having said that, it’s just a matter of server location and having lots of servers. It’s understandable since this is just a testing phase with limited servers. If a datacenter is nearby, I am positive that I’ll have a smooth and fluid experience, same with those living in the US or Canada. It works like a charm on 5GHz wifi, but the experience took a hit on 2.4GHz, so won’t recommend that.
🕹Cloud Touch Controls

Now, onto the user interface. I'm a fan of how each game has its own custom on-screen buttons, tailored to the specific control scheme. It works like a charm for simpler games, but things get a bit tricky with more complex ones.

🔃Cloud Accessibility

Accessing the service is a breeze - the Instant Play integration is right there on the game page, next to Download/Steam/Play buttons. Loading times are impressively fast, and I love that I can minimize the TapTap app and return to the game still streaming. Progress is not yet saved between streaming sessions, so it’s clearly just for testing purposes. Overall, it's been an interesting experience, and while there are some kinks, the potential here is exciting. Definitely surpassed my expectations.

🌩Specific Cloud Game Experience

Combo Card Clashers offers a fully playable experience on cloud with a native feel for point-and-click actions. Since it’s a turn-based game, it’s not very latency dependent. So I was able to play even with 200ms latency. The cloud streaming app's setting button obstructs some menu buttons, rendering them unclickable, but other than that it’s a perfect experience.