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Combo Card Clashers is a fun new take on Slay the Spire's deck-building adventure

4K View2023-12-16

Combo Card Clashers

7.9

Turn-Based TacticsCard BattlerDifficultTurn-Based StrategyCartoonyStrategyProcedural GenerationTurn-based

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SHOULD I PLAY COMBO CARD CLASHERS?

Definitely give this demo a try, especially if you like card games. Combo Card Clashers merges the fun, strategic experience of deck-builders with the randomized gameplay of roguelikes. Similar to games like Slay the Spire, this combo allows for plenty of twists and endless possibilities.

PLAY IT FOR YOURSELF

From December 23, 2023, through January 7, 2024, TapTap is running our Pocket Playfest Winter Edition. That means you don't need to take our review as the final word; you can try playing this game yourself! If you live in the United States or Canada, you can test out any of the ten games featured in the Pocket Playfest using our cloud gaming technology. And even if you're not in the US or Canada, you can still vote on your favorite games and get entered in a giveaway for some incredible prizes. Get all the details here.

TIME PLAYED

I played Combo Card Clashers for two hours. I’ve attempted five runs so far and beat the demo twice using both classes currently available.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT COMBO CARD CLASHERS?

• Deck-building and battles. Slaying vile-looking monsters and building my deck of powerful spells and attacks thrilled me. I loved how easy it was to connect cards together in combos and build on attacks each round with new spells or card effects. The game regularly kept me engaged with all the monster fights it threw at me and I enjoyed strategically planning my way to victory.

• Randomized paths. Across every run I went on, I never encountered the same series of monster battles, healing camps, or ally recruitment areas. Each run was randomized with different events, which kept this experience fresh even after beating the game twice already.

• Classes. Combo Card Clashers currently offers two classes—warrior and mage—that have their own unique spells and stats. This feature gave me another reason to continue playing the demo after I beat it, because I wanted to try the other class and see how it felt. Both classes have cool cards to play around with, and the game is balanced in such a way that winning with both is definitely possible.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN COMBO CARD CLASHERS?

• It’s a little too easy. Once I understood how to amplify my damage and repeat card effects in Combo Card Clashers, winning came pretty easily. I completed the demo using a warrior deck on my second try, and later beat the game again using a mage class deck on the fifth try. Even though I had a lot of fun along the way, I rarely found myself challenged by the enemies I faced or paths I went down. Hopefully the full release offers some more difficulty options so I can test my skills.

PLATFORM TESTED

PC.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO PLAY ON THE CLOUD?

Even though I live in Australia—nowhere near the cloud servers in North America—I still had a pretty easygoing time playing Combo Card Clashers on the cloud. Because the game is turn-based, I didn’t have to worry about the pace of the game. While some of my actions were delayed, and I experienced a few long loading screens, it wasn’t a significantly different experience from playing on PC. I still had a lot of fun slaying monsters and performing cool spell combos.