Playtap Games have popped out of no where. I haven’t seen any social media hype or beta access but they have just dropped an amazing game on to the Google Play Store and it goes by the name of Card Dungeon. I recently praised Bombsquad by Eric Froemling for using Play-doh and hard realistic materials in the game and I have to echo that same praise now to Card Dungeon – which unsurprisingly uses card (combined with a bit of plastic to stop it falling over). On paper it’s very much a standard roguelike game, and for anyone unfamiliar with the term it means you get randomly generated levels with a core aim of killing the monsters and looting the rooms. If you die you start all over, no save files to help you here. But what Playtap have done to make their game stand out is a take a boardgame and put it directly into your mobile device. All the characters are built from cardboard and have little stands, at any time you can hold up to three cards that you pick up and you get action cards just like in a tabletop game. By doing this they can show the acid pools and fire pits being thrown at you at regular intervals without spoiling your lovely tablet. Even though I feel they missed a trick with this – for example if on fire your cardboard gets charred or soggy when in acid – it’s the little touches that make the game a stand out one for me.
Sticking with this theme, Card Dungeon doesn’t have any Google Play services so no leaderboards, no local players or achievements. I personally feel a game is lacking when it doesn’t have the Play services as I always try to get all the achievements and see what my friends are playing, so I’m hoping this gets added in a future update. After all, everyone needs to know of my several thousand deaths, don’t they? Also this is currently a portrait only game, as no matter how hard I shook my tablet I couldn’t get it into landscape.
Onto the positives, which to be honest is everything else about the game. Upon loading the game you get a very simple menu with “NEW GAME” and “CONTINUE”. If you’re confused by what I said earlier, don’t be fooled by the continue as that’s only for if you exit a game in progress. If you die it really is permanent. After clicking New Game you’ll get to pick a good and bad trait, but when you first get the game you only have two cards to pick from. With special items called knowledge Gems you can unlock more but from what I can tell these only come from beating bosses. These traits can alter your chances of success quite dramatically, so in the long run it will be worth picking up a wide range to choose from. Once that’s over you are put into your first randomly generated dungeon with the aim to go and find the big nasty boss. You get the same three cards each time you start, they do the job but you will want to replace them as quickly as possible. This is done by looting things in the room or looting the dead. Some cards are rarer than others but all will make you smile or laugh. Don’t think you can just get Punch of Doom (one of my personal favourites), Depth Beast and Bottomless Heal and coast the levels as each and every card wears out from you slamming them on the table in a fit of joy, so you need to mix it up as much as possible. There’s nothing worse than opening a door to find a mini boss or the main boss with almost worn out cards in your hand. Each turn is only one action so you have to spend it wisely. Along with enemies of different sizes and shapes you can also find traps that can help or hinder your progress. Some are pools of acid, some will remove all ailments, and there are a myriad of others, all making how you choose to spend that turn all the more complicated. Sometimes when looting you will find gear to wear, helping you to survive that bit longer. I found it hard to get excited about these as you do of course lose them upon that inevitable death. Replayability is purely down to wanting to see what cards you can get as there are over 1000 different cards at the point of writing, alongside wanting to try and make it past the first few dungeons.
A nice touch that has been added to the game is the ability to record gameplay and share on social networks or YouTube. I can see this being used when you dominate a boss or show what bad luck you get with the cards dealt to you. The game is currently 50% off for its launch and at £1.24 you get a stellar game with no IAP, no adverts, no buying extra cards, just the game as it should be played. If you are a roguelike fan I cannot imagine that you would be disappointed with this game. The developer has even said more music, more cards, more levels, more awesome and more fun are coming. I can’t wait to see what else they bring to the table.
Check out the video below for some gameplay if you’re still on the fence.
