Black Book

Tough to rate this. The premise is interesting, the gameplay is decent, and the window into a section of storiytelling and mythology that we don't often see in English is very interesting. It's very dragged down by the writing (not great), and the voice acting (atrocious). I may finish it, but it's a very middling game overall.

TL/DR; Definitely recommend but chapters need more variation Great story-led spooky deck-builder. Loved the immersive cultural/historical setting within the Uralic villages of Russia. Mechanics are solid and deckbuilding battle gameplay has loads of replay value. However, narrative gameplay gets very repetitive. Mid-way through the third chapter I realised it was essentially the same as any other chapter but with a different boss. I skipped lots of dialogue after hitting the third chapter and ended up uninterested by the plot. Despite all this, would genuinely recommend! The developers really care about this game.

You can tell the creators really went deep on their research. The atmosphere feels really authentic. Voice acting is iffy at times. Maybe just rely on the captions.

Slavic witch walks paths Card-based rites bend fate itself Folklore guards her soul

A wonderful game I would heartily recommend! The Russian lore is fresh and interesting, the chort system seemed very novel to me, and I loved how much control I was given over the moral shape of my character. I didn't know what I was going to do until the very end! There's no grind in this game. Another huge plus. Get it!

I have been playing this game for a while now, starting and stopping, coming back to it from time to time. I never lose my spot in the story, and the narrative progression makes sense and is fascinating. The combination of folklore and minimalist aesthetics makes for interesting gameplay. I like the card-based mechanisms for combat, and the capacity some cards have to amplify their attacks or defensive actions when paired with other cards. It's a fairly easy game to follow and I think the plot points are interesting, with all the different mythical and folkloric creatures that come up and have lore incorporated with them. The protagonist being a witch is also fun, as she clearly is a hero but sometimes you can choose to be a bit of a villain with small decisions to gain more power here and there to defeat bigger bosses down the road.