Alina of the Arena

This is a deceptively delightful game that quickly caught my attention shortly after getting into the deckbuilding genre by Slay the Spire. And after recently 100%ing the game after 80 hours it's only fair that I go over what made it stick so much. Pros: -Simple and familiar deckbuilding mechanics, card synergies work in unique ways and no tactic felt like it was particularly more effective than another, leading to a reasonably balanced experience overall. -The hexagonal grid and movement system gives the game an extra layer of considerable depth to combat. Movement is absolutely critical, and is rewarding to achieve by shifting around the battlefield but punishing for staying still and complacent at any moment. -Excellent art direction and sound design, the graphics and UI are tight, the sound effects are crunchy, and the game just overall runs smoothly and feels good to play, even on a controller. -A soundtrack that goes unfathomably hard for an indie game, especially the 2nd act boss fight. -A free demo to try! Cons: -Most runs can take REALLY long, up to 2 hours, and most normal runs can take up to an hour and a half. -Events are portrayed only by text and are lacking illust…

It's good. It is exactly what I expected it to be so not a ton to write about here lol

E

great and fun game

A very enjoyable game, even for me who is not into deck builders. I love how they managed to make the gameplay both balanced and interesting, with sufficient depth and breadth to excite the imagination thinking up character builds while managing to keep the game small in scope

quite possibly one of my favourite games of all time, its up there with stuff like undertale and deltarune and ((ULTRAKILL))!!!