Daughter of the Rift

I backed this game when it was on Kickstarter. Daughter of the Rift is a high sci-fi deck builder with a narrative flowing all the way through it. I feel like I've just scratched the surface of the narrative. At first the battle and deck building were a little intimidating to me, but after a little bit, it becomes much more intuitive. It's more like picking a main card to do, and then spending other cards to make it better. It has a huge skill/tallent tree that unlocks other cards stats and abilities. Just make sure you add them to your deck after you unlock them (or you will be super under-powered in the next level) The difficulty curve is well set, I felt like I just managed to scrape on by, or move to avoid damage at the right time. Ooh and the whole thing is voice acted! I would have probably skipped the dialogue portions if it wasn't I did encounter a bug or two related to saving, but the devs seem like they are fixing it.

It's a solid deckbuilder that's focused on a storyline. I haven't gotten super far into it yet but overall I'm enjoying what it adds to the formula. PROS: - The position-based gameplay is cool and allows for different sorts of battling that StS or other deckbuilders - The team-based combos are also neat, allowing you to explore different deck combos with different characters - The storyline seems solid so far (if a bit traditional) and helps create a reason for doing all this - There is a good variety of status effects and abilities so I can see complexity coming about the more you play CONS: - Definitely quite a few bugs throughout, the game is still a bit early. Nothing game-breaking so far, but lots of cosmetic things. - I got into one situation with the spacing where the enemy was very far back with a long range attack, and I had no cards that could hit him, nor was I allowed to move to his "side." So I just had to wait until I drew the righ card or died. Seems like the positioning system has some kinks like this that could be worked out, like maybe reducing the number of spaces per side when there are fewer enemies left, for example. - The cards could use another balance pas…

Incredible production values on this scifi deck builder, with a fully voice acted script and dozens of missions. Love the position-based strategy. Well worth the price.

Oh man, what a great little indie. I am a huge lover of both Mass Effect and Slay the Spire, which this game advertises itself as an amalgamation of. And while it has some rough edges, I think it does an admirable job of delivering some of the joy of both. Follow a strong narrative through a unique sci-fi universe largely focusing on the romance of the PC and her partner and their child, as well as a caste of compelling party members. And then fight baddies with a unique but generally approachable deckbuilding combat system. Overall recommend!

This is such a refreshing take on the deck builder genre! I really have enjoyed the story and character building in between the card battles, and it motivates me to succeed in the fights so I can know a bit more of the story. Initially I struggled a little bit to understand some of the symbols on the cards, but eventually it started to feel more natural. I particularly enjoy getting to unlock new abilities in the skill tree. Each upgrade really felt like it made a difference to the gameplay of the deck.