The procedural generation can sometimes be inconsistent as well. There's also the added wrinkle of special cards: cards which can't be moved once they're equipped, cards which stick to other cards and grant the ability to perform long range attacks, and cards which meld all your attack or defence stats into a single card. Similarly, you might find a card which adds three defence points, receives an extra point if it's placed in the top row, but will have its entire power negated if it's placed in the fifth column.Īll these quirks combined with the fact that you can only have ten cards equipped at a time mean that you're constantly swapping the placement of your cards in an attempt to maximise stats. For instance, you might find a card which adds three attack points, but also adds one point to the total of the card below it. Interestingly, cards give spatial bonuses. Each enemy you encounter has the potential to drop a card that will boost your attack, boost your defence, or grant some other ability. Your stats themselves are tied to an intriguing card-based inventory management system. This system combined with the spatial awareness mentioned earlier makes for some tense strategic decision-making.
Thus, some basic math, combined with a dash of luck, determines who will win any given clash. Your hero has separate attack and defence stats, while your opponents have a single power stat which encompasses both. Combat begins when you and an enemy bump into each other, and then plays out automatically until either party dies. However, despite your efforts at avoidance, you will have to fight fairly regularly. This is made manageable by enemies that follow strict and learnable movement patterns as you play more rounds, you'll learn to navigate crowded encounters on your own terms. However, the goal of each procedurally generated level isn't defeating all the enemies, but rather finding the escape pod in order to move onto the next level.
Each time you move, your enemies also move, making spatial awareness key to developing a strategy.
The game is turn based and played on a hexagonal grid. With that said, it starts with a pretty unremarkable core.