#Griftlands alpha review simulator

The basic premise is the same, but instead of using blades and fists to damage your opponent’s health, you instead use cards like “Fast-Talking” or “Threaten” to damage your opponent’s resolve. You can also recruit party members to help you out, either by paying them to join you or earning their trust. Some cards do damage, while others increase your defence, let you draw additional cards or take additional actions. You draw a hand of cards and have three actions with which to use them. The former is a familiar card battling affair. Either you can fight, battling with other mercenaries or beating on someone who owes a debt, or you can negotiate, trying to persuade the other party into doing what you want. When a confrontation occurs between characters (which happens in basically every quest), it can usually be solved in one of two ways. All characters have clear motivations behind their actions, and even the most inconsequential of Griftlands’ cast has some depth to their personality. This economy of prose does not come at the cost of meaningful interactions, either. Instead, it neatly summarises what a place looks like in single sentences, providing the outline of a character through a single distinguishing feature, or giving you the flavour of a place with a few deft swipes of the keyboard. It doesn’t feel the need to explain the world or its characters in reams of text. Before she can exact her vengeance, however, Sal first needs to build up both her reputation and her cash reserves, which means wandering around the Griftlands doing odd jobs for its inhabitants.īy far Griftland’s strongest asset is its writing, which is snappy and laser precise while also being human and funny. Your initial grifter is Sal, a grizzled former slave who, newly liberated, has returned to the Griftlands to seek vengeance on the woman who sold her into a life of indentured servitude.

There are three different grifters to play as, each of whom offers a slightly different take on the game. Taking place in a hodgepodge post apocalypse that mixes sci-fi, fantasy, and anthropomorphic animal people, Griftlands sees you play as a ‘grifter’, a mercenary for hire whose gift for the gab is equal to their skill with a blade. It’s a well-made CCG that has big ambitions and some smart ideas, but unfortunately it doesn’t quite pull those concepts off.

Surprisingly though, I find Griftlands much harder to recommend than I anticipated. Naturally, therefore, I was excited for Klei’s take on the card battler, one specifically designed to treat dialogue and conversations with the same depth as most CCGs treat combat.

#Griftlands alpha review simulator

Whether it’s a survival game, a turn-based heist-sim, or a colony simulator about gases, the studio possesses an uncanny ability to turn its hand toward any genre and create innovative and fun and experiences. Griftlands is the latest game from Klei Entertainment, a studio with a remarkable knack for transforming whatever it touches into gold.