Developed by Abrakam Entertainment and published by NACON, Roguebook is a brand-new roguelike deckbuilder bringing its own unique exploration system and plenty of other unique mechanics to the table. The game takes its inspiration from Faeria and has work done on it by none other than Richard Garfield, a name who is known to every deckbuilding card game fan as he is the creator of Magic: The Gathering. This is our review of Roguebook in which we use ink to unveil some hexes and annihilate our enemies using some of the best card decks we have seen.
Roguebook is set inside a fantasy book and your main task is to escape from the pages of this book. The maps are based on hexes, and you must use ink to reveal the path to your next battles. As you continue to reveal more hexes, sometimes you will find some chests and random objects as well that will allow you to perform various tasks such as crafting powerful cards for your deck or even some free gold. There is no movement limit on these hexes however your ink is limited so you have to use it wisely and try not to run out of ink before getting access to all of the battles on the map. Your ultimate goal on each map is to become powerful enough to defeat the final boss fight.
My favorite aspect of Roguebook is its combat and the selection of various cards for our deckbuilding. Once you have managed to build a substantial deck, you can literally obliterate your enemies in the game’s tag-team style turn-based combat. For your run, you have the option of choosing between two heroes. Each of the heroes has its own set of moves and thus a different deck. Positioning plays a vital role in Roguebook’s combat, and which is why you will notice that each card will also specify the position it should be played from and whether it will affect the hero’s position after playing that particular card.
Each card in the deck falls in the traditional deckbuilding categories. You have offense moves, support moves, and defense moves. After your initial starting deck, you will quickly start unlocking more cards and even crafting them. You will also find bonus cards in various chests and boxes spread hidden on the map that you must uncover and reach their hexes to collect them. At the end of every win, you are also given the option of choosing your reward card out of three, so the deckbuilding is quite good and fun in the game as some of the cards are really powerful and offer great moves while in combat.
The four heroes in the game include Sharra, Sorocco, Aurora, and Seifer. Each of them is unique in its own ways and it suits you if you play each of these heroes in the way they are intended to. For example, Sorocco loves the front, and he gets block buffs when he is at the front. Mostly, it pays off greatly if you keep Sorocco at the front during your battles since he can take a lot of beating with his powerful defense builds. Sharra prefers agility and some of her offense moves allow her great flexibility as she can go to the back after landing a powerful strike to her enemies.
Seifer is initially locked in the game, but I think that Seifer is the best hero in the game just because his allies can absolutely dominate in combat. Seifer loves offense so most of his deck cards are also offensive moves in the game and his demon allies can pick up the damage-dealing where he leaves off. If you love cleave card-playing and using cards to destroy your enemies, then I am sure that you will love Aurora because out of the four heroes, she is the most fragile one but she can also turn the combat in her favor with her powerful deck and the ability to heal herself. Anything that goes above her health becomes her damage making her a dangerous hero in the hands of a clever card battler.
Depending on each of the characters and their stats, some characters benefit from standing at the front while some excel at the back. In addition, some of the cards also favor a particular position and some defense cards are helpful at the front and useless at the back, so you have to play your cards wisely and move around your heroes on the battlefield to make the most out of the combat. Apart from cards, you will also collect and equip various items that give your team a permanent boost in or out of combat. Some of these items also compliment certain cards so it all boils down to your own skill with these cards and how effectively you use them in combat.
Each hero also has a skill tree that you can spend your points to unlock new skills for your heroes however the impact of these upgrades does not really play out in combat and very few of these abilities or skills actually feels useful in the game. Apart from a few skills, I forgot even where I spent my skill points on because there is no way to see how these skills actually work in the game. These upgrades are permanent and will stay for your next run as well in the game. Normally, these upgrades and skills help you by making you more powerful and better for your future runs however that does not seem to be the case in Roguebook.
The visuals and the UI including the soundtrack is nothing special and you will probably not remember them anyway. The UI is simple is understand and for newcomers to deckbuilders, it might be really easy to understand how the game works and what each of the card does in the game. The gameplay is not too difficult as well and the starting tutorial teaches you everything that you need to know about the game. After that, you are on your own. The level design is pretty decent, and I liked the idea of unveiling the level with ink. Gives you an added challenge for progression.
I really wanted to like Roguebook, but the game did not give me any reasons to come back to it. I had a good time with its expansive deckbuilding and combat however after a few runs and hours put into the game, I found no reason to return back to the game. The character development or progression is minimum and even the skills do not make much impact to actually grind for. The story of the game is generic, and the art style is pretty basic as well. The Hex map might appeal to some and might not appeal to some. Technically, the game ran pretty well for me, and I do not remember a single time when the game glitched out for me during my playthrough. Overall, Roguebook is a mixed bag and ultimately, you will be figuring out yourself whether you like the game or not. For me, I had a decent time playing it, but I do not think that I will be revisiting the game anytime soon.
Final Verdict:
Despite featuring a surprisingly solid combat system, Roguebook fails to keep you entertained for a long period of time. Nothing in the game stands out from the rest of the crowd and eventually, you are left with a pretty basic roguelike deckbuilder that fails to bring you back after your initial runs. The game certainly requires a decent amount of grinding however the results of the grind are so minimum that it is just best to quit the game after some time rather than coming back to it later. It is a shame because the combat is extremely satisfying, and I had some of the best battles in the game despite its obvious grindy nature. If you still want to give it a shot, you can have a go and see if you the game does it for you.
Final Score: 6.0/10
