Card games have been part of human culture for at least twelve hundred years and over the centuries, in all parts of the world, multiple variations of them have been born and evolved. With the arrival of digital, human creativity has only exploded, giving rise to increasingly interesting variations and genres. Now, Aces & Adventures is added to this list.
Developed by Triple B Titles and available February 23, 2023 for PC via Steam, Aces & Adventures combines poker and a classic deck-building game with a narrative campaign with a touch of fantasy.
Let's analyze all the details ofAces and adventures in our review.
Poker and Magic
Let's get straight to the point and see how Aces & Adventures works. For each game we will have two decks of cards: one fixed, based on the poker cards of the four suits, and another determined by the skills of our character (which we talk about a little further down).
Ability cards allow you to perform particular actions, such as canceling the opponent's offensives, activating shields, summoning allies, adding upgrades to our hero or weakening enemies. He poker cardsInstead, they are spent to activate skills and fight. To attack we must choose a combination of cards valid according to the rules of poker, that is, high card, pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, etc. The number of cards used determines how much damage is dealt.
Of course you can too defend against enemy card combinations, using the same number of cards. Enemies only draw cards when they attack or defend, so obviously we don't know if they will have a valid hand to defeat us. We must also be very careful because a failed attack returns the damage to us and, in the same way, if we defend ourselves successfully we reflect the damage to the opponent. This is also why, with certain characters and certain card combinations, it is much more useful not to attack during our turn and save a good combination of cards for the defense phase, so as not to suffer damage and inflict it.
Therefore, the game system is a mix of strategy, good deck building and luck. You can have devastating abilities, but if they require cards of suits that you don't have in your hand at that moment there is not much chance of winning. However, luck can bend to our will since between one battle and another we will also have the possibility of obtaining equipment that activates unique abilities, such as the possibility of changing the suit of the cards, enhancing the damage inflicted or canceling the damage suffered by using certain combinations. It is on these occasions that Ace & Adventures becomes much more fun, as the strategic possibilities we have at our disposal expand.
Obviously, all this must also be taken into account. the enemy. The creatures that we will face always have abilities, such as the possibility of attacking twice, obtaining bonuses depending on our cards or depending on the suits they use in the offensive phase. The effects are really numerous and keep changing the cards on the table a bit (just kidding). The bosses are, in general, the most interesting, as they are often capable of summoning allies, imposing weakenings or, in any case, putting us in greater difficulties.
Overall, Aces & Adventures has a Easy to approach game system. but quite varied and dynamic in the long term. That's also why the first hours of the game are the flattest, because we don't have a powerful deck yet and the enemies themselves are very simple. Fortunately, after having advanced a little in the game you reach the right combination of strategy and luck.
One hero, five faces, two modes.
Aces & Adventures welcomes us to the game by presenting the basic mode: a narrative adventure, divided into thirteen acts. We are a magical little tree that was born from the remains of a long-dead warrior and whose shapes we adopt to embark on an adventure. The plot is told through cards, which are revealed above the battlefield showing us a small (and well done) drawing and a brief narrative that tells us where we are, where we are going and who we are facing.
The truth, however, is that everything is always very rushed and from minute to minute we are sent left and right. The settings, creatures, and plot focus a lot on variety, but They find it difficult to be cohesive and, above all, interesting.. Not bad, though, because rarely do those looking to build decks do so to be enchanted by the plot.
Gameplay is what really matters and Aces & Adventures offers a lot of variety in this regard as well. There is five characters to choose from, all with their own unique cards, which encourage you to play in a very different way, focusing on defense, direct attack or skills depending on the uniqueness of the character.
You get them by playing new cards and levels, which we can spend on a character of our choice to unlock additional abilities, such as mulligan, more life points, and more. Each character has a good amount of cards and after 15 hours we were still discovering new and rare ones. What matters is that they are all very useful, especially if you know how to use them in synergy. It's up to the player to experiment, and with 5 different characters, we'll tell you right away that it takes dozens of hours to uncover every Aces & Adventures secret and complete every mode with every hero.
To give you a point of reference, it took us seven hours to complete the narrative campaign once, but at that point our journey had barely begun. In addition to having to delve into other characters, Additional difficulty levels are unlocked. for the campaign that make the creatures we've already faced more powerful but also give them other abilities to make the battle a little more interesting.
To all this, however, is added the second mode of Aces & Adventures, a kind of roguelike. Also divided into multiple levels of difficulty, this component asks us to face a long sequence of confrontations, choosing our path within a map with multiple directions. Think of Slay the Spire, for example, or look at the image below to get a quick idea.
In addition to having no plot, this mode is longer than a single campaign event. The latter take between ten and twenty minutes and when you move on to the next you lose power-ups and items, but you also heal. The "roguelike" mode, on the other hand, lasts three or four narrative acts: therefore, you must survive longer.
Therefore, this mode is designed for those who have already completed the plot, upgraded the characters, and obtained some high-level cards. After playing the campaign and the roguelike version, perhaps even on multiple difficulty levels, what's left to do is completely upgrade characters.
Here you have it the least interesting part of Aces & Adventures. The first 30 levels of each hero reward you with 30 upgrades, so it's satisfying and worth "leveling up." Afterwards, however, the game asks you to start again from the beginning and obtain the 30 levels again, maintaining the powers already obtained but without obtaining others until you reach 30 again. This last phase will be boring for many and could push you not to complete the game 100%.
Finally, we highlight that the game is translated into Spanish but it seems to be a automatic translation, which on several occasions leaves something to be desired. We quickly switched to English, but we know that for some players Spanish is essential. The team reports that they are still working on our language (along with several others); Hopefully, they will be able to offer a quality translation later.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 19,50 € Holygamerz.com 7.5 Readers (1) 8.0 your voteAces & Adventures is a nice and successful combination between poker and Magic. It takes a few hours to get into the loop and appreciate the various strategic possibilities the five hero cards offer, but at that point it becomes quite fun. You always have to take luck into account and in some situations you can't do anything to survive, especially on higher difficulties, but these are rare occasions and in line with the genre. It's a shame that the plot is not interesting and that in the end the pace of progression slows down significantly, which could push many to put the game aside. Furthermore, the Spanish localization is clearly the result of an automatic translator and is poorly done. This is not a revolutionary card game, but we recommend it to fans of the genre.
PRO
- Easy to approach, it gets deep as you go.
- The five heroes are very different from each other.
AGAINST
- The plot has little impact.
- The ending slows down progress a lot.
- The Spanish translation needs to be completely rehecha.
