Card Dungeon 9+

This is a great game. Very fun, and a cool mechanic all around. Upgrading/leveling is pretty buggy, though: you're supposed to unlock new traits with special gems. I've found two, they tell me I've unlocked a new trait, but nope. Then the rules say that you visit a "shop" every three levels, but I've never seen it show up: lots of gold and nowhere to spend it! Maybe I'm not understanding, but if so that needs to be more clear in the rules.
But this is really fun! I hope these bugs get fixed, and then I'll be the first to change my review to 5 stars.

The game has a very nice look, but after playing with it for a couple of hours I became quite frustrated with how limited my choices really were. I'm a big fan of difficult games, and was hoping that this would test my wits the way Darkest Dungeon and Card Hunters does, but hard games are only fun when winning or losing is the result of a player's decisions. The lack of choices hits you the moment you start your first game, when you have one type of hero to choose from, one choice of positive traits, and one choice of negative traits. You don't even get to name your generic knight. Anything you find in your adventure has to be used immediately, or lost forever. Since any given card can only be used about a dozen times before running out of charges, it's very easy to find yourself with access only to defensive/buff cards, and without a fresh attack card you are effectively unarmed. New cards are obtained almost exclusively by killing monsters, so if your last offensive card is out of charges you are utterly screwed. If you could trade in all of your defensive cards for one offensive card, you could keep playing. Alternatively, if dying gave you an additional trait to choose from on your next attempt, there would be some reason to try again. As it is I'm moving on. I'll likely check back in a year, but for now I'm taking this off my tablet.

A fun and quick hack-n-slash adventure that gets more challenging mentally as you go along. Single action turns and degenerative cards makes it as much about strategy and tactics as it does about plowing into enemies and collecting loot. The cards are diverse and simple, which makes for interesting combos that can really pack a punch. The learning curve is intense (you will die many, many times) and having to start from the beginning is motivation to take your time and consider your next move. The story is somewhat lacking and there is room for cutscenes between chapters that would really help players understand why the Crusader is here. All in all it gets an 9/10 for mechanics, 4/10 for story, and 8/10 for overall gameplay. (I gave it 5 stars because I can't help but love it)