This is a world of hexagons, sprawling out as far as you can see, like an old ‘80s war board game. Once you hop out of your safe haven and into the world of Roguebook, you’d be forgiven for being completely daunted. So far, so familiar, but it doesn’t take long for the cogs of innovation to start whirring. With them chosen, you set off on a rogue-like journey to see how far you can get. That’s not too unusual: games like Monster Train and The Amazing American Circus have dabbled in multiple characters, each bringing their own cards to the deck. Introductions to Roguebook are familiar: choose your character, and then choose a second as your sidekick. Unlike other games in the genre, there’s not much demonic grimness here.Īnd as you would expect from Richard Garfield, much stays the same, but an awful lot changes. Slovenly kings throw out animated dinner plates to attack cat-rats climb over a siege engine in an attempt to lob fireballs. Enemies are drawn from an endlessly creative mind, sometimes grotesque, but mostly Jim-Henson-like in their overblown character.
Everything blooms with a bioluminescent glow, from the pyrotechnic attacks to the lush backgrounds.
Narratives: These are short little stories that end with either buffs or debuffs for the characters.Sky Towers: Each chapter will also have two sky towers which are used to uncover the surrounding areas on the map.Radiant Hears: These consumables can be used to heal both heroes.Relics: There will be two relics on the board, and players need to paint their way to the ones they want with ink.These can help players to build the best possible decks similar to Inscryption or Slay the Spire. Vault of Wisdom: Pay 25 gold to choose from one of three cards.These give players extra turns in battles. Faeria Wells: There are several of these on every map, and each one gained after the first upgrades it.The Merchant: Players can purchase gems, relics, and cards from the merchant.Alchemist's Home: These adorable little cabins in the woods allow players to transmute a single card into a new card with a gem for 75 gold.Gem Stones: Gem towers offer players a regular gem.Elite battles: much rarer than basic battles, players can fight these more difficult enemies in order to get brushes, Roguebook gems, coins, and pages.Basic battles: a basic battle will give players one random consumable ink.In all the chapters, players can come across: It is a sunny meadow filled with delightful monsters to battle against, including little raccoon-type people, spiders made of plants, and even a few human thieves looking to grab the players' stuff. Chapter 1 of the deckbuilding game Roguebook is the easiest to get through.