For the first time in awhile I am very interested in a new release. Last week Nintendo did their Direct showcase and one of the games shown was a new RPG from Square Enix. And it wasn’t in the style of their traditional JRPGs, not at all. 

It was a card based tabletop RPG. 

It also has involvement from Yoko Taro, Drakengard and Nier director, but the card-based tabletop elements stuck out first.

As usual, a demo was quickly released and I downloaded it right away. Now, what usually happens when video games are downloaded is that it goes into my backlog to be played many many months later. But I was so genuinely interested in this game, I started playing. 

And it was a delight to play. The plot of the demo was simple. You’re tasked with playing as three warriors and you have to slay a monster that has terrorized a town. You control your characters through a field of cards and it plays like a board game, with random battles thrown in. You can also teleport to areas you’ve previously visited, which makes things convenient towards the end of the demo. Even the towns have the same table top format.

There are random battles and you use cards for your attacks as well as gems (some attacks require the use of the gems). It might sound complicated but battles were my favorite part of the demo and combat was pretty simplistic. I was expecting a challenge towards the end, but I was 2 levels over the requirement for the one dungeon included in the demo. 

I was surprised that the game is being released this month and I was very surprised by the $29.99 price tag. When you think of Square Enix games, especially new titles, you typically get something that is twice that price. So the price was also a deciding factor as well. 

I can’t wait to play this game. It looks fun as hell and I might pay the extra money to get the DLC too. It sounds like Voice of Cards might be a series depending on if this sells well, which I hope it does. It’s a unique idea.

Before I end this post though, here are some punny names that I originally thought of before I played this game… 

• Nier ReinCardNation 
• Nier CardMata 

Thanks for reading!!