I’m a game journalist, so it’s safe to assume that I’ve ploughed for hours after killing Spire. The inventive Roguelike Deckbuilder influence is evident in countless games, from the indie sensation Baratoro to the 9 Kings of Hooded Horse. Thanks to STS, this genre has grown. Now I feel like the new Roguelike Deckbuilder won’t be able to go 24 hours a day without bumping into my inbox. MarieBut that’s because it was the brainchild of Dragon Age legend David Guider, and that dark fantasy setting reminded me of my beloved vampire, the masquerade ball.
On paper, Malys is very similar to the games on our best Roguelikes list. Choose a deck of cards and then choose your path through a creepy neodystopian city full of demons. Tearing the abandoned streets of a reliable bike, your job is to find Marie, the gigantic entity of power that is intended to devastate everything afterwards. You go through that minions in a card-based duel and choose the right route is the difference between life and a particular death.
The opening chapter of the game was introduced to a gorgeous angel right away. After suffering from their provocation, I presented a map of the stack below and was sent down my hilarious path – I have never seen it before.
I find the residents in an abandoned building that is riddled apart. As the foul smell of rotten meat fills my nose – brought to a sick life by beautifully written prose on the side of the screen – I am informed that an older man who appears to be undead or owned willingly munches on the corpse. His eyes meet mine and he charges. The battle continues.
It is worth noting that Malys’ style is perfect. The battle arena on the Lower Stack makes you feel like you walked straight to Hell itself. And the devil itself is a grizzle and scary. Your victim is surfacing on all of its central chairs, bent backwards at an angle that makes it particularly comfortable to see.
Although you are given a fairly wide card (5 per round), to play them you have to burn some to produce candle light. This adds an extra layer of strategy. Monsters are defending this turn, so yeah, leave all of those shield spells. If you’re attacking, discard some of your attack cards to survive the storm. I start by summoning a 3-cost priest minions. He deals 1 point of damage whenever he uses a one-cost spell. Initially, the priest felt like a big sink, but considering how well it was synergistic with my early cards, it quickly becomes a game changer.
Every time you cast a spell, Noah, our exorcist hero, screams, appealing to the victim he is trying to release: think of a positive thought and remember who you are. This is a welcome change from the traditional “bonk, endound, bonk” seen in other roguelikes, and gives the story and wider setting a more cohesive feel.
Beastie collapsed and then I moved to the next room. Unfortunately, this is the same word as the first sequence. The boss battle itself is different, but I wanted to see a little more of Maris’ world, so it was repeated a little more with immediate repetition. Either way, I was away for hours on the stack below despite the strange protests of the GPU. Maybe it’s a demon in disguise – it was certainly hot as hell.
When he spoke to Gaider about Maris during a kickstarter run, he described it as a video game equivalent to the 2005 film Constantine. Maris achieves that and claims to perfectly capture the high Gothic noir feel of all good vampire films. I’m excited to play it more and reveal its secrets. Thankfully, I don’t wait long.
Maris fell with steam early access. The price is $9.99, and the price increases when you roll 1.0. If you’re looking to hack some demons and send them back to where they came, you can give it a try here.
In the meantime, if you’re just like me, obsessed with darkness and eerie, then we have a list of all the best horror games. Or, if you’re looking for something that kills a little more Spire, here’s an overview of the best card games.
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