One of the very last games I played this year at PAX West was Deckbound Heroes. It was a spur of the moment decision to try it out, and I mostly did so because I have a bit of an obsession with CCGs, whether they are physical or digital. So when I saw the title Deckbound Heroes, I was instantly visualizing something akin to a Magic the Gathering style game. What I got was something totally different.
Now, before I get too far, it is important to note that Deckbound Heroes is just now in the open Beta. Lots of things will likely be changed, and the graphics and UI will undoubtedly be spruced up in the months to come. That said, the game as it is now is a bit rough. It’s a bit of a mixed bag honestly, since the card selection interface looks very generic and dated, while the combat itself was a bit more interesting.
Gameplay revolves around selecting a deck of cards, which translate into abilities you can cast on the field of battle. The goal, at least in my time with the game, seemed to revolve around gaining more dominance over the field of battle and using resources to defeat your opponent. There is a lot of strategy involved, as you only have so many points to use each turn. What was interesting is that the cards themselves seemed to be randomly generated, and they gain abilities as you accumulate experience.
The field of battle is represented by a simple environmental layout. I did appreciate how the monsters you could summon popped up on the field of battle, but it wasn’t anything life changing. Hopefully this will be vastly improved once out of the Beta. Frankly, though I like the idea of Deckbound Heroes, I felt the card aspect wasn’t that well represented. I just wanted some nice visuals to make the various cards pop, even though I understand that might be hard to accomplish with the random card generation aspect. It felt less like a card game and more like a tactics game. I just hope that as the game continues to grow it is able to streamline the concept and make things a bit more flashy. But either way, I’m glad I got the opportunity to try something new and a bit outside my wheelhouse at PAX West.
