Card Quest PC review - A great card based RPG adventure

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“Card Quest” is a dungeon crawler that utilizes cards for combat during your adventure, and there are plenty of battles to be had. Choose a campaign and select your character (Wizard, Warrior, Rogue, or Hunter) to go forth and fight hordes of enemies. The path branches off into different locations for each tier, eventually leading to the final area. Along the way, you’ll pick up items, new equipment, and come across a traveling merchant with one use items to slightly improve your chances. However, once you die it is back to the beginning, unless you collected three keys from the different branches which will let you start from any of the tier 4 areas.

Keep in mind you have to do this for all characters in each campaign if you want them to be ready for tier 4.

How you build your deck is based on what equipment your character has. Each piece of equipment has different sets of cards that can be arranged for your suited playstyle. Before you can take advantage of deck/equipment customizing, however, you need to unlock them in the campaigns for each character. Fortunately if you die, you’re allowed to keep any equipment you find. The cards may look straightforward, but you’ll need to read them carefully for they could have special effects depending on how you play.

Each tier will start with easy fodder to fight but will gradually send out tougher enemies with special abilities and stats, so it’ll be a good idea to keep track of the battle. Like any card battle, you draw a hand and carefully play out the encounters with strategy in mind. You will also need to watch your stamina for you’ll need it for defense as well. If you started with a bad hand, you can call for a Magellan (a rule in card games that allows you to redraw your hand) at the beginning of the encounter. You could also draw a card during your turn, but that takes a bit of stamina so think carefully before you do.

The Hunter not only focuses on Chain abilities, but his Quivers modify his arrows for special effects.

The pixel graphics resembles that of an old DOS game based on the classic western fantasy style. Character portraits share the same head, though there are some different features to them (even if the Wizard and Rouge have a very similar hood). As for monsters and other foul characters there are 25 plus bosses and over 90 enemy types so there’s plenty to behold on the eye. The cards you’ll use look like the type of trading cards you would expect, complete with portraits, costs, and ability texts. And the HUD has a nice old-school border and interface touch so it feels like a classy dungeon crawler.

In the sound department, there are a few effects for actions and characters so you would know if the turn is going well or horribly wrong. There are also some background effects to provide some immersion while reading the story and battling. The music is well-rounded. The title track encourages you to take up an adventure. The battle music is calm enough to concentrate on your strategy, and the boss music can add some tension when you try to come up with your play.

More zombies here, more zombies there, but you better save that Priest.

“Card Quest” is a fun game, but it demands attention when playing. It’s the sort of game that requires patience and careful planning. Even so, at least you don’t have to focus too much on deck building since having the cards bundled to the equipment you choose simplifies it. It is still very challenging, though, with class training being one of the hardest collections of battles as you can’t be hit even once. Training is only there to give you an idea on how to play, but it rewards you with special items for different characters that can help during adventures. If you need to take a break from your adventures or need to handle a real-life battle you can leave the current campaign and come back later.

Nevertheless, in overall, “Card Quest” is a very good game. So if you’re into RPG/dungeon crawler adventure games that have a retro-like look to it, then “Card Quest” is the game for you.

Pros:
+ An adventure RPG with card battles to challenge your wit.
+ Classy pixel art reminiscent to old DOS games.
+ Easy deck building with the equipment system.

Cons:
– Not for the casual or the faint of heart.

Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound/Music: 4/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay value: 4.5/5

tgg grade 4 out of 5

Verdict: 4/5
”Card Quest” is a fun card based RPG adventure to play on nights when you feel brave. Some (if not a lot) of patience and planning is required to get far let alone beat it. However, you can come up with different playstyles to make your character efficient and suitable to your liking. So deck out your equipment and set out for a long journey.

Title: Card Quest
Developer: WinterSpring Games
Format: PC
Genre: RPG Strategy
Resolution: 1600 x 900
Release date: 2017-01-20
Difficulty: Moderately Hard
Spent time: +8 hours
Average grade internationally: N/A as of writing Gamerankings.com
PEGI/ESRB age rating: PEGI12+/Teen
Price: $7.99