Written by: Patrick Orquia
Title: Culdcept Revolt
Publisher: NIS America
Developer: Omiya Soft
Genre: Strategy, RPG
Release Date: Oct 03, 2017 (NA)/Oct 06, 2017 (EU)
No. of Players: 1-4 players
Price: $39.99
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
I’m not much of a fan of card or board games. They are really not my thing. And yet, much to my surprise, I come to like a video game that combines both. Who would have thought that such a combination would even work?
The game is about a protagonist who woke up, not remembering anything other than his name. A voice summoned him to a hiding spot, and later reveled herself as the leader of a resistance group, named the Free Bats. They are against a ruthless ruler, the Count, who has been hunting down Cepters. It is up to this protagonist and his skills as a Cepter to help the Free Bats get rid of the Count and to regain his lost memories.
Culdcept Revolt starts with a series of tutorial stages, where the player gets introduced to the many rules of the game, like the different kinds of cards, how to summon creatures, use enhancement cards, leveling tiles, etc. During battles, there is a board with many tiles on twisting paths which the players can occupy using the creatures on their cards if the tile is unoccupied. Otherwise, the player can challenge the occupant on that tile to replace with his own using cards through a battle, where the creature from a card of the challenger tries to defeat the creature on the tile through a short animation scene that shows cards being sliced or swatted away. The HP or strength of the creature on the cards can be further enhanced with the use of enhancement cards that grant additional defense, additional attack power, or other ability-enhancing effects. If the player trying to challenge the occupied tile wins, the creature on that tile gets replaced with his own, otherwise, they have to pay a toll, which could be a hefty sum depending on how leveled up the tile is. Leveling up a tile is one of the enhancements players can do on their occupied tiles. You can also change the terrain type (which could be fire-, earth-, water-, or air-based) depending on the creature on the tile to maximize its effect. If a creature type on the card matches the terrain type on the tile, additional bonuses can be obtained. The player can also chain creatures on the same type of terrain.
The goal during battles is to reach a set number of magic points, which the player accumulate through occupying tiles, defending them, leveling tiles, battling creatures, and others. There’s a lot in play during battles but everything is easily understandable. The game also provides assistance to players by suggesting the best move to do or best card to play, but it can be turned off if the player wants added challenge.
Aside from the story mode, you can also play with friends via local wireless or with another person online. Local wireless mode requires separate game cartridges/copies on the players’ 3DS units. Online battles can be tough to win, especially to me since this genre is not really my forte, but it’s still fun nonetheless.
Collecting cards and building decks is surprisingly easy and simple and using them in battles is fun. It’s an effective motivation to win battles, as winning battles means winning money to buy new decks. As the game progresses, enemy AI improves, and you as a player will need to build a good deck in order to win.
Overall, Culdcept Revolt is a very good merging of card and board games. It’s my first time to play a Culdcept game and I did enjoy it. I recommend this game to fans of the types of games mentioned above, and also to those who are fans of turned-based RPGs, as this game is a nice spin on the genre.
REPLAY VALUE: high
PROS:
- Good visuals, character design, card illustrations, enemy AI, voice acting, narrative style, soundtrack, and use of stereoscopic 3D
- Easy to understand game mechanics
- Collecting cards and building decks is fun and addicting
- The game rewards players money whether they win or lose, so you will have money to buy new cards to make your decks better, thus leveling the playing field
- Takes a good amount of strategizing and luck to win battles, especially in the later stages
CONS:
- The story is a bit bland
- Connecting online can be hard at times
- Character animation during battles cannot be skipped, thus, you need to see as a character on the board move from one tile to another, making battles longer than needed
RATING: 4/5 winds of hope
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