What does it take for a deckbuilding strategy card game to stand out? After all, it feels like we have a never-ending supply of them right now, so finding a way to elevate such such a game above the rest of the pack must be tricky. And now having played Tako Boys Studios' upcoming game, Cross Blitz, I can say that it stands out, but thinking about it more, it does so through a mix of unique elements and more tried-and-true elements that have simply been used really, really well. There doesn’t seem to be any one hook that stands out, but rather it does so as a combined package, and has me left wanting even more.
One of the most unique things about Cross Blitz’s demo at first is, ironically, what it doesn’t have: Roguelike elements. Not that they aren’t welcome, and the game is still planning to have an additional roguelike mode in the future, but the main focus here, as established by the demo, is the single-player story mode. The plan is to have multiple story campaigns (or “Fables”) focusing on several individual characters in the swashbuckling fantasy world, with the one played here focusing on Redcroft, a captured pirate looking to earn his freedom from Princess Eigana, setting out to accomplish a favor for them, putting up with rumors of their demise and the princess' servant Abraxas along the way.
It’s a nicely well-crafted tale, bolstered by a fun cast with a lot of grand personalities, like the boisterous Redcroft, and well as stunning and colorful pixel art that gives everything a perfectly cartoonish feel, even as you just move about the hex-based world and see everything pop into place. Traveling from section to section in a bit of a dungeon crawler style, you discover various battles along the way, where the card combat begins. The gameplay is nice and simple to learn: each minion our spell you play costs a certain amount of mana, and you place the former into one of eight sections on your field: Ranged attackers in the back, melee up front. Once you’re ready to attack, just hit the huge “BLITZ” button, and all your minions capable of attacking either trade blows with other minions, if in the same column in them, or directly attack your opponent if there’s a clear shot.
Playing cards relies on mana, which here is uniquely based around escalation, as the maximum amount of mana you can have increases with each turn. Starting out with one mana on the first turn, each player can only use basic minions and spells. The next turn, it builds to two, then three, etc, until players have enough mana to begin unleashing their most powerful cards…or just play a bunch of lower-costing cards, depending on your preferred strategy. It’s the type of system that ensures every player has a fair shot (though it’s not like there aren’t any cards that can gain extra mana), which is welcome. It also ensure that each turn is nice and quick while still allowing for a lot of time to plan your moves.
While the gameplay is quick, though, Cross Blitz actually has a ton of attention poured into crafting a realistic card game and its rules. There are a level of uniquely-named effects among its two hundred-plus cards that would make a Magic: The Gathering set blush, such as minions with thorns that deal extra damage when being attacked, plunder abilities that activate when damaging other minions, death rattles that activate upon…well, death, and much more. Each card even has its own limitations as to how many copies you’re able to have in your thirty-card deck, and the game even suggests specific deck types that you can craft and experiment with, along with individual cards to craft with material from defeated enemies.
Basically, it quickly becomes clear that a lot of work went into making the card game at the center of everything here, making sure that it’s as fun to play with as possible and perfecting capturing the feel of a classic collectible card game. The one modifier that goes alongside the cards, though, are the relics. Here we see something else associated with roguelikes again, with each relic providing various buffs. The twists this time around, though, are that you can only have four relics assigned to each of your decks – one epic and three normal – and that your opponents can show up wielding them as well, throwing a twist into things. Cross Blitz clearly seems to know just what kind of limitations to use to allow for a proper challenge.
The demo ended having defeated a boss who was spreading rumors about Redcroft being dead, one who served as introduction to trap cards…or would have, anyway, if I wasn’t able to avoid any conditions that would have set them off. In the end, they just weren’t a match for the relic that essentially gave me an endless supply of pyro monkeys. And really, the fact that Cross Blitz gives me an opportunity to use the phrase “endless supply of pyro monkeys” is enough for me to recommend it, but it’s the impressively detailed, quick and challenging card combat that could easily leave folks coming back for more. And we’ll see if it ends up achieving that when Cross Blitz arrives in Early Access sometime soon.
