Aces & Adventures
released on Feb 23, 2023
Aces and Adventures is a deck builder RPG with poker-powered combat. Journey through a world inspired by Norse and Middle Eastern mythology to save the Life Tree from the evil that gnaws at her roots.
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One sick ass card roguelike
This is a fusion of a deckbuilding game and poker, but the emphasis is placed almost 70 / 30 on how much you'll be engaging with the games poker vs. deckbuilding mechanics. There is so much more emphasis on getting high pairs or high suits in order to attack and defend, while the custom deck you build to go into each campaign feels like it acts as a supporting role. I got through half of the campaigns offered before I ever changed a card from the starting deck.
So as a deckbuilder it kind of fails to provide really challenging or interesting deck building challenges. Almost anything will work. Combine that with the rather slow progression of unlocking new abilities and cards, and by the end of the final campaign I really only had one viable strategy for the character I was using. There were clearly other strategies based on cards I unlocked, but I didn't get enough of them or the abilities unlocked that supported them. I wanted to explore the class I played with more, but I simply couldn't.
There is a great idea here, but it is a little too underbacked to really call it a "good" experience.
So as a deckbuilder it kind of fails to provide really challenging or interesting deck building challenges. Almost anything will work. Combine that with the rather slow progression of unlocking new abilities and cards, and by the end of the final campaign I really only had one viable strategy for the character I was using. There were clearly other strategies based on cards I unlocked, but I didn't get enough of them or the abilities unlocked that supported them. I wanted to explore the class I played with more, but I simply couldn't.
There is a great idea here, but it is a little too underbacked to really call it a "good" experience.
Aces & Adventures is a fun card game. You draw from 2 decks, one is a normal ass card deck and you attack/defend with poker hands; the other is your character's abilities. There is a story mode that lasts about 4ish hours and you get to build your ability deck to fit what you want. It's very similar to the Hearthstone adventures. There are 4 difficulties and you gotta start on the easiest, in which deck building probably doesn't matter to much.
In between the chapters of the campaign you will get mana and fill up a tube. Half a tube gets you a card pack for deck building, and a full tube lets you go level up whatever character you want. Characters go to level 30 and get just base stronger, and let you pick different upgrade paths in the chapters for different builds.
There are also 2 other game modes besides campaign, and they are both Slay The Spire-esque roguelike modes. One you play with a deck you build yourself, and the other you start with 10 cards and it's pretty much Slay the Spire.
I played one round of the Deck Building one and my deck sucked ass but I still got through it. I'm not much of a deck builder so I don't really see myself doing that. I beat 3/4 difficulties for the other one though and it was fun until the last one. The last difficulty is just very insanely hard without getting incredibly lucky. That's probably the point of hard difficulty roguelikes i guess?, but it felt even more exacerbated by this being a card game and not something you can skill your way out of.
Also I hated every class but the starting one, none of them I vibed with.
I love the main menu though, the visuals of it give off a very 90's PC vibe to me.
In between the chapters of the campaign you will get mana and fill up a tube. Half a tube gets you a card pack for deck building, and a full tube lets you go level up whatever character you want. Characters go to level 30 and get just base stronger, and let you pick different upgrade paths in the chapters for different builds.
There are also 2 other game modes besides campaign, and they are both Slay The Spire-esque roguelike modes. One you play with a deck you build yourself, and the other you start with 10 cards and it's pretty much Slay the Spire.
I played one round of the Deck Building one and my deck sucked ass but I still got through it. I'm not much of a deck builder so I don't really see myself doing that. I beat 3/4 difficulties for the other one though and it was fun until the last one. The last difficulty is just very insanely hard without getting incredibly lucky. That's probably the point of hard difficulty roguelikes i guess?, but it felt even more exacerbated by this being a card game and not something you can skill your way out of.
Also I hated every class but the starting one, none of them I vibed with.
I love the main menu though, the visuals of it give off a very 90's PC vibe to me.
I'm a little bit down with the story, mostly as it was promoted with this thing of different adventures and is just chapters of the same one (and not one that I was feeling thrilled with), but outside of that? I really like what this game offers and how it plays.
Is pretty different from things like Slay the Spire and it offers both pre-deckbuild modes and a full roguelike mode to suit to all kind of players.
Is pretty different from things like Slay the Spire and it offers both pre-deckbuild modes and a full roguelike mode to suit to all kind of players.
This is a lovely roguelike which uses poker dynamics for atk/def. I finished the main story and once you "main" a character it feels so nice to combine cards, get a combo through the enemy and continue the adventure. Once you finish the campaign it gets boring pretty quickly, but for a few hours it's definitely an enjoyable experience.
This game is currently in the Humble Choice for September 2023, and this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before October 3rd, 2023, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.
A narrative poker card game
Aces & Adventures starts with players exploring a strange land. The game is broken up into multiple adventures, each taking less than half an hour to play through, and appears to have an interconnected story. There are 5 playable characters, several unlockables, and decks of thirty ability cards to take into each adventure. The sound design deserves a special mention. The narration is solid but there are great little touches that pulled me into the story.
The gameplay though is very similar to poker. You create hands in poker like two of a kind or a full house, with a normal deck of cards. With the game being all fantasy-based, it’s odd to connect this to a typical card game, but after an hour this started to work, and there are a lot of clever abilities designed around the idea. Still, it’s a narrative poker card game, that’s a strange pairing that might put off people. Also, card games can tend to have some serious difficulty spikes so maybe I haven't seen that yet. However, I think the second character feels overpowered so far, which usually means I’m wrong and they’re the weakest.
Pick this up if you enjoy card games. The narrative is set with minor choices throughout the game, but the leveling means your deck of abilities can grow. It’s a strange idea but I’m going to mention the audio again because it did a great job making the entire game come together and it kept me engaged long enough for me to see some of the unique depth of the poker-style combat. I’ll probably return this weekend.
If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/BxErSXqL82A
A narrative poker card game
Aces & Adventures starts with players exploring a strange land. The game is broken up into multiple adventures, each taking less than half an hour to play through, and appears to have an interconnected story. There are 5 playable characters, several unlockables, and decks of thirty ability cards to take into each adventure. The sound design deserves a special mention. The narration is solid but there are great little touches that pulled me into the story.
The gameplay though is very similar to poker. You create hands in poker like two of a kind or a full house, with a normal deck of cards. With the game being all fantasy-based, it’s odd to connect this to a typical card game, but after an hour this started to work, and there are a lot of clever abilities designed around the idea. Still, it’s a narrative poker card game, that’s a strange pairing that might put off people. Also, card games can tend to have some serious difficulty spikes so maybe I haven't seen that yet. However, I think the second character feels overpowered so far, which usually means I’m wrong and they’re the weakest.
Pick this up if you enjoy card games. The narrative is set with minor choices throughout the game, but the leveling means your deck of abilities can grow. It’s a strange idea but I’m going to mention the audio again because it did a great job making the entire game come together and it kept me engaged long enough for me to see some of the unique depth of the poker-style combat. I’ll probably return this weekend.
If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/BxErSXqL82A