A fusion of card-based RPGs and Adventure games, “Black Book” is a haunting tale of a young sorceress, who gave her life to serve the dark forces. Dive into the cold, yet alluring world of folk tales - and uncover the secrets that hide in the darkness.
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Fascinante construção de mundo, jogabilidade boa, história, enredo.
Cute gameplay and animations, story wasn't that interesting but opening the seals was..however, after beating the second seal I got a game breaking bug where all my cards were only dealing 1 damage each, just pissed me off, couldn't be bothered with it
I really wanted to love it because I really love the theme of Russian folklore, but I really don't vibe with the gameplay. Plus, the character portraits are ugly, which is a shame because the 3D graphics are minimalistic, but very nice overall
Got this game for free on EGS at some point. I didn't know what this game was, it's genre, story - nothing. What I've experienced really shocked me.
I'm not a big fan of strategy deck-builders, but this game really scratched my itch real nice. I could not tell you how excited I was by unlocking another seal and seeing what cards there are and what combinations you could do with them. Every time I saw an upgrade to an already used card (for example exchanging a regular waste card to a well-versed one), I was elated. However, I thought that every seal would focus on a different strategy - aspen seal could be waste, fern seal could be waste and so on. It's more of a mish-mash of different status effects, though some of them dominate one or another seal.
I cannot give all the credit to just the deck building though, since it is pretty bare-bones. The atmosphere that this game creates with it's visual artstyle, it's audio tracks and VA is phenomenal. As of 5 seconds ago, I've checked that the devs are from the same region of Russia, as the game plays in. The XIX century Russian region, with all of it's mythology, really shines and from what I could tell, most of the VA's are Russian themselves, so it really adds on to the realism (with how real kolduns, chorts and zagovors can be). Jammed to all of the folk songs.
Won't talk about the story, it's alright. No real ground-breaking work there, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. Most of the main characters are great, some are at most okay.
The little side content always rewards you with an item, experience or knowledge on how to not make the same mistake next time and incentivizes you to explore every dot on the map. The travelling is akin to games like slay the spire or inscryption, with every location on the map having some kind of encounter, whether it be enemies, friends or something else (spooooky).
All in all, if you want some narratively typical story with great characters and good beginner deck-building mechanics, please try this game out, it's an absolute treat.
I'm not a big fan of strategy deck-builders, but this game really scratched my itch real nice. I could not tell you how excited I was by unlocking another seal and seeing what cards there are and what combinations you could do with them. Every time I saw an upgrade to an already used card (for example exchanging a regular waste card to a well-versed one), I was elated. However, I thought that every seal would focus on a different strategy - aspen seal could be waste, fern seal could be waste and so on. It's more of a mish-mash of different status effects, though some of them dominate one or another seal.
I cannot give all the credit to just the deck building though, since it is pretty bare-bones. The atmosphere that this game creates with it's visual artstyle, it's audio tracks and VA is phenomenal. As of 5 seconds ago, I've checked that the devs are from the same region of Russia, as the game plays in. The XIX century Russian region, with all of it's mythology, really shines and from what I could tell, most of the VA's are Russian themselves, so it really adds on to the realism (with how real kolduns, chorts and zagovors can be). Jammed to all of the folk songs.
Won't talk about the story, it's alright. No real ground-breaking work there, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. Most of the main characters are great, some are at most okay.
The little side content always rewards you with an item, experience or knowledge on how to not make the same mistake next time and incentivizes you to explore every dot on the map. The travelling is akin to games like slay the spire or inscryption, with every location on the map having some kind of encounter, whether it be enemies, friends or something else (spooooky).
All in all, if you want some narratively typical story with great characters and good beginner deck-building mechanics, please try this game out, it's an absolute treat.
Sights & Sounds
- The character portraits are pretty rudimentary but nice in their own way. The backdrops are pretty, though
- I would have liked a little more variety in the enemy designs. The bosses are pretty well done, at least
- The music is an interesting blend of folk songs. I like how you can actually collect music as you progress through the story
- The English voice acting is a bit amateurish and inconsistent, but that's okay. I just wish the pronunciation of various words and names was consistent across the board
Story & Vibes
- The basic thrust of the story is simple and sad. Your lover has died, and you're trying to become a witch so you can make a bargain with the devil to bring him back to life
- In order to do so, you have to use the titular Black Book to unlock a set of seals and proceed to hell to make your wish
- All along the way, you'll learn a lot about eastern European folklore and the ways in which it interacted with Christianity. There's some fairly interesting cultural education in this game
Playability & Replayability
- It's a card battler RPG that eschews the usual rogue-like trappings of so many similar games. I have to be honest, that makes it a little refreshing
- Unfortunately, that leads you to lean on maybe one or two different deck constructions for the whole game unless you hit a boss that requires you to switch things up. I just ran a curse deck for about 3/4 of the game that trivialized most encounters
- When you are forced to switch things up, you better hope you have some money on hand. You'll probably need to buy cards while you're at your home base or from a vendor to switch to something more viable at some point
- Although it is indeed not a rogue-like, you'll often have mini-events in different areas you travel to that kinda feel similar to games in that genre. You'll have options to fight, try to weasel your way out of conflict, gain information, run away, etc.
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Although an interesting concept that taught me a bit about a world folklore that I didn't know much about, I never really found myself having fun. Maybe card games aren't for me
- Worked well on the Steam Deck. It's an easy game to pick up and put down
Final Verdict
- 6/10. If you love card games but want a cohesive story, this is a decent game to try. The card battles don't do anything innovative or fancy. A solid if unimpressive game
- The character portraits are pretty rudimentary but nice in their own way. The backdrops are pretty, though
- I would have liked a little more variety in the enemy designs. The bosses are pretty well done, at least
- The music is an interesting blend of folk songs. I like how you can actually collect music as you progress through the story
- The English voice acting is a bit amateurish and inconsistent, but that's okay. I just wish the pronunciation of various words and names was consistent across the board
Story & Vibes
- The basic thrust of the story is simple and sad. Your lover has died, and you're trying to become a witch so you can make a bargain with the devil to bring him back to life
- In order to do so, you have to use the titular Black Book to unlock a set of seals and proceed to hell to make your wish
- All along the way, you'll learn a lot about eastern European folklore and the ways in which it interacted with Christianity. There's some fairly interesting cultural education in this game
Playability & Replayability
- It's a card battler RPG that eschews the usual rogue-like trappings of so many similar games. I have to be honest, that makes it a little refreshing
- Unfortunately, that leads you to lean on maybe one or two different deck constructions for the whole game unless you hit a boss that requires you to switch things up. I just ran a curse deck for about 3/4 of the game that trivialized most encounters
- When you are forced to switch things up, you better hope you have some money on hand. You'll probably need to buy cards while you're at your home base or from a vendor to switch to something more viable at some point
- Although it is indeed not a rogue-like, you'll often have mini-events in different areas you travel to that kinda feel similar to games in that genre. You'll have options to fight, try to weasel your way out of conflict, gain information, run away, etc.
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Although an interesting concept that taught me a bit about a world folklore that I didn't know much about, I never really found myself having fun. Maybe card games aren't for me
- Worked well on the Steam Deck. It's an easy game to pick up and put down
Final Verdict
- 6/10. If you love card games but want a cohesive story, this is a decent game to try. The card battles don't do anything innovative or fancy. A solid if unimpressive game
Oh man Leute..
Einer der Hauptgründe warum Slay the Spire ungeschlagen an der Spitze der Deckbuilder Roguelikes steht ist folgender:
Du triffst essenzielle Entscheidungen im Sekundentakt.
Animationen der Gegner sind kürzer als ein Wimpernschlag und können sogar noch beschleunigt werden.
Karten spielen geht schnell und im Anschluss an den Kampf werden neue Karten ins Deck geholt. Es gibt keine Story zum Überspringen, alles hält dein Gehirn so sehr auf Trap, dass niemals, nie nie nie Langeweile aufkommt.
In den nächsten Raum kommt man per Klick. Mit einem klick.
Kein Rumlaufen, kein Kisten zerschlagen, man kommt direkt in den nächsten Raum.
Black Book:
labert dich von Beginn an voll mit Mist, den du einfach nicht hören willst, weils schlecht geschrieben und von Grund auf uninteressant ist.
Nun muss man point and click Adventureartig zum nächsten Raum laufen. Und ob ihr es glaub oder nicht.. die Alte kann an Gegenständen hängen bleiben. Alter! Warum baut ihr sowas ein (was bereits falsch ist) und setzt es dann noch so schlecht um?
Die Karten haben kaum Varianz.
Macht 4 Schaden
Macht 2 Schaden
Weitere Unterschiede gibt es nicht.
Welche Karte nehmt ihr?
Die 1.?
Ja. Logisch, was auch sonst?
Es gibt NICHTS zu entscheiden. Mal wieder.
Zum Angreifen muss man die Karte spielen und dann darf man sie noch in seinen "Zauberspruch" basteln, den man dann noch aktivieren muss.
Alles so nervig.. warum soll das Spiel keinen Spaß machen?
bah das ist einfach so schlecht.
Einer der Hauptgründe warum Slay the Spire ungeschlagen an der Spitze der Deckbuilder Roguelikes steht ist folgender:
Du triffst essenzielle Entscheidungen im Sekundentakt.
Animationen der Gegner sind kürzer als ein Wimpernschlag und können sogar noch beschleunigt werden.
Karten spielen geht schnell und im Anschluss an den Kampf werden neue Karten ins Deck geholt. Es gibt keine Story zum Überspringen, alles hält dein Gehirn so sehr auf Trap, dass niemals, nie nie nie Langeweile aufkommt.
In den nächsten Raum kommt man per Klick. Mit einem klick.
Kein Rumlaufen, kein Kisten zerschlagen, man kommt direkt in den nächsten Raum.
Black Book:
labert dich von Beginn an voll mit Mist, den du einfach nicht hören willst, weils schlecht geschrieben und von Grund auf uninteressant ist.
Nun muss man point and click Adventureartig zum nächsten Raum laufen. Und ob ihr es glaub oder nicht.. die Alte kann an Gegenständen hängen bleiben. Alter! Warum baut ihr sowas ein (was bereits falsch ist) und setzt es dann noch so schlecht um?
Die Karten haben kaum Varianz.
Macht 4 Schaden
Macht 2 Schaden
Weitere Unterschiede gibt es nicht.
Welche Karte nehmt ihr?
Die 1.?
Ja. Logisch, was auch sonst?
Es gibt NICHTS zu entscheiden. Mal wieder.
Zum Angreifen muss man die Karte spielen und dann darf man sie noch in seinen "Zauberspruch" basteln, den man dann noch aktivieren muss.
Alles so nervig.. warum soll das Spiel keinen Spaß machen?
bah das ist einfach so schlecht.