A short simple game about stacking cards to generate cards to sell to buy more cards. If you like skinner-boxy reward loops this game is a nice short diversion, and I enjoyed the initial phase of experimenting, exploring and expanding. I find these games without distinct phases bring out a compulsive tendency in me where I'll just play on and on getting more and more tired, pushing towards an end that isn't coming. I think I'd have enjoyed Stacklands a lot more if there were clearer points to stop a session and come back later.

The game dragged toward the end, especially when I got onto the island content. Apparently the island is an update, sort of Free-LC, and I think it might be more fun for returning players. Without a break it just felt like an additional chunk of time wasting before reaching a similar climax. By that point everything had become incredibly messy, the screen flooded with cards that bounced about and disorganised themselves, pipelines of farm > stove > messhall that nevertheless required manual input at every step, and a large, unsearchable menu of recipes. Some QoL upgrades could go a long way.

If you don't spend too long stuck at the end it's a nice short game, but the last couple of hours soured me on the experience.

Reviewed on Jul 19, 2022


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