man what are we even doing here. ive played about 400 levels and this is one of the worst designed puzzle games as well as gacha games i’ve ever seen. there’s barely any replenishable resources which makes the gacha aspect basically worthless, the gacha system is expensive and also just kinda weird and clunky, the seasonal gacha gives so few pulls that you have barely any chance to get the premium items without spending (hell, i threw the game a few bucks and got basically nothing), and there’s way too many unfixed bugs and dev response time has been nowhere NEAR as fast compared to kingdom and ovenbreak. the worst of it all, though, is the level design. certain levels are nearly entirely luck based with there being so few matches possible that the game has to forcibly shuffle multiple times a level, also if you don’t beat a level it doesn’t count towards any progress in the like 5+ active events so if you get stuck you’re likely getting 0 event rewards. it truly seems like they just do not care about this game, which is a shame because the story, art, and voice acting are all top notch. unfortunately, despite that, this finished product is just inexcusable when you’re disrupting such an established genre of puzzle game. royal match, essentially the same game but with better levels and no gacha, has been on the market for years and does everything this game does but better. i cannot recommend this to anyone except the most die hard cookie run fans.

EDIT: the april update has made changes to make currency easier to get and i am not in fact immune to bribery so i bumped it up half a star. the core problems with the game remain but it’s a lot easier to be a gacha machine now

game of the year. i’ve seen enough. i don’t care that it’s february there’s no way this is getting topped. the gameplay is addictive, fun, innovative, and challenging. the amount of content is insane with 15 decks, 8 difficulty levels, dozens of achievements/unlocks, CHALLENGES??, endless mode, and a gameplay loop that doesn’t even need a motivation for me to want to play more. this game could have no progression whatsoever and i would still call it perfect, so the amount here goes above and beyond. all this for only $15 too when it could easily be $10 or $15 more than that. i am genuinely in awe of how perfect this game is; it was worth the wait and then some and it’s easily the best deckbuilder since slay the spire.