The decks are stacked.
Let's shuffle and lay all our cards on the table.
The decks are stacked... in favour of card games.
Ever since I discovered Stacklands (which I already wrote about in my Sokpop spotlight post), I’ve had a soft spot for card games. Not the Solitaire you’d play when the internet is out or the round of Canasta when you visit your grandfather - video games that simulate a particular setting but do so with cards.
For example, in Stacklands, you start out with a villager card, and drag it onto a rock card to mine the rock, which drops stone cards. When you drag those stone cards onto a stick card, you craft a tool.
Stacklands absolutely sold me on the card-based simulation genre and it was the first entry in my “…but it’s cards!” list. I’ve played a few card-oriented games since, fixating on the gimmick every once in a while. Recently, the demo to Ways of Alchemy popped up on my feed, and I’ve gone into a card-shaped rabbithole again.
Join me in checking out these card-based simulators and let me know whether deck was stacked in your favour.
Ways of Alchemy
Ways of Alchemy isn’t out yet, and currently only has a demo available, which I played for a couple of hours and absolutely loved!
Granted, it needs some polishing, some quality of life things and someone has to give it a good, thorough spellcheck - but other than that, the game is already hitting the spot.
I especially love how it combines elements from other the tried and true card-based simulators, and effectively brings together straight-forward survivalcraft elements like cleaning up your house to get resources, digging a plot of land to turn it into a field and growing some seeds on it to use as alchemly ingredients, as well as the mystique that comes with the alchemy theme of the game.
It sets the mood just right, balancing on the line between an excessive amount of cards to juggle and an organised, extensive amount of things to do, like exploring different areas to get various resources, while you wait for your crops to grow, which they’ll hopefully do in time for you to eat so you don’t starve to death, all while leaving enough produce to turn into potions and make some coin.
I will show you some other, more established games in the genre further down in this blog post - yes, I am aware that I’m going at this chronologically backwards, bear with me - that all share a similar way of progressing time and the cost associated with it. Ways of Alchemy has a fresh take on it, that keeps it closer to a “realistic” simulator in terms of having needs to balance like stamina, energy, health, sleep, food etc.
👍 Absolutely looking forward to playing the full game!
Book of Hours
I don’t know what it is about Book of Hours.
Originally, I had planned to review this game in my ‘Pageturners and Papercuts’ blog post, but ultimately didn’t because I was overwhelmed by the game and couldn’t get into it.
I tried again a bit later, but got frustrated by not knowing what exactly to do or how to get started. It feels like the game relies heavily on intuition and/or previous experience with similar games, and my intuition just wouldn’t do it.
I talked to a dear friend on our Discord, and she spoke so passionately about Book of Hours that I just had to give it a third and final try. This time around, I did figure out how to get started and made my way to the place the actual game begins - and sadly, found it very overwhelming again.
I played for about an hour, and weirdly did enjoy my time doing so - but without much instruction to go on and with so many things you can (unsuccesfully) do, I’m sad to admit that it just isn’t for me.
The thing is, though - that’s not the game’s fault at all. Despite not pulling me all the way in, this game is gorgeous. The storytelling is intriguing and it utilises all the right mechanics a game in this genre needs, from using your own merit to generate coin and insight to paying others to do your bidding for you, it’s all in the cards. And genuinely, if you enjoy this genre of game, try it out, because it is truly lovely and it deserves all the praise it gets.
I’m sure I’ll go back to it eventually, and maybe after having played a few other games in the genre, I might actually figure it out that time. My brain just needs some more time in the oven rather than the game.
👍 Play it, just know it’s not beginner-friendly and expects a lot from you.
Cultist Simulator
I think it’s safe to say that Cultist Simulator laid the foundation for every card-based simulation game that followed. The first. The original. The OG.
It comes as no surprise that this game is amazing. It does everything so meticulously well. Well-balanced timing and gameplay that is complex enough yet explained enough, though not overbearingly so. It sets an occult vibe that is mysterious and compelling, It’s straight-forward and intuitive enough without being predictable.
It does everything so well that I’m genuinely flabberghasted that I hadn’t discovered it before. And I still wouldn’t have if it weren’t for my husband, who is not only the most wonderful person on the planet but also has great taste in games and knows exactly what to throw at me at exactly the right time. Thanks to his suggestions and sometimes his Steam library through Family Share, I have discovered SO many gems, including Cultist Simulator.
Your goal is to start a cult. You don’t really know that that is your goal, though. It just happens. You explore ideas, discover scraps of forbidden knowledge, and gradually piece together a reality that is stranger and darker than you expected. You learn through experimentation, accidents, and sometimes glorious failure, but not in a frustrating way.
👍 Wonderful game, masterclass in the card-based simulation genre.
Artist Life Simulator
Let’s be honest - I clicked on Artist Life Simulator because of Van Gogh.
Turns out, it’s an amazingly creative card-based simulator all about how you’re an artist moving to the big city to make it as a painter and get rich, change the world - realistic as it is, though, it took me less than an hour to die as a result of crippling poverty and severe alcohol addiction.
In my second game, I was doing a lot better. I stayed away from alcohol, had two friends (unrealistic, ugh), enough money to live lavishly, but then the year 1920 hit and the demo ended.
But there are a few quality of life issues like cards not returning to their place, tooltips taking up a lot of space as well as some bugs like duplicate buttons, that made this an increasingly frustrating experience. I thought I could get used to it or that the buttons jumping around every time they were pressed would settle down after a while, but it only got worse.
Very sad about this, because this could be a great game, it’s just unpolished and unsupported, with a few super annoying bugs that make it frustrating and thus unplayable (for me). This is, in my opinion, too buggy for a full release. I requested a refund for this reason.
👎 Great premise and lots of fun content-wise, BUT frustrating, annoying bugs make it unplayable.
Paper Kingdom
Paper Kingdom brings together ALL of the genres I enjoy.
First and foremost, it’s a card-based simulator, which is in line of expectations for this blog post, of course. But it’s also a survivalcraft game, where you start out as a nomad trying to survive in the wilderness, starting a tribe and evolving towards a more organised industry with a higher survival rate. It does the “get stick, make axe, chop wood” loop very well!
It also offers some light reading, featuring immersive storytelling whenever you discover a new area or unlock something bigger.
The demo is sadly quite limited, weapons are not a thing so as soon as you get your first raid, you’re done. It’s extended enough to show you the gameplay and, in my case, convince me I needed to buy the game.
Bought the game, and I am having SO much fun! Still figuring out how to optimally organise my playing table, but at least I have a bow and an axe to survive raids now.
👍 Survivalcraft, exploration and city building in a card-based simulator!
So, that’s it. I’ve played all my cards in terms of this blog post, but there’s more where that came from! I’ll be on the lookout for more card-oriented games and add them to the ‘… but it’s cards!’-list as I go.
Definitely go check it out, and while you’re there, drop me a follow, it’d help me more than you realise and you’ll see my opinions on games as you browse them in the Steam Store, without any further notifications or spam. ♥
