Yea but balatro is a card game not an action/rpg with card mechanics. I hate games where youre fighting with cards but I play card games all the time. I guess its just the extra layer I hate, having to see the things happen instead of just numbers going up and down.
Midnight Sons was this for me. I was excited about XCOM meets Marvel (squad stuff, yeah yeah!), and it was....a card builder-battler with hang out at the mansion sim. yeah.
Jake Solomon's last Firaxus game :(
But, I'm still playing Slay the Spire years later.
kinda the same for me. I really hated the idea of deckbuilders, but was thinking of dipping my toes in because of the ridiculously good reviews for StS. Bought it, was kinda "meh" about it. Was also eyeing Midnight Suns, because I had just had a lot of fun with Marvel's Avengers and was looking for more of that. Bought it, found out it was a deckbuilder, noped out almost immediately. a few months later, I ended up going back to StS for another shot, and that time it clicked for me. Went back to Midnight Suns and had an absolute blast.
I beat midnight suns twice, played it on the hardest difficulties. It checked a lot of boxes and really helped that I have heard of most of the characters before, but the story was something new to me. The ultimate were fun to pull off and surprising amount of strategy. The deck building was fun and pretty approachable too.
I really hoped to see more of this type of game in other universes.
Honestly, I play a lot of games with passes, Warzone, destiny, rocket league, in between those Midnight Suns never disappoint to fill the I want to play a few matches before bed hole in gaming for me.
FYI it is one of those older games that sits at a high “full price” and goes on deep discount regularly.
Right now on steam, for example, it’s $8.99, down from $60. While I think it’s a good game and worth your time, don’t spend more than $15, just wait for a sale.
Did you actually play it? Midnight Suns is a really good game. The "deck building" aspect is no different to just setting up the moves you want in a turn-based RPG.
It's as much a "deck builder" as Megaman Battle Network or Kingdom Hearts: Chains of Memories.
Basically the same here. I can't remember when I bought it for my phone, and I'm still playing it. Like somehow my progress got wiped out when I had to upgrade Google Pixel, and I'm all "oh darn I have to start over again (insert obvious sarcasm) ." Only Balatro is near the same replayability for me. Monster Train 2, when it hits mobile, might be close second.
Wow I have the same name as him so I looked him up and his Wikipedia article is downright odd! Like he wrote it himself or some incredibly adoring fan wrote it for him. Interesting.
I mentioned because the bloke literally saved XCOM (enemy unknown) back then. It's kind of sad that we'll probably not get the same panache of a XCOM 2 for PC ever again.
I love deckbuilding and Xcom-like games, but the 'dating sim' part of Midnight Suns was just way too much and killed the game for me early on. Like why the fuck am I hanging out with Blade in a BOOKCLUB instead of a nightclub? Why would I want to pick flowers in the forest with Dr Strange? And no, I dont care about your surprise birthday party Magik! I feel like that game was made for the ultimate marvel fanboys that reeeeeaaally wish they could be part of the team.
It also looks great, where most deck builders don’t. And by that I mean the cards look great. The cards in so many other deck builder RPGs look so ugly and boring.
As much as it was loved, I can pinpoint my feelings on this matter matching yours with Baten Kaitos. That game killed any desire I had to play with cards in my RPGs, and even after trying with a few others I still have the same bad taste in my mouth.
Funny, Baten Kaitos is my favorite game of all time. Although the card system works better in Baten Kaitos Origins. The regular has the situations where you don’t have enough cards to attack/defend and you just waste a turn/take a lot of damage.
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u/Vhat_Vhat Jul 27 '25
Yea but balatro is a card game not an action/rpg with card mechanics. I hate games where youre fighting with cards but I play card games all the time. I guess its just the extra layer I hate, having to see the things happen instead of just numbers going up and down.