Card-Based Trials of Fire - card-based tactics in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world

[Thac0]

A youtube dood I follow made a review about this.

I like the game, I think the UI isn't as awfull as Merchant rips into it, but the game feels unfinished still.
Apart from that his review is spot on, combat and core mechanics are excellent, and the classes can all go into a ton of different directions.
Honestly I'd go so far as to say that from all the card game rpgs on Steam this has the best combat and progression, even trumping out stuff like Erranorth Reborn.

pakoito I like it more than Gloomhaven. Gloomhaven is held back a bit by its tabletop origin in the digital adaption, this was made for a PC. As such mechanics are a bit more complex, as an example summons are more frequent, complex and interesting.

 

[Thac0]

Anyone tried this? https://store.steampowered.com/app/1038370/Trials_of_Fire/

Looks like the game Knights of the Chalice 2 wishes it could be, but mainstream media - RPS and Eurogamer - are fellating it quite rapidly, so I'm wondering who they know on the development team.

Perhaps I'm just cynical, though. Steam reviews are also pretty good.

I'm not into the cards aspect of it.

Some board games had good deckbuilding aspects (Starcraft or mage knight for instance), so this could work. Actually, it definitely sounds like Mage Knight (or Gloomhaven), so we cannot rule out the game being good. But I would really like to hear how different it plays from Slay the Spire, or Dreamquest.

It is not really in the same genre as Slay the Spire, Dreamquest and Monster Train and all the others that have been released since this post. Those are more classical card games, positioning does not exist and the game is all about building strong combos. Those games feel more like an evolution of card games like Talisman or Dominion, start from scratch and try to build and refine a game winning combo engine.

This game however is much more of a tactical rpg in the mix. Your units have clear archetypes, and different strengths and weaknesses, and which enemies you engage with which hero and how you focus fire matters a lot. Also battles generally do not devolve into you making an infinite combo for 1.000.000 damage by stacking armor, like they would in STS, Dream Quest etc. Instead it is more even, on a really good turn you take out maybe one enemy more while losing less health instead of comboing into oblivion.
I'd say the split is 60% TRPG 40% card game for this.

I personally played it a few months ago, was satisfied with it, and shelved it until Early Access was over.
I guess I will go back to it now that it released yesterday.

 

[Eyestabber]

This game is VERY good and it's a shame the Codex is mostly ignoring it. In a similar vein to StS. Actually, I remember some ppl disliking that game, so if that's your case, stay clear of this one too. Otherwise, it's very much worth it, IMO.

Very satisfying once you get the hang of things.

 

[Serus]

This game is VERY good and it's a shame the Codex is mostly ignoring it. In a similar vein to StS. Actually, I remember some ppl disliking that game, so if that's your case, stay clear of this one too. Otherwise, it's very much worth it, IMO.

Very satisfying once you get the hang of things.

I'm sorry, what's "StS"?

 

[Thac0]

This game is VERY good and it's a shame the Codex is mostly ignoring it. In a similar vein to StS. Actually, I remember some ppl disliking that game, so if that's your case, stay clear of this one too. Otherwise, it's very much worth it, IMO.

Very satisfying once you get the hang of things.

I'm sorry, what's "StS"?

Slay the Spire, the big elephant in the room whenever someone talks about cardbattlers.
And StS is not bad, but I played the much superior and very similar Dream Quest before, so it sort of fell flat for me.
But Trials of Fire is just as deep as Dream Quest, while being vastly more pretty. And it plays quite differently to StS and Dream Quest to boot, it is clearly a sidegrade.

 

[Cnaiur]

This is a magnificent game and shouldn't be overlooked by fans of cardbattlers as well as tactical RPGs.

 

[Eyestabber]

This is what true GG looks like.

FUCK, overcoming the challenge in this game is so damn satisfying!!!

 

[J1M]

This game uses the same equipment = deck building mechanic as Card Hunter, but with a better presentation and additional layers of depth.

Completed one adventure so far. The systems seem pretty solid and I expect future games to imitate this one. Main concern is how long it will take to unlock the "real game".

I'd also definitely prefer to see more of a guided experience with regards to the adventure types. It seems like your choices are basically short vs. long randomly generated adventures.

 

[pakoito]

Card Hunter minus the stupid paywalls? Count me in!

 

[Galdred]

Card Hunter minus the stupid paywalls? Count me in!

Yes! Cardhunter was a great game, but having to pay monthly for such a game (to avoid having 50% of your useful loot), and having to grind the months you paid was really obnoxious.
Also, it took them age to fix broken cards, and it is hard not to think it was because they wanted people to try really hard to get them (I still remember Vibrant Pain after 7 years or so...).

But CH had good multi. It is a shame this one doesn't (but I guess it would have stupid paywall if it did...).

 

[J1M]

Card Hunter minus the stupid paywalls? Count me in!

Yeah, unfortunately this one does the "choose your own difficulty" design that is so common today. But I hope it sells well so they can design a campaign and hire a narrator.

 

[J1M]

Ended up playing this over 20 hours. Definitely worth a look. Has better systems design than the vast majority of games released these days.

 

[Kaivokz]

Fun with repeat result -> metamorphosis. If you repeat result+ on both of your allies, they can play their full hand, then metamorphose on the alchemist and everyone on the field gets a 5 card hand at -2 willpower cost on each card. Playing an endless round now to see how far I can get.

 

[Kaivokz]

More fun with endless mode:

Spoiler

 

[Dickie]

Yeah, endless mode, with tons of legendary items really lets you start racking up huge amounts of damage. I think 234 was the highest I got.

 

[Kaivokz]

Dickie how far did you end up going in endless? I’m to the point where I’m fighting 6 bosses at a time with ~12 legendary gems sitting in my inventory. Trying to decide if I should attune more cards or keep my decks as they are. Also have over 70 undistributed level ups haha.

 

[Dickie]

Dickie how far did you end up going in endless? I’m to the point where I’m fighting 6 bosses at a time with ~12 legendary gems sitting in my inventory. Trying to decide if I should attune more cards or keep my decks as they are. Also have over 70 undistributed level ups haha.

I don't even think I got that far. This was a few months ago. If I recall, 5 of those spine beast bosses wiped my ass out with their rapid-fire bullshit. I was on Cataclysm 8, so it was pretty rough. My warrior had legendaries and powers that let her stack up defense really high, so shield bash was dealing insane amounts of damage.

I never tried endless again because it got kind of boring after everybody had legendaries in almost every slot.

 

[Kaivokz]

I never tried endless again because it got kind of boring after everybody had legendaries in almost every slot.

Yeah, this is my first endless run (and last I'm sure), but it has remained engaging enough fighting 6 of the stronger bosses at once. I've now collected every legendary my characters have access to and so the legendary item is offering me epics, haha. I will probably just get my guys killed intentionally at this point so I can end the save.

 

[Dickie]

I will probably just get my guys killed intentionally at this point so I can end the save.

Yeah, I was just hoping to die by the end, so I could get my score on the leaderboards.

 

[Kaivokz]

Yeah, I was just hoping to die by the end, so I could get my score on the leaderboards.

I ended up #15 so I guess I should have played a little longer!

 

[VonMiskov]

Bought it for my wife because she's into card battlers. Played a little and it hooked me for a few hours, unfortunately I don't have time for it right now. Seems like a good game in the long run.

 

[jac8awol]

This game is gooooood. Satisfying combat. Kept me hooked for a good few days. Hope they release more of those mini campaigns because I can't play stuff without an objective.

 

[Infinitron]

Released on GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/trials_of_fire?as=1649904300

 

[Lacrymas]

I just saw this on GOG and thought it looked pretty good, like Gloomhaven with less of a budget. Does this game feature a campaign? I.e. does it have an end?

 

[jac8awol]

I just saw this on GOG and thought it looked pretty good, like Gloomhaven with less of a budget. Does this game feature a campaign? I.e. does it have an end?

It's good, seriously. It has these little mini campaigns, I think 4 or 5 of them. They vary in length from about an hour to 3 perhaps. I am the kind of person that needs a story in a game, procedural stuff holds little interest for me. But these campaigns are quite focused, and you'll need a bunch of attempts to get through each one. The card and character unlocks that you earn as you play will help each successive campaign be a bit more doable. It's a very addictive formula, I think you'll enjoy it.