“Voice Of Cards” Review
“Voice Of Cards” is a card based RPG developed by Square Enix. It’s developed by Alim. A developer who has previously worked on Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Alim is a company made up of Square Enix developers, who worked on things like Drakengard and it’s massively successful hit series NieR. Nier Replicant being a personal favourite of mine and Yoko Taro being, in my opinion, a modern gaming genius.
Plot
The plot for Voice OF Cards is, in typical Taro fashion, simple and complex at the same time. A dragon that spells doom for the world has shown itself again. You play as a young mercenary hero who goes on a quest like so many others to kill the dragon at the Queen’s request. Meeting people along the way. Some massively affected by the dragon’s presence some not so much. The world opens up and seems to become almost real with real morally questionable people in it. Including a woman doing a good impression of Mrs. Lovett from Sweeny Todd.
Gameplay
Gameplay for Voice Of Cards is simple but effective. On paper it sounds like it’d never work. But it totally does. You play navigating a chess like piece over boards that make up towns, forests and open areas. As you approach a card it flips over. And you can maneuverer onto that square if you like (say if it has a character on it you’d like to interact with.) It plays like any other RPG but with cards. If anything a little bit better because the combat and unique gameplay make it all that more immersive.
There is a multiplayer card game within the game that can be unlocked and played from the main menu near the end of Chapter 1. This game is just as addictive and I often find myself playing that for hours on end but with little success, I admit I suck at it.
Traversing the world is easy as soon as a tile has been revealed you can quick jump to it making it less of a chore to walk from on place to another. The dungeons and open areas are full of hidden secrets that practically draw you in to revealing everything they have to show. Also whilst you’re travelling an “event card” may suddenly show itself. Instead of “an enemy appears” card. This event card has your character learn more about the world or make choices based on what it is. You never know if you picked the “right” or “wrong” choice as you aren’t penalised but in this world right and wrong can be interchangeable.
Review
I love this game. So much so that I have it on Switch and PS4. If I were to nit-pick any kind of issue it’s that enemy encounters are very common but that can be avoided by quick stepping and isn’t much of an issue seeing as the combat is so fun. But if you’re just trying to get from A to B it can become very very annoying. Patience is needed for Voice Of Cards. It starts slow but boy does it get good.
