Summoners Fate

10 out of 10. A perfect amalgamation of all my favorite genres. Turn based tile combat combined with epic cards in an original fantasy setting. Absolute strategic perfection. D20 Studios hit a home run with Summoners Fate! Enjoy.

Out of the many CCGs and Tactical CCGs that I have played, this has quickly become one of my favourites.

Has a very unique and well thought out resource system, with cards played go to discard and discard only being recoverable at campfires with certain events/items.

Has very good update rate and accepting player feedback. Many of the bugs I have reported have fixed within the next patch. Including some bugs that require unreasonable play to get to that I'd expect fully released games to struggle with let alone an early access game.

This is the game I've been looking for after my disappointment with the Duelyst II title. It has everything a tactical card battler could offer and more. The game is split into 2 game modes, adventure which is a procedural generated RPG lite campaign that is rather challenging to complete (Only finished level 1 so far after 2 sessions), and battle mode that allows you to put your deck against AI challengers. To avoid going into lengthy detail over mechanics it's like Duelyst but with better balance and more though put into tactical considerations like attack directions. The Dev/'s is very responsive to critique, my issues with the game like AI movement and map size have been respectfully considered. But really give this game a shot if you are looking for one of the best card battlers on the market.

My favourite turn based tactics rouge like hands down. Good diversity in Summoner play styles and cards you can find. At first i was sceptical of the way the discard pile doesn't reshuffle until you rest, but once you get familiar with the mechanic I feel it's one of the strengths of the game. (Tip: don't be afraid to play your cards you'll find more! and avoid fighting summoners until you've found some cards and an ally or two).

If you enjoy turn based tactics games I highly recommend Summoners Fate. It's fantastic.

While this game's art style might be a bit off-putting at first glance, Summoner's Fate is a tactical gem. It's a deck-building roguelike adventure card-battler - you've seen a few of those floating around, I'm sure - but there's a surprising amount of depth to be found in every little interaction of the game. The balance of the game is fairly tight, and the developer is engaged with the community and constantly making changes based on community feedback.

The heart of the game is straightforward: you play in Adventure Mode, earn cards over the course of the game, and unlock them for future playthroughs. It's a simple formula, but there's lots of little tweaks to it. You can only have a deck with a size of 20 cards or less, and you *definitely* want to have 20 cards in it because once your deck is empty, it's empty until you can rest. But over the course of each adventure, you'll find more cards than you can fit in your deck, so there's this process of constantly adapting your build based on new things you've found, or new allies that have joined your team.

Combat occurs on a tactical grid, emphasis on tactical. The battlefields are generally pretty small, and the terrain can make combat tight or constrained. There's tons of terrain pieces that you can interact with in various ways, such as by pushing or pulling enemies, or breaking explosive barrels or toxic plants to create a chain reaction of harmful effects. Each individual battle tends to go by quickly... except for boss battles, some of which test your build's capacity to its very limits.

There's an arena mode of sorts for testing out new deck ideas as well, and multiplayer is in the works. Overall, I'd say it's an engaging experience. I didn't think I'd love it so much, but it's quickly become one of my favorite games for filling in a spare hour or two. It's easy to pick up, run an adventure map or a few battles, then put back down and come back to the next day. And if you want to go on a long, sprawling adventure... Well, you definitely can.

Overall, I recommend the game. It's not going to wow you with its story, and its graphics are the sort that grow on you rather than immediately enrapturing you, but the gameplay is tight, neat, and mentally stimulating. It can be very challenging at higher difficulties, or it can be a relatively relaxing experience on the easiest difficulty. If you like deck builders or tactical grid combat, this game is something you should give a whirl.

And, hey - if you're not sure if you'll like it, just try the demo! That's what I did before I sunk a bunch of hours into the game.

This game has improved so much in only a few months, Other devs of early access games need to have the level of competency these devs have. I'm very excited for the full release and the potential future of this game!

This is an excellent blend of tabletop playing and card strategy. As a long time Table top gamer I was pleasantly surprised that this game scratched my gaming itch so well. The only thing that is missing is the ability to create your own summoner. Of all the role-playing elements that is the one that feels like it is missing from this game. Regardless I highly recommend this fun game. Perhaps developers will add character creation to the mix at a later time.

A smooth combination of deck building and strategy make each play-through a new experience. Each new run is an opportunity to unlock more cards, and amass a collection of cards. The variety of summoners support different strategies and can be adjusted on the fly. This game may have simple mechanics, however is very deep with strategy and provide hundreds of hours of replay-ability.

I really enjoy this game. There is enough depth without it being tedious with too much to remember. I like the artwork. The amount of content is great! I just "followed" you (the developer), and hope you have great success when this launches in May, and I already purchased it and am through two chapters with the druid character. I also like the artwork, and the slightly humorous without being overkill story. For instance, I sang at the goblins' birthday party and paid 100 gold to get the goblin a gift, and I like flinging the flying squirrel at the enemies. I also love that I am able to play it with my mouse (I hate WASD as that is not a natural position for my hand (I like arrows, mouse, and controller), and that's coming from a left-handed (mostly ambidexterous, but slightly more left-handed person). So thank you for no WASD! Best wishes.

Lots of depth of unlockables that lead to impressively varied builds. The AI is not bargain-basement stupid, either. It provides a real challenge, which is refreshing in this genre. The map quick-travel is a surprisingly nice touch, it's just a great little quality of life touch.

Overall, a really smart game with loads of repeatability that also respects the player's time.

Super fun card builder, this is the first turnbased rpg that I've seen that allows you to rewind. Sure this makes it easy to undo a mistake (unless its death), but it also allows the play to experiment with tactics and combos.

Yeah it is good!
This is how roguelikes , generated adventures are made right.
Well baked gameplay
Lots to do, Lots to encounter, Lots to customize and think
400 cards!!! Way to go devs!
and super fun moments, great strategic possibilities, and all with each adventure being a simple gameplay loop,
but unique every time and randomly generated!
Well worth the money and time!

edit: the developer reply has some useful points, but the random generation of the map tiles need to be improved a lot. Games having random generation lives or dies by how well the random generation is balanced.

REALLY AWFUL BALANCING of each play-type/heroes.
Feels like not even early access, with some you can steam roll the game , with some you will get over taken in the first mini level.
ALSO the procedural generation is GARBAGE, the map generation sometimes softlocks you by covering the nearby tiles with very high level bosses at the beginning level.

Difficulty needs to be very fine tuned, so that it doesn't feel too overpowered or too weak.

As I get older, the only proper way for me to judge whether a game is good or not is to find out how many skeletons you can summon in it. A lot. The answer is a lot. If you optimize, it can be 8 from skeletal legion (4 mana), 2 from skeleton warriors (1 mana), 1-3 from that 0 cost skeleton spell (unlikely to have more than 1-2 copies of it at the same time in the adventure mode though) and 1-2 more if you have necromancers as your guardians, that's all in a single turn. If you look at the screenshots, you can see the size of a typical battlefield, so yeah, you can almost drown a map in skeletons in one turn. And there's a great variety of skeletons out there as well: regular, shielded, archers, captains that give +1/+1 to all other skeletons you control, skeletal dragons, grim reaper ones that fly and drain life, skeleton dogs, necromancer skeletons that summon more skeletons... (I think I forgot some more too, there's a good variety of skeleton mini-bosses as well)

Easy recommend for skeleton enjoyers, and I can't wait to spam skeletons in multiplayer when it comes out.

It's fun, challenging, and with a ton of achievements/collectibles. That said, I'm finding myself bored; it's a lot of the same over and over. I think it may just be me; I may not be able to enjoy games as much anymore.

Overall, game feels well made and infused with love. Plays exactly how you'd expect from the demos and LPs.

An utter gem in the flood of deck-building games. This developer has put a lot of thought into his design decisions, and the result is a refined, strategically deep game that is well worth full price, despite what some other reviews say.

I thought I would hate the "cards are finite" system of resting to restore your deck, but it's great! It's also offset by a few things: first of all, you usually win at least one card from each battle. Second, there are passive summoner abilities and consumable items that restore cards between battles. Third, you have a party of units with their own attacks and abilities to utilize in lieu of expending cards. Fourth, the resources needed to rest are plentiful even when you DO burn a lot of cards in a tough fight. Every card played feels like a commitment, but it never feels oppressive and actually adds new tactical considerations. If you're reading this and, like me, you're hesitant because of that system, try it! You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Card balance and value is also the best I've seen in any deck-builder short of Slay the Spire or Monster Train, thanks mainly to the lack of (apparent) card rarities. Without going into too much detail, suffice to say the system works very well, and there's no power creep: every card feels useful in some way, and there's a lot of room for synergies. I also like the unit-heavy selection of cards, which speaks to my inner pet class.

If you're into deck-builders at all, and you want to support a top-notch card game dev, you owe it to yourself to try this one out!

Good game, I enjoy, had a few deaths that upset me, but i could see every time why I had died. knowing why i lost helps a lot in not retaining any harsh feelings outside the initial shock and few games intuitively communicate that. This one does if you pay attention

I don't enjoy difficult games but so far I'm 4 hours in (plus 3.5 into the demo) and loving this. The maps are fun and interesting and you can tell the developer has put a lot of effort into scattering unique and enjoyable encounters throughout. The AI provides a challenge but isn't too brutal (so far) and if you do stumble onto difficult battles it is easy to withdraw, go explore some more and return when you're stronger. The art work is gorgeous and I absolutely love all of the units, lots of fun and unique abilities. It is also super easy to pick up and put down - it saves constantly and you never lose anything if you need to quit in a rush. Really good value game with lots to offer.

The game is fun I recommend it.
It is strategic, but doesn't get overwhelming with how many choices you have or how many things you need to keep track of.
Each fight is a fun little puzzle because positioning matters a bit and order matters a bit and you have spells with fun movement or control abilities.
There are 12 different heroes to choose from and each has some special traits to make it unique, plus different spell schools that they find cards from.
A session is long enough that you get attached and make progress and feel like you earned your win, but not so long that you feel like you are slogging through it at the end.
A good balance of fast, fun, clever options.
It has unlocks, but not in a way that makes you stronger like some metaprogress systems. Just more options for heroes and cards, just enough to make it feel like progress over time.

This game is a unique spin on familiar features from various genres and it is a triumph! I am impressed by how well the game mechanics are designed and balanced. Game is accessible but does not insult your intelligence. In Advanced difficulty, the challenge is perfect. I love how every decision feels so impactful. You can't just spam everything you have on the easy fights because of how the cards only cycle when you camp, a limited resource per adventure. The interface and QOL features are excellent as well.

Genuinely enjoy this game. Met the creator and played with him, but was sold on it prior to doing that. Literally was walking by in a game store and saw somebody playing this and asked them about it, and he came up and introduced himself and logged me into the tutorial...afterwards we chatted and a played a bit more, and i bought it right after that!

It was fun up until a wizard mind controls one of my guardians and has me cornered with taunt and life steal as a result. Put an effing cooldown on mindcontrol, absolute bullshit that it lasts the whole combat on something as powerful as a guardian.

Edit: Look, I was a little testy after the above incident, the game is solid, it definitely scratches an itch for this type of game. There's just some annoying mechanics that pop up when you are least expecting them. As the Dev response points out, there are counters, just pays to have a few up your sleeve at all times.

Neat little mash up that defintley comes across as a passion project with an eye towards improvements and ongoing updates from the Dev. Certainly quite unique mix of game genres and at the 20ish price point I can recommend. If on sale even better! Highly suggest fans of deckbuilders and tactic table top games check the free demo out.

A great and fun game! Clearly is in early stages and has a few bugs but nothing that's game breaking.

The gameplay is very easy and intuitive, the characters are fun, the abilities are interesting and you keep unlocking new stuff and finding new combos everytime you play.

Very interesting combination of resource management, tile-based tactics, and deckbuilding!

This is a good game with a lot of good ideas and replayability. That being said, it has some frustating RNG in the boss/mini-boss fights.

The mini-bosses/bosses in this game are called "summoners" and they can play the same cards that are available to players. However, you have almost *no* ability to predict what they're going to do.

Even if you know what sorts of cards they have, the fact that they have a deck of 20 cards and draw 3 every turn means that there's still *way* too much variance. Summoned cards don't have summoning sickness and can attack and move in the same turn they are summoned.

It's almost *impossible* to play around all the possibilities even when you know their whole deck. The enemy summoner could have a mind-control spell, or a move-6 assassin, or a giant AOE. Half the time against these bosses I'm just *hoping* they don't have a certain card, and just going "oh well - guess I'll retreat and try again"

Devs: please turn on a mode where you can see the enemy summoner's cards, so you have some way of counterplay. Many other roguelikes are balanced around this information asymmetry (see slay the spire, or into the breach).

I understand it makes the game easier, so maybe it can come with a score penalty. But letting the player feel "smart" is part of what makes PvE tactics games fun for me.

I was lured to this indie game, like most, by splattercat. Looked fun, good concept, even though I'm not a huge fan of card games. However, it's just absolute bullshit RNG at the best of times. The enemy summoners have unlimited cards and the worst gimmicks to absolutely frustrate you, such as one with six or so Cats of Nine that respawn every time you kill them. On their turn, they hit one of your guys, die to the counterattack, respawn and get to attack again, until everything you have is dead. And that's just one of the ways the devs enjoy screwing over their playerbase. If I wasn't so stubborn, I would've refunded it.

I always say when I leave a positive review like this, just look at the screenshots and watch a little video (maybe the "live" broadcast) and you'll know pretty quickly whether this game interests you or not. It's impossible to recommend something that is based on personal tastes.

I knew immediately I'd like it and I do love the game.

As I write this, it's on version 1.0, and the content is relatively limited (emphasis on relatively). It's procedural, but it's not purely random, it's more curated than that, so there will be a finite number of times you can play the game before you are ready to move on.

But there are like 20 classes and of course a lot of cards. A few biomes. So you should be able to get replay value pretty easily.

I will say the game can be hard at first. And you can have bad luck right off the bat while you are new/bad at the game, so that can feel pretty hopeless. I recommend playing either with 3 do-overs or maybe even 9 the first time or two.

The most important thing to remember as a new player is that you can always flee for "free". You can explore most of the map this way, and try to do the "easy" fights first then save the other bigger ones for when you are stronger AND well-rested.

The most important thing is to run around the board looking for either gold or dice to obtain your first Guardian. [Or possibly a Loyal companion, that also works at the beginning.] Also it's generally good to find at least one Camp. It can be very difficult to win with only a 3 card deck and no Camp.

Likewise, if you don't know where else you are going, try to head to that first silver key and find a chest/treasure room. If the map is bad just restart and try a new map.

I played the first few times with the Druid and figured it didn't matter much, but with no unlocked cards and no experience I found her to be quite difficult to win with. Later, she's perfectly fine, but she was a bit tough to learn with.

The first time I completed the game was with the Summoner who I found to be extremely easy as their ability is very powerful. I mention this because the Summoner is very easy to unlock. My recommendation is at least keep trying until you find a Class that clicks for you.

And like all roguelites, even when you fail you unlock something, so it doesn't have to all be frustration initially. I'd estimate that I was frustrated for about an hour at most, then after that the learning curve got better and I had better luck, as well.

One playstyle that I found to be good was to play with 3 lives and then play like there's no tomorrow until you've lost 2 of them. Maximize risk/reward in the first areas, and if you fail you can just restart the whole game. This might cost you 15 minutes of "work" but then you'll either restart or be set up for success.

Once you get much better, of course you'll likely want to try the maximum difficulty.

Finally, try the Battle mode right away if you want to learn. It's a quick fight and is a much more direct way (and faster) to learn the game mechanics or a new Class than by failing or experimenting in the middle of a full Adventure.

The biggest thing I'd like to see is the Battle mode expanded to an Endless mode of some sort. That's usually the ultimate goal after "mastering" a game like this, is some kind of mode that pushes you to a point of failure no matter how good you are, and you can try to record your personal best, or even chase a leaderboard.

Way too overpriced

Good for a little while (when you discover stuff) a few good ideas thrown here, but gets boring after a few runs. RNG fest with what cards you get, what cards you draw, what enemies you encounter, which range from easy to downright frustrating or impossible depending on your setups.

Runs are too damn long (count 2-3h for a single run, while skipping most fight animations)

The discard mechanic (which is preeetty important) is never explained in the tutorial, but is menitioned in the *lore* that you might get if you're searching for it. And not even in the first few notes you find, which means if like me, you read a little of it and then skip because it's boring, well, too bad because you will never know of it. And seriously, 1 mana for 2 cards discarded ? That's too low of a reward considering card management is an important part !!

Unlocks are a grind fest, but I admit there's a great diversity of characters, some of them with a distinct enough gameplay to make it interesting. Too bad I won't discover them because the rest of the package makes it so miserable :(

Oh, and did I mention the few bugs here and there when you go too fast ? Like skipping your turn when you try to skip opponents turn, game freezing requiring you to restart it ...

This game is so fun! Simple fight mechanics belie a game that has a lot of depth and satisfying gameplay. With the cards and deck manipulation, combined with the unpredictability of encounters, you're often going to have to think on your feet to survive encounters.

This game is amazing. The heroes, elements and cards are balanced and synergistic. Great cast of player characters. Fun game modes, with cross platform multiplayer in beta. Also the developer is very active and helpful, especially on discord.

The last part especially made me convince friends to start playing as well.

This is one of those games that makes me wish I could give a neutral review, because it's not bad...but at the end of the day I do not recommend it. It's surprisingly well polished in many ways, with lots of 'quality of life' ideas that I wish other games like it featured. It's clear the dev puts a lot of thought and love into this, and I'll definitely put in another 5-10 hours of exploring, so I'm not gonna request a refund. But there's absolutely no depth here...

Not every game has to be Slay the Spire or Monster Train, but if you're asking $30 for a roguelite deckbuilder, I'd like to be able to put 100+ hours into it. I'd like to be able to explore complex strategies and subtle interactions between cards. That does not exist here. I'm usually suspicious of the people who cry RNG on every negative review, but this game really does suffer serious RNG issues. I've been through three boss fights so far and they've all been trivial because I drew strong crowd control early and just cleared the board. I've been more challenged by random Elite summoners I encounter, and that is again mostly coming down to what cards do I draw early. There is some rock/paper/scissors type challenge where your deck will naturally be strong against some foes, and weak against others, but it mostly just means the enemies you're weak against take longer to kill.

So. Whatever. If that was all there was to it I'd probably give the game a thumbs up. But the more you play, the more annoying pain points pop up. I've encountered many battles where the actual challenge is provided by literally what terrain you walk into. In the sense that if you approach from the north your melee guy may randomly be pinned in an awkward spot and unable to participate...but if you approach from the west then it's over in two turns. Sometimes you don't even have to approach from a different side, just two tiles over on the same side. And that's the difference between a challenging fight and a cakewalk.

The worst part of the game is the AI though. I could make this an enormous paragraph, but I'll just tell you about the time an enemy summoner cast a firewall in turn X. He did some damage, made my life a little annoying, not bad. Then turn X+1, for no reason whatsoever, he summoned a cheap creature INTO his own firewall, where it took needless damage which caused it to die to my counterattack. Then on turn X+2, he did the exact same thing, but this time he summoned an expensive unit with a FIRE VULNERABILITY DIRECTLY INTO THE FIREWALL?! It's the worst AI I've seen in a looooong time. I dunno. There's a lot of good ideas here, and a lot of hard work, but it's marred by some serious problems too.

Great game.

Depending on the kind of player you are - you can probably find 15-20 good hours in this game at baseline and then find many more if you are the kind of player that wants to experiment with different ways of building out deck types and runs.

Battles in this game are difficult but all very solvable if you are willing to retool your deck and re-strategize. There is a ton of player agency and control in this game and any runs that you lose were a mistake in execution or scouting on your part as the player.

The runs are made up of 3 acts that take about an hour each to complete. This is neither good nor bad by itself, but it did feel like the runs were a bit longer than I personally would have liked. I like to start a finish a run in one sitting and that is quite challenging with the current campaign length.

The balance of cards is really great in the game and the game is very well-polished with no bugs in my time playing it.

Finally - the developer for this game deserves a special call out for being very active in the community and really wanting to build an experience that his current players advocate for. In a time where major development studios are atrocities - supporting developers like this is a pleasure.

Oh this is a freakin' gem!

Have you enjoyed other deck-building card-battling turn-based adventure rogue-lites such as . . . . Trials of Fire, Banners of Ruin, Roguebook, Griftlands? How about Renowned Explorers, Trials of Fire? Or other games that combine card play with monsters on a board, like Faeria and Duelyst? Then you will very likely enjoy this too.

Core Gameplay

Within the 'adventure' mode, you pick a summoner from a choice of initially 6 or so, but up to 18 following unlocks, and start with just 3 cards (of your choice). You progress through 3 'acts' within unique biomes (dungeon, forest etc). As you explore the biome, you will encounter some easier battles, some harder battles, along with campsites for resting and treasure for looting, shops for buying cards, and mercenaries for hiring. There are a few light role-play elements, like encountering a monster under attack and deciding which side to assist.

Along the way you can pick up Guardian units that stay within you between battles, and loyal units that do the same, but only until they are defeated once.

Part of the challenge is to pick which fights to take on first. Some battles are very quick and simple whilst others, against Summoners with powers the same as yours, can become fairly epic.

Within the battles, you draw card and mana income each turn. You may play some cards - units, spells or equipment - and units that you play to the board have a move and action each turn. The action on the board is bit like a simplified, fantasy XCom on a 2D field, with a lot of positioning and specials to use and counter.

Why so good?

The Summoner vs Summoner battles can provide some really excellent to and fro tactical challenges. I have read them described as something like a mashup of Magic The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, which feels right. They are also relatively bite-sized, rarely running longer than about 5 minutes, with minimal inactive time. One really cool feature is that whilst you move one unit at a time during your turn, the AI turns more or less move everything at the same time (but still observing the same rules that apply to you)

At time of writing, shortly after release, there is a very broad range of different Summoners to play with, with very distinct special abilities that drive very different approaches e.g., melee, ranged damage, support.

There is also a broad range of units and unit powers, many of which just feel novel and exciting to play with and try out, giving you a 'oh cool, lets see what I can do with this' feeling. For example, one unit applies a debuff that sends units into the future, effectively removing them from the board for a turn. This can get a bit wacky, but gosh, it just works.

Caveats?

Videos of the gameplay appear to show a lot of just walking around and breaking open crates. This is present, and honestly, when you play, might simply offer a welcome bit of enforced "downtime" between the mental challenge of the crunchy battles. It also might drag a bit over time, and may well be changed within future changes.

The interface for deck building is a little clunky, with only a half-down (or so) cards visible at any time, out of a collection of 400. There are sorting and filter functions, but it could be better if more cards were selectable on screen at a time too. Not a big deal, quality of life.

This game is simply STELLAR!!! I saw it on Retromation's channel and it is right up my alley. The fourth wall break with the characters looking to you for guidance is genius. As well, the overall humor of the game is perfect. The animations are great, the card choices add depth, and the music is perfect. Only thing I'd say is a bit more on the tutorials is needed at times. In camp I didn't understand "selecting" my guardians would actually pull them out of my current run until the next campsite.
Otherwise ti's a AMAZING game!!!

A fun and satisfying tactical turn-based game. Great variety of decks, cards and heroes, but the world exploration gets a little tedious after a while. Neither mode - adventure or battle - has all that much meat on its bones, but the combat is quite good. I recommend getting this during a sale.

I did not expect to have so much fun with this title. Generally modest at first glance, if you give it a chance it will impress you with a level of detail in the interactions and overall design, which is only amplified further by the fact that it was conceived, created and driven forward for many years, mostly by one person.

Ross' energy, enthusiasm and love for the game, and his dedication and respect for its community, has allowed him to come a long way culminating in the release of a game, which is remarkably stable and polished, taking into account the limited human resources involved. The game also feels quite original to me, even though it combines some well-known mechanics. It's just the way it's presented invites curiosity in exploration, and thrill in battles. Furthermore, you don't often come across such a game studio, which is so inclusive to players. You are given multiple convenient ways to voice your feedback, report issues and most importantly - share thoughts and ideas about the game's design, its various elements and mechanisms. Having players involved in the shaping, as well as evolution of this game has been cited as a key part of the studio's strategy. I think this 'player-driven' concept has historically proven quite productive, and quite frankly is just really cool!

Speaking of battles, I love how they are designed. Perhaps this is what I love most about the game. The deceptively simple outlook is quickly dispelled by the depth and variety of interactions. Add in the ability to re-wind at any time up until the start of your turn, and you are given the opportunity to discover the most satisfying way to finish off the opponents. The variety of enemies, cards and creatures, as well as interactive objects on the battle map ensure that you have some solid replay value. It can also be a 'puzzle' if you want it to!

I will conclude with the part that excites me the most - I do believe this game has been designed to be easy to scale up, by adding extra summoners(characters), cards, biomes, map interactions and even combat mechanics. Seems to be a lot of space for that, even when accounting for the exponentially increasing difficulty of balancing. I'm looking forward to come back to the game after a while, and have a lot of new content to have fun with and new stuff to explore.

But enough reading reviews - just go and check out the demo for yourself!

There is lot to like in ABALON. As an avid gamer who has lots of other interests, it can be a challenge to start a new title that demands a steep learning curve, or needs constant play in order to enjoy success and a sense of accomplishment. Not here.
The tutorial is excellent, and actually can lull a newbie into thinking there is not a lot of depth to the game. It's all pretty straightforward: explore, strengthen, do battle, win the level, repeat on a 2nd and finally 3rd level, and the Adventure has been WON. But wow, there is a lot of subtlety to this very accessible, fun game.
In a way, it reminds me of my favorite VR game: DEMEO, another rogue-like, tactical combat fantasy-themed title where you must fight through 3 levels to complete an Adventure. One of the great advantages in both is that you either Win or Lose, but it's over in 4 hours or so. Replayability is great, not only because you can select a different lead character, called the SUMMONER, for each Adventure, but there will be different cards (which become Spells you cast for effects and to bring new Allys to the board for your cause), different encounters, different enemys. But also, the game smartly keeps track of your SCORE at the end of the adventure, so that you can see how you stacked-up but on an immense Global scale, but also against your own previous Adventures. I've completed 4 and it's interesting to see how they ranked.
Another helpful feature is the ability to play at 3 different Difficulty Levels. I have found I'm just not really good at this game (whereas I am pretty competent in some titles that would be considered a higher pay-grade; CIV series, Master of Magic, HMM3, Fantasy General). Choosing Novice gives more forgiveness in losing battles, which WILL happen as the enemys are not pushovers. In exchange, completing a novice adventure yields a lower scoring modifier, so as I continue to improve, I'll challenge myself to improve final numbers by playing at a higher level, or winning battles more efficiently (at the end of EACH battle, you are given a score based on some assessment of how well you won that room}.
Finally, and this is big: the game designer Ross seems extra-ordinary. He is constantly answering queries from players who have posted in the Discussions, is very well-written in describing what he designed and improvements he hopes to implement in the future. Updates occur regularly and with detail info. The game is clearly a Labor of Love. For that alone I'm glad I supported it with my one single purchase. If you are looking for a fun game that can be enjoyed for hours in one sitting, or just 20 minutes to do some exploring, that is challenging but never over-whelming, then I highly recommend Abalon.

Okay so I've just hit 30 hours played. And that's real playtime for the most part. Do I recommend it? You betcha!

Here's this week for me: I bought Abalon last weekend thinking I just needed something to tide me over until the Beta for WH40K: Rogue Trader started. I bought Abalon after playing the Druid in the Demo and enjoying it WAY more than I thought I would. Fast forward to yesterday and I played an hour of the Rogue Trader Beta and then turned it off to get back into Abalon!

Why does this game resonate with me? 25 years ago I was playing competitive paper MTG, and games like DnD and Mage Knight miniatures. On PC gaming, I've played so many turn-based tactics games in various forms over the years, and usually it takes time to get going in those (Pathfinders, Baldur's Gates, Pillars of Eternities, Divinity Original Sins, etc - agonise over a large number of choices for your main char and/or party members, or there is some base-building or resource management thing that takes a fair chunk of your time like XCOMs, 4x's, etc). Which means when you get eventually get the ball rolling it's a blast, but UNTIL then...your mileage may vary.

The immediacy of an MTG duel, or a Mage Knight miniatures battle is something I've always loved. But with persistency and progression.

Abalon has those qualities. It's immediate and fast. Pick a char, pick two or three cards as a loadout and GO! It reminded me a lot of games like Slay the Spire, ToME, Monster Train etc.

And when you get going there's a lovely game loop of exploring areas, scouting, retreating, buying or finding new spells and monsters to command, or recruiting Guardians or loyal followers. You build up power within just a few minutes of playing and can really sink your teeth into the tactics battles which can take from 2 minutes to 20 on average to beat.

So while an Adventure run COULD last 3 hours, it doesn't have to. And it isn't like I'm gonna be 5 hours in and still feel weak and alone as a level 3 adventurer.

THEN we get to the meta-progression, which is awesome. Always something new to unlock. New Summoners to play as, or new cards to use from the get-go.

The graphics were a turn-off for me years ago when I tried the demo of Summoner's Fate. I'm not sure about back then, but I didn't know you could turn off the "looking up" feature, and that irked me. A shame, because I might have enjoyed this game like I do now, sooner.

The price of this game is a sticking point. I almost NEVER pay more than 20 bucks for a PC game unless I know it's gonna be perfect for me (and I've refunded many times when I've made that mistake). In a world where 5 bucks gets you hours and hours of fun with the likes of Vampire Survivors, it's tough to see 30 dollars (25-ish pounds) and feel like you're gonna get value no matter what, even if you enjoyed the demo. I paid full price and I've had my 30 hours of play value, and I'll have many more.

Just do what I did. Grab the demo and give it a fair shake. Try to beat the first boss with your Druid. By then you'll know whether the game is worth the money. What I would say is that if you can get this for a decent amount off in a sale, it's a no-brainer! Get it, enjoy it, because it really IS that good.

This is such a wonderful game! There are a million turn-based tactics games out there, but this one brings some novel ideas to the table that makes the combat fresh and engaging to play. It's well-made, charming and juicy, and I'm very impressed with the amount of content it has for being from a solo dev. Worth the money!

It's a fun roguelike deckbuilder game and I'd put it at the top with the other greats; a must buy. I played on hardcore mode and would suggest the same as the other difficulties sound way too easy and could ruin your experience.

This game earned space in my favourites folder. Perfect blend of tactical game and card battler. Plethora of heroes to choose from and all of them play differently. Do you want to play as a demon king with hordes of said demons? No problem! Perhaps an angel that controls the battlefield? Sure! Or insectoid who kills with 1000 cuts? Yep it is available.

3 levels of diffculty allow novice players to enjoy the game and vetrans to challange themself. Also bad RNG in card drops is mitigated via camp system where you can tailor your deck to your needs but you can't do it infinetly.

100% recommend this title.

Saying this game is a combination of Zelda meets MTG does NOT do this game justice! I've played a TON of Rogue Like Deck Building games, and this one is easily my favorite! This game doesn't have a "standout feature" or is even particularly innovative but it managers to capture the FEELING of everything I've ever wanted in a game like this. Basically the joy of opening new booster packs and discovering new cards to add to my deck in addition to the simply joy of exploration and upgrading ala Zelda. Each card feels special in it's own way and the "guardians" you find and hire all feel VERY important yet if you lose one you don't feel like the game is over! It's utterly charming and completing intoxicating and I PRAY TO GOD they release more content in the future! For now, I won't be buying any more Rogue Like Deck Builders again.

Good game, but I'm sill not sure it's worth the price.
The dev seems like a nice person, who's put a ton of work into the game, and I get that there are insane amounts of cards and monsters. But I have a few frustrations with the game. For one, your hero is complete garbage. Many enemies can kill you in a couple hits, and some in a single. Also, many enemies get to have a counterattack, even when you kill them. So you get the killing blow, but they get to hit you, and if youre low in health -- you're dead. The elites with magic will just pick your guy off form a distant in two to three hits, and there's nothing you can do, because no cards with protection came up. Unfortunately you can't level them up in anyway -- other than just finding more cards. The cards as well can't be leveled up at all, and it's the opposite of something like slay -- where you want to minimize your deck. In this, you want to get as many cards as you can -- because you can only use them once, (until you rest at a bonfire which is limited). So making a certain build isnt really that easy. Also the random level design can screw you if you get one that dumps super hard enemies in everyroom, and no way to get more cards or allies. I've had a few where I just had to start over because I knew I wouldn't be able to progress. Your guys also can't pass by one another, so sometime your dude gets stuck in a corner, and is unable to spawn more help.
Don't get me worn, I really enjoy this game, there's really fun designs, and the gameplay loop is satisfying. it just lacks the feeling of progression like other rouge games have. I'm always unlocking more cards, but they start to just get lost in the bunch because it's so random, that when I see an interesting new card, I can't really plan out a way to use it in an interesting way with something else. I got the game on sale for 20, and I think that's a fair price for the content. Also, play on the hardest setting.

Great game with some genuinely good ideas and twists. At first having to rest to reshuffle seems like it will suck, but when you play with that in mind it ends up working really well!

This is what I imagine MTG would feel/play like if there was a turn-based strategy aspect to it. It also is very snappy and responsive to play.

Absolutely horribly unbalanced game. Even the middle tier encounters on the EASIEST difficulty get massive tribal bonuses to excuse a lack of good design and AI. Don't pit the player against Rogues and Goblins that can give their entire deck +2 bonuses, seriously.

Extreme difficulty and reliance on RNG does not equal a good rogue-like or rogue-lite.

The game has a solid deckbuilder experience and a lot of characters to unlock but to me it was just not fun enough. The main mechanic of using spells is throwing them on the discard pile and only regenerating those when at a campsite, which are randomly placed around a map and are used up after restocking once.
Every single card becomes that one potion in an RPG, that you want to keep for the stronger enemy and you end up not using it which does lower the fun a lot.
Add to that a RNG based system for encounters and I have to give this a hard pass.
I enjoy deckbuilders that let me think about WHAT to play not IF I play something.
Getting a refund.

A roguelite deckbuilder that combines elements of Magic The Gathering with Strategy Rpgs, along with the promise of multiplayer and hundreds of unique, powerful, synergy creating hero units to choose from?

The potential of this game is staggering.

Of all the early access games I'm following, it may be the one I'm most excited to watch the progress of. It could become the DoTA of deckbuilders.

There are several things this game does well. The pixel art graphics are clean and crisp and a pleasure to look at (ignore the flash-game-esque advertisement graphic). Once you get used to the characters craning their necks to stare up at you (kinda odd at first) you will enjoy how emotive they can be. The playloop is really good; you will start a new game, pick a character, pick a few starting cards, then jump in there and get in a fight in minutes. You'll either find a fight you can handle and possibly hit the animation skip button to get through it quickly (one of many somewhat hidden mechanics that improve quality of life if only people knew about it), or one where you're in over your head, every decision matters, and you may need to retreat, which comes with its own advantages and risks and is a cool tactical choice. Or maybe you'll be like me, and feel challenged into defeating these nearly hopeless higher level fights before you're ready, using your smartly chosen initial cards and deep knowledge of the game mechanics.

After you die, you'll immediately want to try again with a new character or set of starting cards, knowing exactly what wrong choices you made and promising yourself not to be greedy and make the same mistakes next time! (You still will, though).

I understand what the people giving negative reviews are saying. There's a depth of mechanics, but some are really unclear and could use a better tutorial explanation, like how you can click and drag to do one kind of attack, or click, let go, then click again, to move and then have the opportunity to attack from the new location in a more traditional way. The mechanics work just fine... you just need to get used to them before you get too frustrated to continue. You eventually learn to become skilled at working within the unique constraints of this game's mechanics and the unique game play choices it makes eventually stop bothering you. The game is also really hard and you'll find yourself getting your butt kicked early on (better too hard than too easy for a deckbuilder roguelike imho).

The game truly shines once you've put enough time into it to become more familiar with the mechanics, and I think those complaints will fade away once you've gotten experience with it and further iterations of the tutorial explains things in more depth. Again, don't let the strange cell-phone-game looking advertisement graphic fool you; it's a full game, it looks good, and is quite worth the money already. New content is being released really fast, and the dev is very patient, communicative, humble, and friendly and takes suggestions from his players seriously, often adding characters and elements just because his players ask. So it's a lot of fun to be in on the early access of this!

Definitely give this game a try. If you tried it and got frustrated before, you owe it to yourself to give it some time and try it again. All of the issues are fixed or being fixed. Come hang out on the discord and ask some questions.

There's also no reason whatsoever not to try the free demo ahead of time!

For a $20 early access solo dev game? 9/10, easily.

Another addicting deckbuilder with a relatively underused twist: rather than reset the deck between encounters, the deck acts as the spells and minions used by your main character in grid based battles. Building a synergistic deck remains important but must be juggled against cards being used up between limited rest sites and consumables. Requiring line of sight for most spells, summoner abilities, and environmental effects that interact with attacks add additional layers to the combat. The game also has generous QOL features such as rolling back your actions during your turn, creating an overall streamlined package.

Pros

+ Relatively unique combination of grid based tactics and deckbuilder
+ Snappy UI and fast enemy turns
+ Strong QOL such as action resets and map teleportation
+ Plenty of synergies to experiment with
+ New content released consistently

YMMV

+- Pure RNG events. Even if additional resources are used, can still fail
+- Difficulty can vary depending on biomes and summoner choice
+- Cartoony artstyle may appeal to some but not others
+- Individual runs are very long
+- Fast content cycle can result in highly unstable content prone to crashes or bugs

Cons

- Boring achievements
- Forgettable music
- Uneven encounter difficulty which can spike out of nowhere

Verdict

For an EA game, its a fun, polished and complete experience. Looking forward to the full release. For those who aren't fans of grid based tactics or deckbuilders, might not be worth the buy.

If I could, I would give this game 5 out of 10 in the current state it is. There are bugs in the current state and unpolished fights, I just entered an area with an op army on my behalf consisting of 7 ppl, only to lose because there was absolutely no space on the battlefield and the enemy could turn your fallen comrades into Zombies when they die, so I lost because my army was too big and no strategic possibilities whatsoever. Fights are ok, but some unfair chance options which are absolutely no fun (kiss a fairy and die because the debuff kills you etc.). I expected a little more I must admit.

I've only just started playing this game but I can see myself sinking TONS of hours into it.
The combination of tactical strategy and collecting cards creates a lot of depth. Finding the cards on the map is really fun too!

I was a bit worried it was too complicated at first, but because I've played MTG, Hearthstone, and D&D before I was able to lean on that knowledge a lot to intuit how the systems were going to work.

Awesome work!

So far iam having a blast. There is certainly a lot to discover many different classes each with several possible ways to play it. Challenging fights, bosses and hundreds cards to play with and a lot i havent expirienced yet. Also what i have seen so far developers really listen to their comunity and care for their product, that means they do their maximum to bring you the best they can offer and your voice will be heard if you want to participate.

This game is really, really, -really- annoying. It's complete RNG. I've had deck builds that shouldn't really be beaten, I've maneuvered my allies so they can backstab bosses, etc. etc. I still can't get through the second level, and I really only got through the first level two times.

It's really frustrating to no end, because I think the game is really beautiful, I love the cards, the adventure element, the heroes, etc. But unless they take care of this ridiculous RNG bullcrap, I just can't go back to it. I'm not even sure if the devs read this, but if y'all do- ffs PLEASE make it so the fights are actually fair and not your damn bots wreaking havoc on a well put together party and deck.

The dev asked for a steam review if we liked his controller support update.
Booted up my save.
Immediately came to steam to write a review.

It's nice to be able to put a positive review for something! This game is absolutely amazing in so many ways. At first I wasn't so sure about it but now I've put in 80 hours almost and it's just incredible not only the gameplay the humor and the graphics but just everything about it is perfect. I absolutely have to give the graphic designer a shout out to be able to pull off a top down view like has been done here. At first I wasn't so sure about it but now I'm really impressed how smooth and beautiful the graphics are in such a challenge to do it from the angle that it's done. It's a pleasure to play and I'm looking forward to putting in more hours. You'd be making a huge mistake if you didn't get this game

Great potential but the 3 card hand really does not make this a deck builder. Too much RNG required in what cards you are dealt

Edit: Changed to positive as the devs are responsive. Great updates keep it up!

Thank you so much @RossD20Studios. I really apprieciate your feedback. Wow, that's a great quote "Thank you so much @Arkalbin . I really appreciate your feedback. Wow, that's a great quote "A rouge-like crpg that can be played in just a few hours really gets the feeling of a one shot dnd adventure" - 😍

The game while in alpha has a lot of potential and the devs have been responsive and open to new ideas (such as cards event ideas and even a new deck is being made now due to player suggestions) the game responds pretty well and its easy to run while the art may appear basic it makes the game easier to run and gives it its own style. To anyone that wants to buy the game however be aware that the game it leans more towards being silly then dark. That not to say there no darkness but that more in the lore drops you will see if youre looking for a bloody card rouge like this insist it (the druid throws squires at pepol for frick sake) on the game play side as an aside its fun in being resource management (tho personally hope there will be a mode latter with no card limit) and you being able to place a unit and that unit being able to move and attack that turn makes things both easier to play and make the game more of a complex system since the enemies spawning something on you is a much more pressing threat. all in all the game shows promise the devs are responding consistently and are open to new ideas and the game as it is right now is fun if you arint looking for a dark game and maybe something a touch more silly youre gonna have a lot of fun here. If youre still not sure if its for you try ther demo that you can try it out for free to get a sample of what its like and better yet your progress gets saved and put into youre base save if you buy the game afterwards like i did. i hope any who read this have fun and hope to see ya in the discord

This game is great to play. You can get companions on different runs and all sorts of card for your deck. It's a really fun tactical deck building rpg to play. I would recommend this to anyone who's into card games or rpgs.

Enjoyable game that runs well and allows for interesting combinations and tactics. The game runs smoothly and I have not had performance issues.
Only "bug" I've hit was when I was stressing a mechanic, but it was not game breaking. Nor did I lose any progress in that session.

Summoners Fate is something special. There is so much to praise about this game, I honestly don't know where to begin. So here goes!

First off all the sprite work! Amazing and a diverse amount of character sprites ranging from some of the classic fantasy creatures (such as orcs, goblins, and elves) to the more less-scene-amazing-creatures (such as Chimeras, Manticores, Spider Hybrids) and the list goes on and on (Skeletons, Marauders, bunnies!!!!, Ents, etc.) Basically, anything you can think of! (Oh yeah, Vampires, Elementals, Phoenix, Banshee, dragons, dwarfs, etc). This wonderful sprite work even extends to the animated cards!

So, Characters/Sprite Work - Check! How about gameplay? Wonderful! Tactic style gameplay where your summoner has deck of cards consisting of creatures, spells, equipment, and traps. Each summoner has 2 "schools of magic" they belong to determines what type of cards they can use. When playing a creature card, that creature is brought out to the battlefield and can act and fight immediately on the battle grid. After battle, however, each card you played will be put into the discard pile and can't be used again until you rest at a bonfire (or through the use of certain satchel cards). Also, at a bonfire you can modify your deck - add or remove cards you have collected as you please for a max deck size of 20 cards. But don't worry, you acquire tons of cards on your various runs from drops, shops, and other random encounters. And also marshmallows - they are used to active the bonfires.

There are various mechanics that make each school of magic/creature feel diverse and unique - many allowing for certain builds or synergy. I personally love the phoenix card (a 1 cost 2/2 creature that returns to the player's hand upon death). This is a great way to spend three mana and clear out a lot of smaller creatures - or clear out a 4/4 creature for example. There is also guard (fight through armor before HP) block (block all of one attack) taunt, hit all surrounding, ranged strikes, heal after attacking, literally so much!

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: If you like awesome sprites, fun tactical gameplay that is simple and yet has a lot of depth, and tinkering around with build/cards, you will certainly enjoy Summoners Fate!

Also, the developer, Ross, is amazing and very active in seeking out, listening to, conversing with, and actually implementing a lot of players' thoughts and ideas about how to make the game even better! (Which, if you look at the roadmap, is going to be amazing!)

I've really been enjoying this. Already a decent variety of character classes to play, interesting tactical mechanics, a lot of fun cards, good sense of humor, and I enjoy how the Lore system works in hints about what to expect further in the run.

There's easily several hours of content here already I think, so on that basis it's probably already worth the money. But for a roguelike and a deckbuilder, you want to see lots of variety from one run to the next and currently I think you'll see most of the available events and bosses within a few runs. Fortunately, the dev is shockingly collaborative in the forums and seems to deliver interesting changes weekly.

Already super fun, and it has a ton of potential plus the devs seam super passionate about the project.

I recently played this game for a spotlight video on my youtube channel ( https://youtu.be/y1g-IAEZnUw ) but here are some condensed thoughts;

Pro;
-the game works very well, i have yet to find any glitches or breaks
-the game is pretty. Art style is comprehensive and extensive
-lore pieces are well written with seemingly little to no grammatical or spelling errors and all contribute to the story
-cards are all pretty well explained
-There are some humorous bits that are well thought out

Con;
-one of the summoners I've tried seems very much in need of a balance as they are very weak early, even on lower difficulty
-there is a lack of variety in random encounters and maps (this is only a temporary con, there are plans to update this, but it is still only fair to include it here.)
-game needs some more humor if it is going that route.

Overall the game is fun and I see it going to better places. Might even do an update video in the future.

Edit cuz I cant respond to the dev comment for some reason; I think his name was Antares, but he seems to have received some changes since I played him last. Overall just seems like maybe summoners that are melee should have more health or some way to give them more survivability since you wont have many cards early.

It's a good game but needs an 'oomph' feature to give it that replayability that roguelikes have.

The cards are interesting but it is difficult to find cards that play well together, leading to a lot of gold and difficulty in creating a 'build', because it often just becomes a mix of the best statted cards. I've only found three-or-four cards that actively encourages a certain playstyle or deck-archetype, which is unfortunate because it is simply not enough to only have one, maybe two cards out of 20 that combos with others.

Something like a relic system could allow for increased variability and solve the issue (that I have) with high amounts of excess gold/dice, by giving an additional component to spend currency on.

Keep up the good work!

I love love love this game. Combines turn based tactis with deck building elements and a atmospheric DnD flair. Looking forward for what is to come - multiplayer will be crazy good for this type of game!

p.s.: Only suggestion would be if there was a way to enhance your cards in your deck, that would allow for even more customization and even more personal touch to the cards.

Loving the game already! So many different cards, summoners, guardians, and other fun surprises to unlock! I totally get why many compare it to "Magic the Gathering". Super addicting and I hope to see more from these devs!

Alongside several others, Summoners Fate is one of those rare "not like Slay the Spire" card battler roguelike/lites.

It takes place on your standard top-down adventure map, where you either click or use WASD to move your party around. You control a main wizard character who can play cards, plus a selection of non-wizard party members who attack and have traits.

In battle it plays out like a tactics game, you encounter enemies on the map and then draw cards (3 cards in a hand). Each card taps energy which regenerates over turns as well. Cards are similar to Hearthstone, ranging from direct attacks to summoning to buffing existing summoned cards. You'll also fight enemy wizards who can play their own cards in battle.

Cards have elements and deck-building revolves around building a deck of up to 2 elements. Each character has 2 elements you can pick - this all works very similar to M:TG.

Outside of battle, there are also random events. You can pick up dice which allow you to roll during certain events to influence outcomes. Dice are a finite resource that comes as loot: You can allocate as many dice as you like to an event and only 1 dice has to roll correctly for the event to be resolved. Usually there is a good (high roll), a neutral (mid roll), and a bad (low roll) outcome for each event.

In summation: M:TG and Heathstone card mechanics meet a lite D&D adventure.

Well worth the full price, and a ton of fun even during early access. They have a great foundation down, so I expect it will only get better as more mechanics are added. As it stands now, it is easy to guess that this game will stand alongside Monster Train and Griftlands as one of the best Slay The Spire-likes.

Excellent Game. Takes a little bit of practise at first. Then its fun and challenging turn based RPG card battle fights.

My only gripe is, and Ive said this before to many great games, its just not long enough and I would love a large campaign mode of 10 or even 20 maps.

I hope this game does well as its just so lovely and well done.

Super fun game combining a light turn-based tactics game with a card game like hearthstone or Magic. The game can be challenging especially in the beginning of a run when you are trying to find cards to add to your deck. I like that aspect of the game-scrounging for cards and making due with whatever you can find. Despite the difficulty, if you are deliberate and careful and read your cards and the enemy's cards you can usually find a way to get past each encounter.
The game has some fun scripted encounters and a pleasant sense of humor. The abilities of the summoners and the cards make for some fun moments. I loved it when in the tutorial mission I turned a tree into an ent and slapped a baddy across the screen into another of my units who them hit them for the kill. That was unexpected and totally awesome.
The game is in Early Access and the developer is very communicative and keen on getting feedback. I am eager for new content...can't wait to see what coming next!

This game is amazing even tho its in early access. I experienced some minor bugs but that is fine for an early access game. Gameplay is amazing, diversity in runs is well made. Only complaint that I have is that encounters are a little bit repeatable and runs are short. But still 10/10 game. Recommending it to everyone.

Fun and shows promise. A few bugs with mechanics not working properly for you (Vigil, Pierce, Vulnerability proccing early, possibly more)... but they work juuust fine for the enemy. Needs more bosses and a longer campaign with better difficulty scaling. The second chapter is too easy on intermediate difficulty.

Edit: The developer wrote me a response to my short little review that showed up in-game! Pretty neat little feature.

quite a fun game, I like how the different summoners do feel quite different from each other even though you can use all the spells on each one. it's also fun to find synergy between various spells and summons, and making use of the map and terrain can be important in some cases. You can also use the terrain to your advantage, such as knocking enemies into spikes or blowing up explosive barrels. Game is still currently in early access but has a good amount of content and the dev is putting out updates on a regular basis.

Amazing game with an equally amazing Dev. I received an in-game personal, positive response to an issue I had.
Great, deep turn-based game with a little exploring, literally hundreds of cards and many ways of developing strategies. High replayability. I'd like to see further challenges added to the game later to keep me playing, and I'm sure they will be.

Both graphic and music are pleasant, i like it. The move and attack in one action can cause mistake sometime. Also, since we can not see what the enemy summoner will do, what cards they will play, experience and luck are needed to win.

dont be fooled by the visuals or topdown view. great game that is super easy to get started and nice and challenging. great tactical combat with tons of cards/allies/enemies etc. 8/10

This is a surprisingly polished and EXCELLENT game! I highly recommend it.

You get cards from all types of things, and battles. Cards are spells or things to summon, of which there are a bunch of. You also can find up to two "guardians" which stay with you after battles and wonder around.

Your cards don't reset until you rest, which you only do once at each rest area, your deck is small, you aren't casting a million things. There is a lot of strategy here.

I'd highly highly recommend it!! I'd give this a perfect 10 so far.

Can't remember to ever have played a game so
casual, strategic and rich of variaty. Excellent game design.

Too much RNG and no or very limited ways for coming up with own strategies.

Example 1: Game started, walked into the next "room": Bandits appear and demand to gold. I don't have gold because I just started! So I say no and 1 dice roll later, I'm dead.
Example 2: Also basically right after start, I run into a single wizard with the special ability to generate 4 instead of 3 mana. After attacking I see how many great cards he actually has and lose in like 2 turns. There is zero way to make an educated guess how strong an enemy really is.

You could decide just to stay away from any elites for a while but in example 1 not even this was possible.Also, if it's not possible to defeat them at the beginning, why are those even in the starting area in first place?! It is possible to modify the starting deck but as you can only take 3 cards, it's quite pointless and doesn't change anything. During a battle you also only get 3 decks at random from your deck and you can only use them once (until you find a camp by chance to reset this), so that also seems to low to create an actual strategy. I've only put like 2.5 hours in the game but I'm quite sure it doesn't change much of what I said. The graphic is absolutely gorgeous though. But just from the strategic and deck building point, I can not recommend it for said reasons.

Very easy to get lost in this game, still buggy but its early access and the Dev is super responsive to the bugs and implementing fixes. highly recommend! 9/10

This is an excellent game that I almost passed up because of the mundane title... I could swear there are 2 or 3 games with the same name on various app stores. No matter though, this is the one that finally nails the tactical/deck management combination.

PROS

1) Each tribe (color, MTG style) has unique strategies that can be mixed with other tribes to make super unique strategies. As in MTG, the possibilities are currently limitless. Of course, there are combos and cards that are better than others; my favorite thing about new games is finding them.

2) 10 hours in, I feel I've only scratched the surface. The challenge level is very good; I've completed a novice run, but got schooled on my first advanced run.

3) There are a dozen starting characters currently, each with their own combination of magic colors; I've only tried 3 so far. There is a lot of tactical goodness to uncover here.

CONS

1) Too much superfluous clicking. There's lots of dice, health, keys and lore to be found - every map is packed, but much of it must be clicked on to be received. I think a healthy dose of automation would fix this, even if it's just an option in the settings.

2) Need more settings. Zoom level and key re-assignment are missing.

Summoner's Fate is the BEST "Magic meets tactical grid" game I have ever played! If that premise sounds interesting to you in the slightest I'd pick this game up, right now - there's also a demo!

The game has a high degree of polish already and Ross, the developer, is incredibly responsive to the community.

Pros:
-Magic on a grid
-Guardian system allows you to have up to 2 powerful pre-summoned units
-Deck customization
-Variety of Heroes and Cards
-Fully playable on any of the 3 difficulty modes
-Undo button
-There's a demo!

Cons:
-Move + Attack UI takes some getting used to
-Some random events can be very punishing if you roll poorly
-Playing this game may place the rest of your backlog on hold ;)

esty8nine and clever made me buy this...

can't say much about the game since I only watched a few hours of it on Twitch and played (and beaten the first map, on normal)

It is a mix of a grid tactical game and a deck builder, I like the way these two are mixed together. The map and the enemies are interesting and fun to fight. On this difficulty I found it quite easy, but I have played many games of both genres and there is a harder difficulty still.

It is a really well pollished game, you can tell from the start. And so far I really enjoyed it. I definetely recomend, at least, give the demo a try!

Also clever, if you read this, welcome to my "people that make me buy games I don't have time to play and will probably have to send a hired assassin for them cause it is cheaper and more time efficient" list

Played the demo a lot, curse you monday releases where I don't have time to properly enjoy a game!

Absolutely fantastic game. You play as one of 8 summoners who each have their own basic attack and a deck of up to 20 cards. Each of these cards works like a D&D spell slot in that you use them up until you rest at a campsite, so budgeting your card plays is of importance. There is also a mana system in play, similar to hearthstone and mtg, requiring further considerations for strategy. The AI is surprisingly competent and will not blunder their pieces as easily as one would expect in a grid based strategy game. It cannot graps high level complex strategies, but it can catch you off guard if you take it for granted.
You will encounter elite enemies who are also summoners and those are almost on the level of playing against another player. Its thrilling right out of the gate.
Between 8 summoners and 5 different types of spells (plus unaffiliated spells able to be used by others), the option to get allies equipped with weapons, this is a fantastic mixture between tabletop roleplaying and card based roguelikes and a refreshing change of pace from all the Slay the Spire clones.

Very Highly Recommended.

This is a pretty cool game. I like how your deck is more or less a stamina bar and your trying to get as much value out of every reshuffle. My biggest complaint about the game, and it makes it almost unplayable for me, is when the enemy gets to go first. This leads to situations where you walk into a room and instantly party wipe... just cause. Full HP? game don't care. Aside from that the maps are a little large bloating runtime. Its not like your collecting relics are going through any game changing events. 90% of improvements you get are just for the next fight so it doesn't make sense to have such large maps. Honestly regret buying it but its a cool premise and hope its shapes up later on in development.

A love letter to the 8/16-bit tactics/strategy games and the tabletop wargames that inspired them, where cards represent a unique form of energy system, since you have nothing to do but go to camp if you run out of spell-cards.
Potion-cards are very rare, but that just falls into this energy system.

Not gonna lie, they had me at "throwing Squirrel"
Lucky for me, the game is also a pretty interesting blend of tactics and Deckbuilding
Decently challenging to boot.

Very, very cool game. Tons of fun and pretty challenging. Could use more guardian variety, but other than that I am really enjoying the card/tactical rogue genre mesh here.

Update:
The dev is super involved and has fixed many things both myself, and many others, have reported. Really fun game and it just keeps improving.

Great game that puts a unique spin on the genre but needs more content.

Its addicting and fun. Slay the spire mixed with a Tactical RPG. Also you can throw squirrels at demons.

This game is really good. It was like the very first time that after trying the demo I bought the full version with no hesitation at all.
As someone noticed, there are stil some QoL issue but considering its early access state, it is a solid product that worths the money it asks.
If you are a turn based tactics and a deck building guy, this is a no brainer.

Thoroughly enjoying the game so far. Gorgeous graphics, excellent tutorial, and compelling gameplay that makes you want to stay in for just one more battle! :)

Pretty fun and very immersive if you enjoy RPG progression with card collection style games. Particularly enjoy the random aspect of map generation and battles. Some of the battles can be highly challenging (some unwinnable) on the harder difficulty even if you have a really good deck built. Summoners Fate can also be played casually on an easier difficulty and quickly completed in less than 10 hours.

Some feedback:
-It takes a long time to unlock some of the decks in battle mode which can be approx 20+ hours of farming
-Would love to see a couple more maps, bosses, and lore of the summoners
-Possible bug during the campsite if you purposefully or accidentally drag your cards to the inactive area (which is not clearly pointed out), and then run out of marshmellows, you will get stuck and likely have to restart the whole campaign

Fun deck builder that has hints of Legend of Zelda, MTG, and D&D. I'm having a lot of fun building my deck, and pleasantly surprised at the variety of abilities.

Devs are good about responding to issues, and the few issues I've had were minor (which is a blessing for an early release).

This game is incredible. It is just so thoughtfully put together and well polished for an early access game. At first I didn't think I was going to like it and almost dismissed it because the art style isn't typically what I'd be drawn to but once you see it in action you can tell it they put a lot of thought into it. Little touches like the characters (kind of creepily, but amusing) looking up at you when you select them. I think this is the first game I've tried a demo of that I immediately knew I had to buy as soon as I was done with the tutorial, I was that impressed! I can't wait to see what comes next!

This is a super awesome game! Played many games but this one is cool!!
Every card has its own 3d forms and it has many random events and some of them are funny!
This is one of the best game ever and the AI is challenging too!

Love this game! Only 12 hours into the game and I’m full on addicted to it. Can’t wait to unlock more summoners and get the rest of the cards. A great deck building tactics game that I look forward to seeing where it goes!!

SUMMARY
9/10. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a whimsical, spatially-aware MTG with adventure mode included.

FULL REVIEW
I've been following the development of SF for over two years, long before it was even on steam. The developer, Ross, is incredibly receptive to feedback and listens to the community.

Summoner's Fate is basically "spatially-aware Magic: the Gathering", albeit with a much more whimsical art style and attitude. The idea of "spatially-aware MTG" is not a new concept. Many have attempted this in digital or physical form. Those attempts, in my opinion, always missed the mark, because they overcomplicate the experience or simply lose the "magic" (pun intended) somewhere along the way. SF, on the other hand, cleanly does exactly what it sets out to do, and more. Whether you want a single player campaign or arena battle (soon to include PvP battles), SF has you covered.

The game makes an incredible first impression. I absolutely love the tutorial. The game gets all the little details right. The tone and style is fun and light-hearted and the battles are tactically interesting. I look forward to playing more in the days to come.

So far ive completed a couple "runs" of the game and it is incredibly well made! From my experience I've yet to run into any bugs, has solid graphics, a large card pool of cards to choose from. There are many classes to unlock and choose from. There is a lot of skill expression in how you choose to combo cards, equipment, and environmental effects and traps. I don't normally write reviews but this game certainly deserves it. This game also has a very active dev team who are happy to answer question, interact with the community, and take feedback to heart. They already have plans for pvp, additional content and more!

Pretty damn great. Had 40 hours just in the demo and had to buy. Nice devs, too. They're actively taking feedback and fixing bugs at the moment, as well as suggestions (including cards; be sure to remind them to add an octopus, for as of this posting they don't have one, which I consider a crime for a card game).

A note about the archmage summoner: If you go for cheap damage spells as your entire deck, it'll be tough but very fun to play your whole deck at once. Air elemental stronk. Recommend a mostly unit-focused deck drop vs golden dragon, but I managed with damage spells thanks to things like seeker missiles not having to aim and all hitting the same enemy if it's the only one left.

And in case you see the 'bonus attack' card and aren't sure if it can target the golden dragon through its 'veil' ability: the answer is yes. Tested it myself for a whopping 36 burst damage on the elf guy (with a lot of setup).

I don't know how long it takes to add a card or zone, but I hope they add many more cards and zones before the game is totally complete.

Watched SplatterCat's impression video which made me interested and the game is HARD but so much fun. Being able to make your own deck on the fly is a blast and the different Summoner abilities are subtle but meaningful

This is a very cool game, it's challenging in all the right ways and even if you do poorly on a run, you still feel rewarded by the post run synopsis. If you like turn-based grid combat and creature based deck building, like Monster Train, then you'll love this game.

The only downside I have experienced is that the arena mode does not count toward progression. some characters will take me a long time to unlock based on my play style.

ive never seen a card game with so many "this card is so good I need it!" cards in it

so far im having trouble narrowing it down.

it could be "stolen dreams"
or it could be wall of fire
or it could be frog demon
or it could be goblin assassin
or it could be goblin warrior
or armored squrriels
or animal growth cos that card makes some sick mutant units that look great

also the AI is super smart and brutally clever, but if you use cards right you can wreck them in return its a great balance of "my decks cards are awesome" but also "the enemy really kicks ass if im not careful and dont plan ahead" its really woth a try! and theres a demo so like, you have no excuse. and trust me the full game is like 3x better than the demo

At 3rd level the game already started running in fpm instead of fps... that killed the mood.

This is a great game, i have finish my first run so i will make a review now.

The game merge together 3 elements in a fantastic way; deck builder; rogue like adventure and tactical combat. The game tries to although merge, this 3 elements stay at it fullest individualy. This is one of the virtues of the game.

The game goes: You choose a hero from eight different ones, that you need to unlock first, pick 3 initial cards depending on your chosen hero color, to then explore a map desing in a dungeon and dragons way, where you need to advance through dungeon, beating normal, elite and boss encouenters. You will be getting rewards along the way to customize your deck, get permanent buff or hiring companions.

The game has a specific ruleset of 3 cards per hand, drawing each turn to a max of 3 with 2 mana gain in the first turn and 3 each other. I understand after beating the game that this is need it to not shadow the rogue like experience, keeping a fast pace game.

The game is so good implement that i think the creator, who is very active in the forum and discord, would have no problems in creating newrule sets to customize the runs in some point of the development of the game.

The game is implemented in atomic modules put together like a well done puzzle, so has a excellent modding and new features potential.

The game now, in early access, feels lacking of content but in a good way, the core of the game is finish and content is being provide in regular updates.

The company making the game is and indie company, with lot of player support that is neat and keeps a daily dialogue with the gamers which make the early access phase really useful for the company and consumers.

A must have, there is no other game that propose what this does

Pros:
Nice graphics.
Nice music and soundeffects.
No performance issues.( sad we live in a time where this thing is a PRO.)
Easy to learn, not extremly hard to master.
Dice (D20) system is nice i like it.

Problems emerge when you understand game.
Cons:
1. Combo system ABSOLUTELY WRONG. *knockback system i see you* More often than not, it will punish you for executing combo. Trust me on this one!! ( i mean unit to unit interaction ) - ( unit to terrain that part is all good)
2. Unlocking summoers. To keep it short unnecessary grind with no reason to exist whatsoever. (This could be subjective and maybe it only bothers me to be forced playing same thing over and over to unlock new summoers)
3. Maps are somewhat randomly generated but still they are same maps with same enemies with exact same numbers of them. only their position on map changes.

Overall very good game with 2 absolutely critical errors. (see 1. and 2.)

I very much dislike that I had to unlock the character I wanted to play. Which took way longer than 2 hours. Luckily I do enjoy playing the character seeing as how I would not be able to refund had the opposite been true.

Combat is challenging and fun with a bit of RNG tossed in. I wish there where much more cards but in due time I imagine.

I have only tried adventure mode and It sucks you only start with 3 cards. You can customize them with cards you found in previous games and the default cards are well thought out. I wish I started with a deck I could customize instead.

Summoners Fate is a really fun deck-building game that is less about building a fine tuned deck and more about making the best out of what you find. Cards being discarded until resting creates a refreshing change of pace from regular deck building games. Instead of trimming and fine tuning your deck, you collect cards throughout your time playing that you can continue to use between rests to prolong your power which gives all card drops value. You then rest and fine tuning your best deck for harder fights to give you best odds at advancing.

One of the most important things to note is how responsive and friendly D20Studios has been in the discussions and discord. They listen to players, share their thoughts on how things have been implemented and actively seek to change and evolve the game to what players want. Wonderful Developer and a really fun game!

Someone else said it's a combo of Legend of Zelda, Magic: The Gathering, and D&D.

I couldn't imagine how that can be a coherent game, but the description is spot-on and it's a perfect blend.

An interesting take on a deckbuilding turn-based tactics game.
Unlike other roguelike deckbuilders you don't automatically redraw your deck once you run out of cards, this only happens once you take a rest on a special campsite which you can find between encounters.
Since the amount of campsites is limited a player would probably find it reasonable to try to squeeze the maximum value out of their cards, however the game does a pretty good job of punishing playstyles that get too greedy, dying comes easy in this adventure.
Some of the early issues were promptly addressed by the developer so I am pretty excited to see what the future holds for this project.
Overall the management of ressources and risks is fun, the tactics part is decent and the game has enough content to keep repeatable playthroughs "fresh" despite being in early access.
An easy recommendation.

Summoners Fate is great! So much fun, so smooth and enjoyable. It's like a mix of Hearthstone (spells, minions) and Final Fantasy Tactics (minions are on a battle map rather than just in a line of minions). And the roguelike exploration is really enjoyable too.

I could almost rebuild my Squirrels combo Magic the Gathering deck, how cool is that??? :)
Love this game!

The game is absolutely fantastic! It's a mix between real-time exploration and turn based combat. I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys deck-building games combined with a DnD feeling of exploration. I'm looking forward to see how development goes and hopefully there a lot more content on the way!

The game is... OK. It's a decent idea, decently implemented, but there are big balance issues.

The game is, by no stretch of the imagination, a deckbuilder. 3 cards from a deck of 20, drawing only when cards are used, leaves you entirely at the mercy of variance, with little to no chance of drawing synergistic cards.

Normal encounters are trivially easy. Many can be beaten without playing a single card, the others can usually be beaten with a single card. Elite encounters, on the other hand, are often impossible unless you draw exactly the cards you need or have good Guardians with you - which is essentially random as it depends on the order you explore the map.

Boss encounters are much easier than Elites.

First of all don't be scared off by the looks and name of this game!
I know for me those two things scream low efford, pay to win mobile game, but it's far from that!

Evenso the game comes of as quite simple, and many ways it is which makes it quite accessable, it still holds a supprising amount of depth!

Positioning, order of attacks and using environmental hazards to your advantage make a huge difference in a fight. Because you can only use so many cards in your deck (20 + the cards you find on the way between rest) you are encouraged to not just vomit every creature and spell onto the board because it's in your hand and you got the mana for it as each card used goes to a kind of discard pile which only gets shuffled back into your deck once you spend resources to camp.

You can pick different Summoners at the start of an adventure (they are basically your hero if they die you lose), each of them have different affinities which dictates what faction cards they can use and each one has some kind of special ability, the most notable one is the strting character druid which hurls 1/1 squirrels at enemies what great fun! Down the line you can pick up 4 cost creatures which can function as soemthing that's called Guardians, minions that follow your hero and are always summoned (unless killed in which case you get to revive them the next tiem you camp). You can have a maximum of 2 guardians with you but you can collect more of them in the course of an adventure even if you can only use 2 of them at a time. Note that these guardians keep their health damage between fights (same with your summoner hero).

There are a couple more mechanics like loyal minions, satchel cards and the random encounter d20 dice system but I will let you discover those on your own.

I personally highly reccomand this game, it's already quite fun and it's not even finished yet with new conntent being added regularly!