Game

#Evaluate: Mahokenshi – Destructoid

Evaluate: Mahokenshi – Destructoid

Magic sword warrior

I haven’t performed a lot diving into deck-builders, which appears to be driving the pattern wave within the indie market. I’m truthfully unsure why, since each time I’ve interacted with one, I’ve loved it. Take, for instance, Mahokenshi.

I attempted the demo of Mahokenshi an extended whereas again and got here away impressed, but in some way the ultimate launch nonetheless snuck up on me. Its mixture of board-game fashion, turn-based, card-centric gameplay felt slightly highly effective in my first expertise, so I used to be excited to see how the entire bundle turned out.

Mahokenshi - Card Battle
Screenshot by Destructoid

Mahokenshi (PC)
Developer: Sport Supply Studio
Writer: Iceberg Interactive
Launched: January 24, 2023
MSRP: $24.99

Mahokenshi depicts the Celestial Islands, a collection of landmasses floating above the world. They’re locations the place the Oni have by no means set foot, however when that modifications, the individuals name on the titular samurai, the “Mahokenshi”, to assist them. Every of the Mahokenshi is aligned to a creature from Japanese folklore, and every has its personal strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, all of them have a distinct playstyle and deck of playing cards, which lets you discover one which fits you greatest.

Your Mahokenshi is incessantly solo however usually outnumbered. Beginning out, your predominant aim is to assemble up your deck by touchdown on varied cities, shrines, castles, and statues. Your starter deck is normally underpowered, and plenty of the gameplay revolves round selecting up playing cards and creating your technique. You may as well improve your playing cards and take away your weaker ones, turning your self right into a tower of card-slinging energy.

It really feels nice once you get your deck collectively. Combining playing cards that enhance the variety of strikes you can also make in your flip, enjoying ones that allow you to draw additional, and utilizing playing cards to buff your power to the moon can have you ever dropping baddies in fast succession. When the draw works in your favor, it makes you’re feeling highly effective, which I didn’t count on from a deck builder.

Stack the deck

There’s a good quantity of selection to the missions, however plenty of them could be solved utilizing nothing however plenty of violence. Nonetheless, constructing your power to tackle towering monsters doesn’t get previous. Properly, it does, however Mahokenshi stops properly earlier than it will get to that time.

Whereas it does final — round 15-18 hours, relying on whether or not or not you are taking your time — it’s well-paced and interesting. To enhance your probabilities of success, you may full facet quests and spend factors to purchase upgrades. These enhance the results of issues on the board and buff your base stats, turning your deck right into a lean, imply, paper-cutting machine.

The Mahokenshi unlock as you proceed by the sport, and every ranges up individually, which inspires you to strive all of them out and extends gameplay. By the tip of the sport, I principally settled on simply two of the 4 characters that I most well-liked to play. In case you’re feeling frisky, although, the characters unlock additional gear that can be utilized by any of the characters. Together with facet missions, there are plenty of excuses to retry ranges.

Cards for magic samurai
Screenshot by Destructoid

Semi-magical

It, sadly, has some efficiency points. Mahokenshi is a decent-looking recreation, however it’s not that wonderful. Fortunately, it’s not probably the most action-packed title, so a uneven framerate isn’t going to torpedo issues, however it’s not one thing you wish to see.

It didn’t trouble me sufficient to smash my enjoyable. Mahokenshi is an creative little deck-builder that permits you to construct some highly effective combos that enable you reside out your magical samurai fantasies. However, whereas it undoubtedly doused my curiosity concerning the style in kerosene, it didn’t mild my jimmies on hearth. As a substitute, it was simply an pleasurable expertise. It saved me all through its runtime, and that’s about all I can ask for.

[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]

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