App Profile: Gorathar

Adam Augusta

Rating: 5/5

If you enjoy deck builders, give this one a go. A few ways this one hits different: 1) The pocket mechanic. As novel as it is essential — it rounds out unlucky draws and creates some really rich interactions, while not overwhelming the basic formula. 2) Character classes were a nice introduction to the genre, but on some level, they’re fundamentally about which cards you start with. Gorathar says “Screw character classes. Here’s 20 different starting decks and corresponding cardpools, showcasing a diversity of archetypes, and associated with levels of increasing enemy difficulty.” Really well done, that. The levels are bite-sized, completable in under an hour. This enables a design space where Gorathar has the freedom to have enemies contribute persistent curses to your deck. Also, the shorter levels makes the tension of HP attrition a more effective part of the experience. The enemy art is solid and the protagonist animations are unusually compelling, but there’s not much here otherwise to immerse you, aesthetically. Pick it up. It’s quite good.

BigFanManga

Rating: 5/5

Reading dev responses on other reviews is so nice. So I had to download. Too often mobile games are made by soulless corps just looking for fast money. This dev actually reads and responds. It’s obvious they care about the game and want it to do well. I’ve only just started but it does seem a bit simple so far, with not a lot in the way of customization, but if that is what you are going for, its getting the job done. A very nice “turn your brain off and just relax” type game.

Jerry.is.the.boss

Rating: 5/5

This is a great deck building game. Nothing absolutely groundbreaking, but it’s simple and presentation/artwork is good quality, and it’s decently challenging. I appreciate as well that the opportunity for strong combinations and interesting mechanics. Worth the full price for sure, and the amount of content in the demo is sufficient to give you an idea of what to expect. I hope the game continues to receive updates and support!