Wildfrost is a new card battler and Roguelite coming at a time when neither are in particularly short supply. But to play this game is to fall for it a little, so we thought we’d sit down and try to work out why it feels so good to play.
WildfrostDeveloper: Deadpan Games, GaziterPublisher: ChucklefishPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out 12th April on PC and Switch
Chris: Bertie! I know you love a good card battler, and so do I. I had felt like I was done, though, at least for a while. Like I’d played enough and they couldn’t show me anything new. So it’s weird that I’m finding Wildfrost so refreshing?
And what’s weirder is that the thing I love most so far isn’t a clever twist on the formula or a particular card. What I love is the presentation, specifically the animation. The cards just spring and bounce onto screen here, there’s a lovely thick squashiness to them? It’s 2D art but it’s been animated and brought to life with such care, and that alone keeps drawing me back for another go. What do you reckon?
Bertie: Oh I’m all about that irresistibly cheery presentation. It’s got so much HearthStone to it, which not only means it looks really nice but also that it feels really polished. Things thunk! And it’s clean and behaves in a pleasingly deliberate way (although one slight aside: it annoys me I can’t press Escape to go back in the menus – that tripped me up a few times.) And all of that reassures me I’m in safe hands.
But I was looking for something else too: new ideas. I’ve played a bunch of these games and unless they think about things in a new way, they end up just dissolving into familiarness. And I’m really pleased to say Wildfrost doesn’t – it’s one of the things that really excites me about it. I actually found it quite confusing to begin with, because it looks like I should know exactly how it works, but I don’t – it’s close but yet far if that makes sense? And there are a few key mechanics here that really shake things up. Did you find it tricky to pick up?