Deathless. Tales of Old Rus [Early Access] [Review]
Deathless. Tales of Old Rus is a very satisfying deck-builder. The battles are solid, the graphics gorgeous, the music suitably grand, and just enough story to immerse players in the world. I had a very good time with this game, and am happy to share my thoughts below.
Developer: 1C Game Studios
Genres: Indie game, Adventure, Early Access
Platform: Microsoft Windows
Publisher: 1С-777 Limited
If you’ve played a deck builder, you pretty much know what to expect at this point, and all the elements are here. The main part of any deck builder is the combat. Deathless. Tale of Old Rus features the playable character on one side, and a line of enemies on the other side. Usually only the first character in the line can be targeted, but other cards allowed me to position the monsters to my advantage. The whole positioning thing adds a whole another dimension that I thought was pretty cool.
Additionally, the game adds another status condition to battles called dying. When all of an enemy’s hit points are wiped out, the enemy can no longer perform actions, but still takes up space on the battlefield, shielding the others behind him. Their hit point bar fills up again, and begins to tick down again. When it hits zero, they are removed from the field. There are different ways the hero character can manipulate the dying creatures, such as playing cards that give the hero buffs for attacking them or even moving them over to the other side of the field to shield the hero. All of this gives the battles some additional complexity and depth that I really enjoyed.
That said, this game is hard in a good way! A lot of preparation has to be done beforehand, and every choice matters for the boss fights. If I didn’t build my deck just right, I lost. Normal difficulty allows players to try battles again with the exact same hands as before, so I could see if playing smarter was an option, but generally I found that my deck just wasn’t good enough. To make the game more accessible, there is an easy difficulty. I personally did not utilize it. For anyone wanting a harder challenge, there are two higher difficulty levels to play on. It seems the devs want this game to be accessible to players across different skill levels, and enjoyable for all.
Also, the player characters are just kind of cool? The main hero I played as, Varvara fought her battles with a pickaxe in one hand, and her cut-off braid that she used as a whip to maneuver and fight enemies in the other. The other one, Valsilisa, is a gorgeous, sassy enchantress who fights with magic and little nursemaid faeries. Her play style is distinctly different from Varvara, but just as much fun. One thing I noticed with this game and really liked was the player characters are given personality and dialogue, which is unique for a deck builder. As I got deeper into the game, I really did become invested in their individual stories.
The one problem I had with this game is the deck building feels a little slow and I think needs some work. I don’t feel like as a player, I was able to tweak my deck an appropriate amount between fights, which resulted in me not building the momentum and synergy I needed. That said, this game is still in early access, and I think what’s currently present has potential to build into something really neat.
Deathless. Tales of Old Rus is a work in progress, but one worth investing in. There are some fresh ideas here, and overall I very much enjoyed my time with it. I am looking forward to seeing what direction the devs take this game in, and very much believe the final product may be on par with some of the best the genre has to offer. Time will tell, I suppose. If it falls short of it of that, it’s still a lovely time, and a fun way to unwind after a hard day.
My Score: 7/10
Thank you to terminals for the free key for review purposes!
