Friday, July 17, 2020

My Love Hate Relationship with Card Games

When I was younger, my friends and I would play Magic the Gatherings, Pokemon, Yo-gi-ho and other card games. While I enjoyed, thoroughly, each of those card games I always hated the fact that you could potentially spend an unlimited amount of money on them.

In recent years, we've seen controversy with video games and loot boxes but those that have played card games before are all too familiar with the concept. A card pack, after all, is a loot box since you never know what you'll get and the real good cards are rare which mean you have to buy more packs for the chance to get them.
I remember fondly the time when my best friend got a first generation Charizard. I had spent all of my allowance to try to get one and he goes in, with one pack, and gets it - I was so jealous!

As time went on, and my friends move all over the world, I started playing card games on PC but quickly found that most of them were using a similar mechanics with the only difference being that everything was now digital. Most of those card games will say that you don't need to spend money on them but the grind required is often such that it encourages people to spend real money on digital packs.

So what's the solution here?

During the latest Steam sale, I came across a game call "Slay the Spire" which is a mix of RPG/Card game and unlike most card games out there it doesn't require you to spend anything after the initial purchase because there's no DLC to be found. The game is roguelike, which mean you can pretty much play it for ever, and is fantastic. You should try it.



No comments:

Post a Comment