TL;DR: Super fun 'make-number-big' game with loads of build diversity and fun new mechanics!

It's another one of those quota-meeting rogue-likes, but the mechanics have a unique enough spin that I am still really enjoying it at 17 hours in!!

Instead of playing cards costing Mana (they call it "Time Cost"), it costs Mana to draw the cards!

Basically you will draw until at least 1 card in your draw pile could cause overdraw of Mana ("Dangerous Cards"). You can take the risk to keep manually drawing in hopes of drawing cards that won't cost more Mana, or end your turn early.

Overdrawing on Mana causes a "Time Explosion" that costs Health - Health being a persistent resource for the run. It's a really fun risk vs reward mechanic, and there are plenty of build options tied to this "Time Explosion" as well for bonus build diversity!

Also because of the RNG of overdrawing, they let you restart the combat encounter if you die. I know it sounds like cheating but it doesn't make you win if you weren't going to - you'll understand when you play: I think it's a really smart decision by the devs to let you retry and encourages experimenting.

They also let you re-arrange your board at any time which is fun, so you can min/max how you want. You can technically exploit this a bit too, but I find that tedious and I don't think the balancing expects you to (thank you devs).

There are plenty of strategies/builds to try out that make the game really fun. Some of the hard difficulties can be punishing if you can't find the trinkets you need, but that's part of the fun too :)

As for meta-progression, there are 3 decks to play through, each with several playstyles within them. Each deck has 10 difficulties to beat, and there are some unlocks you earn from playing more. There's also a quirky little story that is unintrusive to the gameplay (post-winning a run) that I haven't finished yet as of writing this.

Also, the art and audio are very polished and consistent; the style is fun and has character!!

Defs recommend!!

As a lover of rogue-like strategy games and card games, this neat little game scratches all the itches while delivering a unique, charming experience. Sometimes you get screwed over by a bad starting phase, but that's normal for this kind of game. Once you get a run to work, you feel like a farming god! I like all three decks that you work with, and the mechanics are very different (even more different than, say, the decks in Slay the Spire), and it encourages you to think about the core mechanics of the game in new ways. On top of that, the UI is sleek, with just enough of that lowfi charm to stand out. The menus feel like toys with buttons, and there's lots of hidden interactions to play around with. This is a definite recommend for anyone who enjoys this kind of game.

While I often wait for games to go on sale, I think $13 is reasonable for the amount of game you get.

Very fun little game