I’m not very good at virtual card games as I might be the worst loser in this country. A game like Heartstone can get me in the red, especially when I’m playing against other people. Most of the time I try to avoid the genre. Because of this, I was surprised to receive Wildfrost for a review, but I pulled up my pants and gave it a try, and here’s my take on Deadpan Games’ new card game that’s coming out soon. surprise by the way.
Wildfrost doesn’t have a real story. There are different factions with their own maps, each with a brief introduction, but other than those little stories, there’s not much to tell about the narrative. Most of the game is experienced through gameplay at its purest, and that will likely please those who find mechanics more important than… well, narrative context.
Wildfrost is a card game in which you have to fight an opponent who has their own unique cards with special abilities. There is a round counter at the bottom of the map. When this counter reaches zero, your card attacks the opponent’s card on the opposite side of the table. Yes, you don’t necessarily decide what you attack and when, but relinquishing that control means the game takes on an extra strategic dimension as you have to think several turns ahead and therefore always have a strategy ready because things do change into every round. Each card has a heart on the left, representing the card’s health, and a sword on the right, representing damage. The general goal is to protect your hero, which you choose from several options at the beginning of the game. Therefore, you have to constantly protect and take care of your hero, but he is the one with the most effective skills, so you have to balance defense and attack very carefully. It took me a long time to understand, but over time it all started to make more and more sense to me. Now I love it because it requires you to take your time, understand the bigger picture, and plan your strategy based on the defenses you have built around your hero. At first, I didn’t realize I had to think so far ahead, so my hero was often overwhelmed by his opponent’s cards as the rounds progressed. I got better though, and once I felt like I finally understood Wildfrost, it became incredibly satisfying.
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Your hero is not alone on the field, because after the first game you will gain access to new maps where you will find frozen heroes as you progress. Just like your main hero, these have a lot of cool abilities and are there to protect you. So you have to place these other heroes on the two-part field so that three cards can be placed horizontally at the top and bottom. The ones that are placed first are the ones that are mainly attacked and this way you can protect your main units by placing them at the end of the line. This way only the main heroes will get the hits. It’s great that you have to constantly balance these heroes’ abilities, both offensively and defensively. In your hand you have seven cards that you can play however you want. They range from direct attack cards to cards that reduce the number of turns your hero takes to attack. The beauty of this is that you can draw as many cards as you like, and if you’re not satisfied, just draw seven new cards. The only downside is that it takes one turn, so you have to be careful when using it.
Wildfrost is a roguelike, so the game is randomized every time you play. However, the cards are the same and they have the same abilities, but the way you play, your opponents, and the buffs you receive to help you are all randomized each time. The best way to describe it is that between games you see a map that has one of two paths that you can choose. Depending on your choice, you will receive specific upgrades. There are treasure chests, necklaces that you can put on one of your heroes of choice to give them a new ability. As said, there are also frozen heroes that you can use in the next battle you find on the map. Also, there’s a snail shell that gives gold that you can use in the shops, which also have everything from upgrades to necklaces. Everything is randomly generated, as are the enemies you encounter, making it a classic roguelike. This means both the missing story is a lot easier to see and offers great replay value. The more you fight, the more you unlock. Even when things aren’t going too well, you’re constantly making progress, making yourself better and better, and then you just get better at the overall mechanics by playing it over and over again.
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There are many hours of entertainment in Wildfrost as there is an addictive progression that will make you want to do another round. Every third fight you find on the map is a boss fight where you have to defeat an ultra-strong enemy. It’s quite a challenge to defeat them as they can take a lot of punches before falling to the ground. There are even some that respawn with double health after being defeated, but don’t do as much damage. If you manage to defeat this mega boss, you get the chance to choose one of three perks that apply to the future, such as having more heroes than the three you should have on hand from the start , or you can draw a new hero card. You get the idea, the variations are practically endless.
It’s a great progression system, and Wildfrost is difficult to put down once you get started. I played Wildfrost in my Steam deck and it looks perfect here. I also think it will be played on the Nintendo Switch and I would imagine it would be great on mobile as well as the battles are fast paced and intense so it’s a game to play on the go with ease so long the weather is fine it just disappears.
If I had to write something negative it would be that the game isn’t that good at teaching the player its mechanics. For many hours after starting the game, things kept happening that I didn’t quite understand, which was annoying. The game is also very minimalistic and occupies only a few hundred megabytes, so the graphics and sound are quite primitive, unfortunately there are no videos or dialogues explaining the game mechanics either. It could have been better.
However, Wildfrost is well made, innovative and quite addictive. So if you like a card game that never gets boring, then Wildfrost is what you need. just great.
