Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bardcard/id1382517817 Bardcard Kevin Mikles Bardcard is a card-matching roguelite featuring a mysterious subterranean world to explore. Match cards to advance throu… $3.99 Buy Now Watch Media DetailsBardcard is a card-matching roguelite featuring a mysterious subterranean world to explore. Match cards to advance through the dungeon. Discover helpful equipment, battle dangerous minions, and meet magical familiars that join you on your adventure. Learn the secrets of this realm and discover the truth about the chaos that engulfs it. Can you find your brother Lukas? Who is ZUG? How far down does this dungeon go? FEATURES ========= - 40+ rooms to explore: Determine the best card-matching sequence to survive each floor. Keep on the lookout for alternate exits leading down less-traveled paths, and rare artifacts that appear when specific cards are matched. Are you exploring a dark room? In that case you’d better bring a torch! - 150+ unique, hand-drawn cards to discover: Weapons, armor, and magical items to protect you in the dungeon. Various characters that guide you, teach skills, and present puzzles. Monsters and traps to thwart your progress at every turn. There’s a lot to discover, and each game is a bit different than the last. - Old-school RPG elements set within an immersive world: Turn-based action, experience levels, quests to complete, and more. We’ve taken elements from all our favorite games of yesteryear and rolled them into Bardcard. - Beautiful soundtrack created by us: We’ve orchestrated every flute, piano, and xylophone to create a unique realm to adventure in. - Challenging rogelite system with powerful persistent artifacts: Death is likely unavoidable in this dangerous world. Lucky for you, there are special items and companions that stick with you no matter what happens in the dungeon. ACCOLADES ========== App Store Game of the Day (11/8/22) ABOUT RASCAL MAGIC ================== We are two childhood friends building a mysterious world for you to explore. Originally from Michigan and now based up and down the West Coast, we create everything from the gameplay, imagery, audio, and story, to physical apparel and collectibles. Although we charge a small price for downloading our games, we don’t have in-game advertising or in-app purchases. It’s just not our thing. Instead, you get access to the entire game and future updates. Let’s do this! We’d love to hear from you: [email protected] Information Seller:Kevin Mikles Genre:Puzzle, Role Playing Release:Aug 14, 2022 Updated:Feb 10, 2024 Version:2.27 Size:167.7 MB TouchArcade Rating:Unrated User Rating:Unrated Your Rating:unrated Compatibility:HD Universal elcrazy Well-Known Member Sep 19, 2017 598 447 63 #2 elcrazy, Aug 22, 2022 Oh this looks really interesting. Buying now Rocco SE Well-Known Member Jun 16, 2020 247 224 43 Male Modern Mime Artist Austria https://silentrocco.net #3 Rocco SE, Aug 22, 2022 Sadly not available in Europe. gaberaph likes this. ShinHadoukin Well-Known Member Feb 20, 2015 955 137 43 #4 ShinHadoukin, Aug 22, 2022 How is it? elcrazy Well-Known Member Sep 19, 2017 598 447 63 #5 elcrazy, Aug 22, 2022 I haven’t had a chance. I will give impressions some point today. solarnya Well-Known Member Jul 22, 2015 895 281 63 Male Close to Tokyo, Japan #6 solarnya, Aug 22, 2022 unavailable in Japan...why gaberaph likes this. elcrazy Well-Known Member Sep 19, 2017 598 447 63 #7 elcrazy, Aug 22, 2022 Hmm. Well I don’t have much good to say. It might be for some but it’s not for me. I don’t think many here would like it too much either. It’s just, well boring. There is no real reason for the match game. You sort of have to find everything anyways and it doesn’t feel like there is any risk vs reward. It’s just felt very dull. I wanted to like it and still want to. I only played like 30mins and hope to go back. Maybe it becomes more. But honestly I don’t really feel like going back, which is a bad sign. I hope others have a better experience then I did. I will update if I play again and feel any different. Anotherkellydown likes this. anthony78 Well-Known Member Nov 13, 2015 3,045 623 113 #8 anthony78, Aug 23, 2022 I’m actually really liking this game so far. Matching is important because it uses energy for every wrong match you get. You won’t make it very far if you get it wrong every time. There’s also a bit more strategy to this vs other games in the genre too because weapons and armor degrade. You need to manage your equipment. Nice writing in NPC encounters, etc. Addicting and well worth $1.99 IMO! Anotherkellydown and squarezero like this. LordGek Well-Known Member Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze Feb 19, 2009 12,279 130 63 Software QA Engineer Saratoga, CA, USA #9 LordGek, Aug 24, 2022 You're both right, sort of. While I'm more siding with Anthony as I think I like it and see that there might be a tiny bit of strategy in the order you match things and thus deal with the encounters (like I've found 1 tile of a big baddy, my best bet is to NOT try to make that match quite yet if injured...), I agree with ElCrazy that the complexity/difficulty ramps up pretty slowly before it feels like the order of your matches really carrys much weight. elcrazy and Anotherkellydown like this. elcrazy Well-Known Member Sep 19, 2017 598 447 63 #10 elcrazy, Aug 24, 2022 So I am happy to say upon playing it more I am starting to enjoy it more. I think the issue is that Initial ramp in difficulty vs sense of progression. After playing a few more games I am having more fun. I have a pet which saves between games. I got pretty far on my last play through and starting to see some strategy. Also found some fun surprises and there is much more to see. So happy to retract my initial comments. Just keep at it. It may not grab you at first, (which is a danger in the iOS market), but once given a chance it starts to hit. gaberaph likes this. solarnya Well-Known Member Jul 22, 2015 895 281 63 Male Close to Tokyo, Japan #11 solarnya, Aug 25, 2022 unavailable Chq Well-Known Member Jul 20, 2013 382 29 28 #12 Chq, Aug 25, 2022 Unavailable in germany. Anotherkellydown Moderator Staff Member Patreon Bronze Feb 10, 2014 4,417 1,050 113 Male CAD Technician I Upstate NY https://youtube.com/channel/UCcvu9xhE7xT-mZrXUZQJr5g #13 Anotherkellydown, Aug 25, 2022 Got 100 points on my first run. Not a bad game at all. Agree that it’s a little slowly paced but it will be great for when I have time to sit down and play for a while. I like how I reached a checkpoint and it said I could start future runs from there. Just to clarify for anyone that’s been reading through the thread: the main gameplay mechanic is a tile matching mini game rather than a match-3 (I assumed it was match-3 before playing). Roxton Well-Known Member Patreon Bronze Jan 30, 2015 148 67 28 #14 Roxton, Aug 25, 2022 Made it to the 14th floor. This is a very clever incremental roguelike. Every quest you’re given need only be fulfilled once to gain the benefit permanently. The toughest one so far was a request for 3 stale bread. The reward was well worth it. The only exception to the single-reward rule is the Feydor sidepath, where you get your first familiar. Repeated visits will give you a nice boost to your war ferret’s bond (XP). Roxton Well-Known Member Patreon Bronze Jan 30, 2015 148 67 28 #15 Roxton, Aug 26, 2022 When you first pick up this game, you’ll think it’s some weird Memory game with some combat thrown in. It’s not. It’s a thematic, decision-heavy hardscrabble. The game organically presents objectives that, on completion, yield information, equipment, key items, or changes in the dungeon. These persist into subsequent runs. Coming up with and executing a plan to pursue these objectives represents the core gameplay loop. The matching system induces a risk-reward dynamic, creating variance in the cost of fully exploring a room or taking side paths. It also creates this neat dynamic where if you’re hurrying to find the exit, you might stumble on something interesting that prompts you to stick around. You’d think the card-based rooms would be same-y, but there’s a narrative frame for different parts of the map, and the NPCs, environmental hazards, monsters, and items participate in that frame in unexpectedly immersive ways. I’m looking forward to the release of the next chapter. gaberaph, nickhoola, Anotherkellydown and 1 other person like this. Anotherkellydown Moderator Staff Member Patreon Bronze Feb 10, 2014 4,417 1,050 113 Male CAD Technician I Upstate NY https://youtube.com/channel/UCcvu9xhE7xT-mZrXUZQJr5g #16 Anotherkellydown, Aug 26, 2022 This game gets better every time I play. It’s much deeper than you’d first expect. @Roxton, you said it much better than I could so I’ll leave it at that. gaberaph likes this. gamecoder Active Member Oct 18, 2012 44 2 8 Male USA #17 gamecoder, Aug 27, 2022 Is there a trailer or video of a few minutes of gameplay anywhere? This sounds intriguing but I’m just not sure enough to take the plunge. Also does it save between floors or whatever? Just curious how long game play sessions are. Anotherkellydown Moderator Staff Member Patreon Bronze Feb 10, 2014 4,417 1,050 113 Male CAD Technician I Upstate NY https://youtube.com/channel/UCcvu9xhE7xT-mZrXUZQJr5g #18 Anotherkellydown, Aug 27, 2022 I just recorded a run starting from the first floor. I’ll post the link here once its done processing. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube Channel The last run took me 34ish minutes. The game does save your progress if you don’t have time to finish a run. It will say “Resume Game” or something like that, to the right of “New Game”. nickhoola and gamecoder like this. Roxton Well-Known Member Patreon Bronze Jan 30, 2015 148 67 28 #19 Roxton, Aug 28, 2022 It saves state with every dang interaction, with absolutely zero scumming potential. It’s kind of impressive. A good run is probably… 25-50 minutes? BlueTrin Well-Known Member Jun 21, 2012 375 51 28 #20 BlueTrin, Aug 30, 2022 The game is good but a bit hard and very slow. When you unlock a new waypoint it’s very hard to start directly at the new waypoint (You must log in or sign up to post here.) Show Ignored Content Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 Next > Share This Page Tweet Your name or email address: Do you already have an account? No, create an account now. 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Hmm. Well I don’t have much good to say. It might be for some but it’s not for me. I don’t think many here would like it too much either. It’s just, well boring. There is no real reason for the match game. You sort of have to find everything anyways and it doesn’t feel like there is any risk vs reward. It’s just felt very dull. I wanted to like it and still want to. I only played like 30mins and hope to go back. Maybe it becomes more. But honestly I don’t really feel like going back, which is a bad sign. I hope others have a better experience then I did. I will update if I play again and feel any different.
I’m actually really liking this game so far. Matching is important because it uses energy for every wrong match you get. You won’t make it very far if you get it wrong every time. There’s also a bit more strategy to this vs other games in the genre too because weapons and armor degrade. You need to manage your equipment. Nice writing in NPC encounters, etc. Addicting and well worth $1.99 IMO!
You're both right, sort of. While I'm more siding with Anthony as I think I like it and see that there might be a tiny bit of strategy in the order you match things and thus deal with the encounters (like I've found 1 tile of a big baddy, my best bet is to NOT try to make that match quite yet if injured...), I agree with ElCrazy that the complexity/difficulty ramps up pretty slowly before it feels like the order of your matches really carrys much weight.
So I am happy to say upon playing it more I am starting to enjoy it more. I think the issue is that Initial ramp in difficulty vs sense of progression. After playing a few more games I am having more fun. I have a pet which saves between games. I got pretty far on my last play through and starting to see some strategy. Also found some fun surprises and there is much more to see. So happy to retract my initial comments. Just keep at it. It may not grab you at first, (which is a danger in the iOS market), but once given a chance it starts to hit.
Got 100 points on my first run. Not a bad game at all. Agree that it’s a little slowly paced but it will be great for when I have time to sit down and play for a while. I like how I reached a checkpoint and it said I could start future runs from there. Just to clarify for anyone that’s been reading through the thread: the main gameplay mechanic is a tile matching mini game rather than a match-3 (I assumed it was match-3 before playing).
Made it to the 14th floor. This is a very clever incremental roguelike. Every quest you’re given need only be fulfilled once to gain the benefit permanently. The toughest one so far was a request for 3 stale bread. The reward was well worth it. The only exception to the single-reward rule is the Feydor sidepath, where you get your first familiar. Repeated visits will give you a nice boost to your war ferret’s bond (XP).
When you first pick up this game, you’ll think it’s some weird Memory game with some combat thrown in. It’s not. It’s a thematic, decision-heavy hardscrabble. The game organically presents objectives that, on completion, yield information, equipment, key items, or changes in the dungeon. These persist into subsequent runs. Coming up with and executing a plan to pursue these objectives represents the core gameplay loop. The matching system induces a risk-reward dynamic, creating variance in the cost of fully exploring a room or taking side paths. It also creates this neat dynamic where if you’re hurrying to find the exit, you might stumble on something interesting that prompts you to stick around. You’d think the card-based rooms would be same-y, but there’s a narrative frame for different parts of the map, and the NPCs, environmental hazards, monsters, and items participate in that frame in unexpectedly immersive ways. I’m looking forward to the release of the next chapter.
This game gets better every time I play. It’s much deeper than you’d first expect. @Roxton, you said it much better than I could so I’ll leave it at that.
Is there a trailer or video of a few minutes of gameplay anywhere? This sounds intriguing but I’m just not sure enough to take the plunge. Also does it save between floors or whatever? Just curious how long game play sessions are.
I just recorded a run starting from the first floor. I’ll post the link here once its done processing. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube Channel The last run took me 34ish minutes. The game does save your progress if you don’t have time to finish a run. It will say “Resume Game” or something like that, to the right of “New Game”.
It saves state with every dang interaction, with absolutely zero scumming potential. It’s kind of impressive. A good run is probably… 25-50 minutes?
The game is good but a bit hard and very slow. When you unlock a new waypoint it’s very hard to start directly at the new waypoint
