Shuffle Tactics Review

I’m glad to have a chance to check out the full release of Shuffle Tactics, a deckbuilding tactical turn-based roguelike developed by Club Sandwich and published by The Arcade Crew. Inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics and, of course, Slay the Spire, the concept alone was interesting enough to catch my attention… in March. I did a preview of the game months earlier, and now I’m eager to see it at its full potential. So, will The Glimmer be stopped, or would it be better to let it take over?

The story is simple. A corruption called The Glimmer has infected the Kingdom of Asteria, causing monsters to run amok and transform its inhabitants into twisted creatures. Who will be the Hero brave enough to overthrow the evil King Ogma and save the kingdom?

It’s not exactly the most complicated plot, but there is meat to it, with lore to learn from the NPC shopkeepers you’ll encounter throughout an attempt. If you’re into this world, there’s plenty to discover about it. Taking the time to slow down and talk to those affected is rather interesting.

Shuffle Tactics uses a combination of 3D models and 8-bit sprites for its world. It has some great spritework, where every character has fluid animation for each and every skill and attack they perform, and boss finishers are a visual spectacle. The overall world can be pretty cool to look at, even if it's grid-based; its use of lighting really brings out the environment. That being said, it can get in your way at times, thanks to different elevations and objects. You can shift the camera to an overhead view, but when faced with multiple enemies, it can be difficult to even see the ground below with all the health bars cluttering your screen.

But enough about its presentation, how does it play? Well, a typical run consists of travelling along a map of branching routes, where you’ll fight fearsome foes for rewards and visit shops to slowly upgrade and refine your deck to be good enough to beat the final boss at the end. Although you’ll start off with Doberknight, you’ll eventually unlock two more Heroes to play with and access to more cards the more runs you do, even if you fail. You can also hire Sidekicks to join your journey, each unique in their own way, but if your Hero falls at any point, it is game over.

What I found unique is that each party member has their own deck, hand, and resources to spend before you end your turn and let your opponents act. It’s not all one resource, so every character has a chance to act, but if a Sidekick dies, you’ll lose access to their cards. Don’t worry, HP is refilled and Sidekicks are revived after every fight, so as long as you win, even by the skin of your teeth, you’ll be completely ready for the next one.

Card effects are indiscriminate, by the way. If they’re in range, both enemies and allies can be affected by whatever you play. The same rules apply to your opponents, who aren’t afraid of a little friendly fire. It makes you really think about what you’re playing, making sure to keep your party safe from your own attacks or even use them to your benefit. Hey, three damage does sting, but it’s better to push them away from an attack that does even more. I can even recognise potential strategies that benefit from you killing your own allies. The use of friendly fire in this game creates a lot of interesting scenarios, which I very much like.

Although fights will involve killing everything in the area, some aren’t as straightforward and can be serious pains to deal with, such as destroying enemy-spawning obelisks before they overwhelm your party. Each decision needs to be deliberate because one mistake is all it takes for things to snowball. I quite liked the battle system and all its little mechanics. It isn’t easy to become an absolute monster on the battlefield, but the journey to that point can be quite interesting, even if you have to learn it without support.

I found some Sidekicks better than others, though. Sure, it’s nice to have a dedicated healer, but I’d rather have the assassin who can delete multiple enemies at range. You also can’t modify a Sidekick’s deck, unlike the Hero’s. You’ll need to beat a boss to upgrade them. Still, they’re a nice addition that constantly shakes up your plans and makes you experiment with team compositions. Hey, maybe the characters I found underwhelming might perform better with other Sidekicks.

I found the cards themselves to be quite fascinating, too. Simple attack cards can have numerous keywords that synergise with other cards or the various relics that provide passive buffs, and they can be modified further with charms that can be attached to them. Even with limited slots and no way to detach them, they can turn a lowly move into something that can win a fight by itself. That being said, I seriously struggled to make meaningful progress in my time… and it didn’t feel like it was my lack of knowledge of the game’s systems.

Some battles end up being unfair. It’s not anything to do with my deckbuilding and luck; some scenarios just throw too many things at you to be fun, such as destroying corrupted rifts. When they spawn dozens of enemies who each get their own turn, your lowly party of three will be overwhelmed before you get the chance to touch these things. Even the initial spawn points can end up screwing you over and some fights just take way too long to be enjoyable.

I admit, I felt stuck when playing, but there is accommodation for those who struggle. If you feel like your runs are going nowhere, or you just want to play with all the toys, there are options to automatically unlock all the Heroes, max out their level, and even give yourself an advantage. It doesn't make the game much easier, but it does skip some of the more time-consuming aspects with no penalty. I certainly took advantage of it for the purposes of this review, and if you feel guilty or want to play fairly, you can always disable these options and revert your save. It's honestly a very cool feature to have.

But that’s enough about the main gameplay; how did it perform? Well, I didn’t notice any frame drops thanks to its low specs, but my attention was on other issues. For starters, there wasn’t a tutorial telling me the controls, so I have no idea how to do something as simple as rotate the camera (if that's even an option). I distinctly remember there being one in the demo, so it was either removed or it was skipped. My game did crash (which I will get to soon) when I started my first run. It is a mistake that there isn't a way to replay the tutorial or just show me the bindings in the settings. But hey, if you plug in a controller, you can see button prompts, but unfortunately, they are not properly formatted, so it can be a little difficult to read.

However, the most egregious issues were simply how many times it just didn’t work and I couldn't play the game. It froze during loading screens in several instances, at times necessitating restarts or just waiting an uncomfortable amount before the game actually loaded. It can even crash instead of exiting. Also, I think the “Continue” and “Retry” buttons are broken, because they both just send you to the main menu. That being said, these issues are being addressed and have been improved in updates, but there’s still plenty to be done.

Shuffle Tactics is a fine roguelike underneath its issues. I admit, the initial release was not great, with bad balancing and bugs, and it turned me off from continuing to play, but coming back to it now (after some rebalancing and bug-fixing) allowed me to see past my annoyance and aggravation and view it more fairly. It’s fun to build your deck and conquer the battlefield; I just hope more updates make the game shine brighter than The Glimmer.