Theseus Protocol is touted as an "anime cyberpunk deck-building roguelike". Created by indie devs Archive Games from Shenzhen, China, Theseus Protocol combines traditional deck-building mechanics with unique and powerful weapons that can be powered up by discarding cards.
This innovative mechanic encourages players to have a larger deck to dispose of cards for their weapons, making for a more strategic experience overall.
Players have access to two powerful weapons that can be upgraded via various trees, each with pros and cons.
Increasing damage also increasrs the cooldown and charge time of the weapon. This allows players to customize their playstyle based on how they configure their weapons.
Theseus Protocol also utilizes environmental effects for both the player and enemy. Some enemies and hazards deal damage to certain terrain, which players must use cards to counter or negate. Enemies can also gain bonuses based on their positioning, so it's crucial to have cards that can pull or push them away to gain an advantage.
Theseus Protocol sounds good in theory, but unfortunately it's execution destroyed any potential it may have had.
From the get go, it's gone the "nerdy basement incel" route for is aesthetic. Shoehorning in ridiculously exaggerated anime style girls at every opportunity. While this may appeal to the male middle school demographic in Asia, it's just embarrassing for the rest of us. I cringed multiple times and had to shield my steam deck screen in shame several times during the review process.
Speaking of the steam deck, it's unfortunately almost unplayable in it's current state on deck. Which is a terrible shame, as a portable form factor is undoubtedly the best way to play these 'slay the spire' style deck builders.
Certain card text is just too small to read and the colour palette hasn't been very well thought out. Solid white text on a pale blue background is almost impossible to read.
Aesthetics and design choices aside; while the gameplay should be fun and thought provoking, in reality this is far from the case.
Most battles come down to a repetitive exchange which are ultimately just passing time while you or the enemy stack enough DOTs (damage over time effects) or draw a piercing card to negate ever increasing armour.
To add to the confusion and frustration the English localization is abysmal, how this ever got past a Western publisher is beyond me, they obviously didn't play it.
Cards are woefully unbalanced as well as poorly described and it's possible to break the game in so many ways, none of them fun.
There's unfortunately no way I can recommend this game in it's current state.
It's marked as early access, but it's barely proof of concept.
It needs a lot more time in playtesting and balancing gameplay, then it really needs to be localized professionally not run through Google/Baidu translate to save money.
For now this is nothing but $10 shovelware.
But it's available now on Steam for anyone interested.
Comentários