Black Book Reviews

Thoroughly enjoyed this game, excellent story and interesting card battler style

Not exactly a game for me, but surely a worthy experience with its world and lore. The grounding of the game in folklore and an incentive to explore the folklore notes for riddles made a great experience. the puzzles themselves and writing around them was really entertaining and the plot (as little as I played it) felt like a classic fairy tale... or an old folk tale for that matter (which only adds to the experience) What did not grip me (and made me end wventually) was the gameplay of the card game battles. The card mechanics feel like they have potential to be entertaining. But getting to the point where that potential can be reached feels like a bit of a slog - it takes several battles to get enough experience and a range of cards to start having fun, and each battle is just long enough to get a little sluggish at some point. In short, a game which I'd like to enjoy more of, but just don't have enough patience for. Still worth a try for folks who sre there for the long run.

fully recommend to someone that wants to poke around Slavic folklore and culture. i had fun playing with the MC and seeing how she either chooses to be literally plagued by demons or send them to cause chaos elsewhere. like yeah you can be all nice in the main storyline, but you're literally cursing people and killing crops, damn right your "sin" count is that high.

The game integrates culture and worldbuilding very well, which reminded me of Golden Kamuy, a manga I really like! The characters in this game, shaped by its setting and era, felt well-developed, and the narrative choices are also well-designed, which kept me immersed until the end. (the ending made me really sad!!) The battle system felt a bit unbalanced, but since I wasn’t too focused on it, I stuck with one effective deck and spent most of the focus on the story lol. The game’s storytelling, worldbuilding, narrative choices, and dialogue made the experience really enjoyable and beautiful. I’d recommend it to players drawn to its worldbuilding and story.

A card game which a mix of choice matters decision. The game mainly based on Russia mythology and belief. There are two main mechanics to receive EXP. One is to kill demons via the card game mechanics. Other is to answer the riddle or make a right decision. Most of the answers are in the hidden lore that provide in the game as you progress further. However, for a person who want to only play the card game might feels a little bit overwhelm with these lore and text. The game also adding other game mechanic here and there such as espionage, puzzle, point and click. One thing I have a trouble with is when you have to controlled your character walking in a specific place. Which is a little bit clunky. Overall. It is a good card game. Take time to understand. Not as great as Slay the spire but quite fun and manage to hold attention until I finish the game within 35 hours.

This game has a great story, lots of content, and was overall really fun.

Just not for me. Maybe if I got past where I am at it will liven up, but it is just boring. Dialogue is lame. Voice acting is bad. I generally would be interested in the lore but the presentation makes me sleepy. Terminology is odd for cards. Walking around clicking on things is lame.

On Chapter 3 and really enjoying it so far! The mythology is interesting, the variety of 'gimmicks' in the enemy fights are good, it's really satisfying when you build up good synergy with your cards and when you level up. My hot tip: Have English subtitles and Russian voice. The English voice acting is embarrassing.

Very lovely game with great atmosphere. You can really feel the nature of people from the time od 19th century of Russia. A lot of mythology and folkloric stuff around. Love it! But some puzzles can be challenging.

Tbh, game is quiet good in the start - the lore and the premise is perfect but i do feel like the story is TOO long. The momentum it built went down the drain as tasks became too repetitive. Sad though as the game is promising.