Foretales Reviews

.

Peak

Shoebill

Good looking, normal gameplay

Good mechanics, cool concept, though the looping can take a bit too long.

I give this game a rank D+ (50-55%) Forgettable game - sadly nothing really good here.. See my profile for more details about my reviews. Oh no! I am so disappointed and I feel quite sad to give this game a 52%. It is almost mediocre, if it was not for the art (fantastic) and the story (quite intriguing). Unfortunately, I was really hoping Foretales would provide with a great gameplay, that is a compelling card mechanism such as all the recent games (Slay the Spire, Inscryption, Heartstone, millions out there...). Add to that the idea that a story is narrated through that feature, sounds so cool and promising!... ...but I guess I should have known. This is great on paper, but in reality, basing a story on card gameplay has 99% chances of ending in a great card game with poor story, or a bad card game with a cool story.... and Foretales is the latter. Cool story, beautiful art, interesting world and lore, all of which I would have pleasure discovering in a graphic novel or an animated series. But the game itself? It is quite poor, very repetitive, completely unintuitive and obscure, and the simple actions you take in this game are everything but compelling and exciting: to discover a new location? play a card. To talk to a new character? play a card. To gather resources? play a card. To fight an enemy? play... lots of cards. This feels more like War or Uno type of quality mechanisms. Talking about the fights, they are entirely uninteresting and superfluous. You just DON'T want to do them, but most of the time you won't avoid them. I have been trying to play this game more than an hour after the second mission... but I am so, so bored! This is NOT a good sign in a card game, a genre that is supposed to grab you with addictive features. Too bad. Maybe some people out there might be less demanding with the gameplay and will be able to enjoy the story - I wish I could, it looked interesting! [b]Hem[/b] is [b]live[/b] on [b][url=https://www.twitch.tv/hemandwatch]Hem & Watch[/url][/b]

The narrative experience the game promises ultimately becomes undone by repetition: of locations, of outcomes, of challenges and of solutions. Places you care about often hide in the "I'll be here in 20 mins" category making many missions about as satisfying as waiting for an Amazon delivery. The openness still feels railroaded because there's no plot relevance for the majority of your actions. There is an abundance of choice, but meaning remains scarce. That said, I almost didn't write this because the game is full of love and polish. There are many mechanics that work well and I enjoyed my time with it - albeit, short. So, I would recommend if you don't mind games that feel too "hand-holdy". PS: The swap card mechanic needs rethought because we cannot see the actions of the card we swap to, so it's essentially guessing when a particular card is needed.

This game allows for you to explore all the different kinds of interactions each card has with each other, and because this game has so many different interactions, each play through has its own unique challenges. Exploring and unlocking requires strategy, preparation, and sometimes even the right choices. I even often find myself wanting to go back and reconsider a choice I've made in the past. What could make this game better would be giving each character their own voice lines. I also would have loved more opportunities to gain more skill cards, or even be able to choose a loadout of skill cards and supplies before a mission.