Demon's Mirror Reviews

Having beat the true ending to Demon's Mirror I think it's a great game. But it can be quite hard to play. You get a choice of three characters and there's two ways to beat your opponents (and yes, you will almost always be outnumbered). One is making use of the cards and the other is matching tiles. You need to make use of both to actually beat the game but you really have to control how much either action costs. It's not easy but in comparison to some others (like Banner of Ruin) this really can be done with enough practice. As far as the art direction goes it's nice, the monsters are perfectly monstrous and the protagonists all have really good anthro designs. My favorite part is how the lore is delivered, it's mostly done through the cards. The true ending ties everything up but the perceptive will understand why every character is stuck in the mirror realm and why simply from looking at the names of the cards and the card art of each character. Characterization through card art is an inspired choice. If you are like me and you still love that Match 3 era of gaming that games like Bejeweled popularized but you also like the deck building system that Slay the Spire popularized then this game will really fill that void well. (If you want match 3 but without the cards I would recommend Witching Stone which is also a good game). Now, if you are post purchase and still stuck and want some kind of help. Here's my advice. Wulf: Focus on strength and cards that deal bonus damage with strength and essence. Draga: Draga has a cycle. Match a tile when cost is one, matching a tile lowers the cost of the cards in your hand. Play a card with 0 cost (or hold onto it for later) or another insight card. Repeat that pattern and it doesn't really matter what cards you have. Axo: Axo has a special tile that lowers the cost of a match when used in any tile match with two of them making the cost zero. So the objective is to get a bunch of these tiles through cards and willpower and deal a lot of damage through attack tiles and cards that apply shock debuffs (that go off everytime you match a tile). The First area you want as many encounters as possible, especially boss encounters, Second area you want to avoid boss encounters and always have a trail that leads to a campfire. Third area you want as few encounters as possible. Priortize any other event, even merchant areas when you're broke. Every fight gets harder the longer it goes on so cards and trinkets that make tile matching and card plays more affordable or free are pivotal to maintaining momentum. And just take Calculating. It's the best card in the game.

Quite a fun game! It basically mix deckbuilder with a match-3-like ressource collection mechanic(it's more about moving pieces and doing the longest connection of the ressource you need in one go), and it DO succeed at making that formula works well in a way that feel cohesive and not artificial. each of the 3 character have significantly different gameplay and even thought the simpler character sounds like the best solution, the more complex one ended up being more fun to play as, without feling too risky to use. The fight CAN get slow, but thankfully there's some difficulty modifier you can activate to turn all into your advantage, and the game won't penalize you for doing that, so that ultimately wasn't an issue in the end. The unlocks that 'improve' your characters with more possible cards and relics are also slow to be dished out, however everyone come already with enough tool to beat the game so that too wasn't an issue ultimately. The only real downside is that there isn't a tons ov possible variation in the ennemies and bosses between playthrought. there IS some, enought to keep you entertained until you fully finish the game, but it also mean that the replay value will be little afterward if we don't count the modifier that make the game harder. Still, as someone that enjoy slay the spire-style games and can be picky about them, this is definitely one of the good one, This game was a welcome surprise! :) ...oh and the 3 playable characters are cuties, that also help! :P