Abalon (formerly Summoners Fate) Reviews

fun game w/ the devs dedicated to improving it all the time!

Very nice dungeon crawler, with a lot of different characters, interesting gameplay.

I play this on mobile, so my hours may not match my actual hours. I am very happy with this game, it is cute and casual. However, there are ways to make it more difficult and enticing. Developer cares very much and does their best to make things happen, and that means a lot to me.

A very fun roguelike with plenty of summons and combinations. I enjoy the synergies and mix of summoners to play as too!! Although half of my time is played on the IOS version, It's constantly updated and I haven't encountered very many (if any at all) bugs. Although I do wish there were more skeletons and undead... always need more skeletons..

Great game. I would write more but typing on the deck sucks. It's worth $30 if you enjoy this genre.

[h1][b] TLDR: The best roguelike card game I’ve played since Slay the Spire. Differentiates itself enough to make it a very fun experience of deck-building possibilities. Don’t miss this if you like card games.[/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1] ➕Artwork ➕Leaderboards and stats ➕Active developer that listens to community feedback ➕Good quality of life - teleport, skip enemy turn, redo last action, retreat from combat ➕Many different class (Summoners) options ➕D&D elements ➕Fun and interesting cards [h1]CONS: [/h1] ➖No way to view the cards the enemy used(?), you have to rewatch the previous turn ➖Can be incredibly difficult, even on the easiest mode ➖Could use better build options other than simply monster types [h1] [b] Content (Game world/Narrative) – [7/10] [/b] [/h1] The game world here is a top-down 2D plane that consists of a variety of different biomes - forests, deserts, dungeons, snowy, ect. The thing that was most interesting to me with the game world is how spells interact with it. The best example of this might be a druid that can turn plant or tree objects into friendly units. This of course means that this playstyle suffers in places like dungeons or deserts, areas without much vegetation, but I like how the world can play a small part in your build decision. Also, there are numerous events to encounter while you explore the area. Think of it kind of like Slay the Spire, but instead of having paths that you walk to, you have a grid-based map and each grid can have a shop, enemy, treasure, or event. Add in rolling the dice to influence events, and you have a good world with solid player engagement. The narrative seems non-existent other than to kill the evil bosses. [h1][b] Gameplay (Mechanics/Difficulty) – [8/10] [/b] [/h1] The mechanics here are very fun and mesh together some of my favorite RPG styles. First, you start off choosing a “Summoner” between many different choices. This summoner acts as a card that you control and walk around with on the field, as such they have stats kind of like a Hearthstone class - HP, attack, and sometimes armor along with various effects. Next, you start your journey walking around a map and defeating enemies. When you complete battles or events, you add cards to your deck. Each card when played is completely used up and moved into your discard pile. All damage you and your companions take is not recovered until you rest, which then reshuffles your discard pile back into your deck. You have a hard cap of 20 cards maximum, so by the time you reach the 2nd or 3rd area, you will have a variety of cards that you can then include or exclude to make a build. What I like here is it seems that pretty much every card has a use. Even a 0 cost 1/1 squirrel can be used as bait to attack an enemy to prompt their counter attack so your other units can gang up on the enemy without fear of reprisal. Add in dice rolls for events, hefty D&D elements, extensive stats, leaderboards, and quality of life and I am really enjoying this game. But, it can be very difficult. After winning a match on the lowest difficulty, I turned it up once and proceeded to get obliterated three times in a row. So I turned it back to the lowest difficulty then proceeded to lose again multiple times. This makes me think that the difficulty can somewhat be RNG based. Maybe I got a really good build for my first win or got lucky? When you die, the game gives you limited retries before its game over, so there’s a small safety cushion, but I still can’t help but feel that some of the elite battles in the first zone can be deceptively overpowered. [h1] [b] Graphics (Quality/Technical) – [7/10] [/b] [/h1] Pretty good. The visuals remind me of a cartoony Diablo (it's the top-down perspective). The fidelity is high quality and the art style is done well. The text on the cards are readable on my PC, but I'm definitely interested in trying this on my Steam Deck, and will update this part of the review if I find it unreadable. Technical side, no issues or bugs noticed. Runs smooth as butter. i9-13900KF | RTX 4090 | 64GB RAM | 1440p @ 240hz | Windows 11 installed on SSD [h1] [b] Audio – [7/10] [/b] [/h1] Good audio - each zone as its own music as well as the battle music when fighting. Also merchant music. I don’t believe there is any voice acting other than maybe exertion grunts and the “COMBO!” announcer guy. [h1] [b] Replay Factor (Longevity) – [7/10] [/b] [/h1] Similar to Slay the Spire, aside from the traditional difficulty modes, there is a scaling difficulty similar to Ascension. Each class also levels up and unlocks better starting options. A full run generally took me about ~5 hours, which is pretty hefty in my opinion for a roguelike. I would end up exploring the maps to completion which increases time. [h1] [b] Final Verdict – [8/10] [/b] [/h1] Abalon is truly a gem if you are into card game roguelikes. It came out of nowhere and won me over with its mesh of different games. It’s got the Hearthstone-esque cards, the Slay the Spire roguelike elements and the D&D dice RNG and battle system. There are tons of classes to choose from, each with their own unique powers and card library. I had a lot of fun trying out different characters and playing around with the card potential. I didn’t find many negatives, perhaps the difficulty can be overwhelming and oftentimes RNG-based. I’ve had runs on normal where I made it to the 3rd map easily, then I’ve had runs on easy where I get slaughtered on the first area. I didn’t feel like this was a L2P issue so much as a RNG issue. When you’re starting out you only have so few options available and when each normal encounter crushes you, it's a bit disappointing. Overall, Abalon is easily worth checking out. It’s the best roguelike deckbuilder I’ve played in years and is truly able to stand next to the greats like Slay the Spire. [h1] [b] Recommend? (Price) [Y/N] [/b] [/h1] [h1]Yes[/h1] $30 base price is a hefty ask, but the game has enough replayability to consider it. While I would say that full price is a good purchase, I think $20 is a much better option. You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR

One of the best games I have ever played. Great Developer feedback & updates.