Paperback Vol. 2 Reviews

Excellent deck-building game. Great adaptation. AI is decent in the single-player option. (I had incorrectly reviewed earlier that the AI option wasn't available. I was looking in the "Online" options but should have rather checked the "New Game" options. That out of the way, I could play the game with the AI and the game was a hit for me!)

This is a very good word game with some quirks. There are several scoring bugs that I didn't notice in the first version. Sometimes it will give an extra point for no reason, other times it will ignore the effects on the special cards. The "three consonants in a row" scores when it shouldn't, and "bonus for being adjacent to the common vowel" doesn't score when it should. The list of permissible words is bizarre. "Knob", "boner" and "cock" are invalid, but "knobs", "boners" and "cocks" are valid. Apparently, while a single boner is offensive, an indefinite number of boners, possibly millions of them, is OK. Go figure. Basic words like "flange", "stent" and "latin" are missing, but many French words are included, such as "matin" and "eclat", as are other foreign words like "seitan" and "paisan". "Beirut" is not a valid word, but "Zaire" (the name of a country that hasn't existed for over 25 years) is. Even with the bugs, it's still super fun.

[h1]Game Review from 30 Minutes of Play[/h1] Reminding myself if I should revisit and if you should purchase. [b]ELEVATOR PITCH: Scrabble with Cards, but more Faster and Fun![/b] LIKED: Time tested board/card game in digital format now revised. DISLIKED: It could use a better UI overhaul. Unlike Paperback Adventures, having a large vocabulary to lean on will help you win. [b]===== Mood After 30mins =====[/b] ☐ Addicted ☑ Afternoon delight ☐ Grindfest ☐ Frustrated [b]===== Will I Revisit =====[/b] ☐ Yes, I aim to 100% complete ☐ Yes, but only beat the game ☑ Eventually. Until then, back to the pile ☐ No, on to other games [b]===== Price =====[/b] ☐ Full price worthy ☐ Discount ☑ Deep discount ☐ Pass [b]Disclaimer:[/b] [i]I'm aware 30 minutes is not enough time to properly review any game. Historically, I'm a big completionist when it comes to gaming, but my backlog will just not die and adulting obligations continue to mount. I needed to find some sense of accomplishment with my backlog other than buying them at great discount. Dedicating at least 30 minutes of play per game will be my arbitrary sense of achievement. It may not justify my gaming spending habits, but I'll suffer less buyer's remorse. Who knows, in 30 minutes I might discover a great game I want to revisit and something you want to purchase. GGs![/i]

I have backed the physical version of the game and as a bonus I was given this electonic version for free. It doesn't change the fact that I really enjoy playing it, whatever the version. Big bonus, the digital version has slight differences from the physical one (on purpose) which makes it a nice chenge and give me other ideas to implement in the physical version. So it's a great word based deckbuilder, with a lot of adventure, fighting bosses, and getting better items and letter to fight bigger monsters. The rogulike aspect of the game is definitely a great plus!

I am so addicted to this game. I just wish the piles wouldn't run out as quickly as they do; maybe there could be an adjustment to the game that when a pile is about to be cleared (not talking about the wild piles but the normal piles of cards with points used to form words), it could refill back with the original rotation of cards for that pile. That way I could play longer. That's not a negative--That's just letting you know that I don't like it when games end due to an empty pick pile ;-) That being said, thanks for offering an online version of this game :)

no happy with how the publisher abandoned the online play of the previous version. We were forced to buy a new version and the game isn't as good. Graphics are worse and game play more clunky.

If Scrabble and a deck builder had a baby, this would be it. If you like word building and you like deck builders, you will like this game. It's an excellent digitalization of the tabletop board game. It's not too long to play and can be played coop/solo/online as well as against the AI. I recommend it.

I have the Original digital Paperback game here on Steam. I play it constantly. It is the perfect game for those moments when you sit down with a cuppa and want something to play that is fast and satisfying for those filler moments. I have the physical card game but sadly no one to play it with. I was very excited to see the New Paperback Vol. 2 available and grabbed a copy straight away! I was not disappointed (I did not expect to be) with this new iteration. I like the new crisper design. Fun new cards and mechanics to add spice to a firm favourite. Now I just need to sit back, relax and play to my hearts content so I can discover all the aspects. I also need to see if I can beat my highest score from the original game.

Myself and 3 friends all purchased to play online together. The interface looks.... ok. However, the multiplayer implementation is atrocious. The other 3 players all have to sit in the lobby and stare at a blank page. This is crazy. When you are playing Paperback or Hardback physical edition, while other people are taking their turn, you are busy thinking about your own word. So not only are you bored to death while waiting for your turn, but the game will take 4 times longer. I avoided purchasing the first version of Paperback because of the reviews saying it was a bug ridden mess. I was happy a new developer was found and a second version made - but it seems another low cost developer was picked out of a hat and given a blank page without any sort of remit or play testing. Now although both versions of Paperback are a major flop (which is very sad) - I do recommend checking out 'Paperback Adventures' which is currently in Early Access and is off to a quite good start. I hope Hardback is made into a Steam game - but please ask a board game developer with a track record of 'Very Positive' scored games to make it - there are a few good developers out there making multiple board games.

[b]edit:[/b] took them long enough but a patch added volume settings and fixed a few bugs (no word on an exit button). not buying the game again, but it's supposedly in a less shitty state now. a good word game is hard to find. especially one that's done well, not just a [b]good idea executed horribly for the second time[/b], like [b]paperback vol. 2[/b]. I'll re-use some of [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/710700]my original paperback review[/url] because the devs did the same with the game itself. so it's another attempt at the digital version of a board game I haven't played. technically it shouldn't be called lazy because nearly 5 years after the disaster that was the original, they reportedly [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/2017460/discussions/0/5913806367102483567/]rebuilt the whole thing in unity[/url] and added some new stuff, yet [b]still couldn't be bothered to add basic functionality[/b], not even for the game's 10th anniversary. so yeah, it's lazy as fuck still. they probably thought [i]'the board game doesn't have volume settings either, why bother?'[/i] what a joke. and they're calling the carbon copy that is vol2 'unique'. [b]imagine a word game using a word incorrectly for marketing, on top of being misleading by calling it volume 2 when it's not.[/b] disgusting. I covered the rules in my original review (use cards with letters to make words, buy more cards with points, repeat), and [b]the almost only difference here is working online multiplayer, for now anyway, but it requires a 3rd-party account[/b]. it's still for [b]up to 4 players[/b], the ai still has 3 difficulty levels, but there's [b]co-op[/b] now as well, plus a few 'mini-expansions', as the store page refers to them. none of them are explained in the game though. there's a [b]log of the happenings[/b] once again, [b]would be useful if it could be scrolled at all[/b]. mouse wheel does barely noticable things to it and the scrollbar isn't interactable. an absolute farce. the dictionary will always be iffy in these things, with many words not recognized, however, [b]you can continue an unfinished game now[/b]. honestly wasn't expecting it, but of course one basic feature a recommendable game does not make. also, [b]quitting mid-game wipes the log[/b]. since it can't be scrolled, it's just insult to injury. graphics are still fine because they're mostly the same assets and style, but even though [b]alt+tab now works to go full screen[/b] (thanks to unity, nothing to do with the dev), it's still far from acceptable. by default it's [b]4:3 with ugly black bars in a 2022 game, unless you painstakingly resize the window to match your monitor's resolution, as no such options are included, of course[/b]. or edit the registry entry because why not do the lazy developer's work for them? window size is kept between sessions at least. they managed to get rid of some (maybe all) instance of 'tap' in the interface, but it's still not the best or even good. [b]can't simply close the alphabet screen after clicking a wildcard[/b] if you change your mind, gotta pick a letter first, then click the card again to remove it from the word-making area. surprising nobody, [b]settings are still practically non-existant[/b]. there's a [b]'fast animations' toggle that doesn't speed things up at all[/b], everythingh takes at least as long as in the original. can't turn any of the animations off either, [b]no difference in overall time-wasting[/b]. there's an automatic spell-check toggle, and these must've taken 5 years to code (along with a 'back' button in the how to play section) because there are [b]still no volume settings[/b], only separate toggles. oh, and [b]no exit button, one of the only working 'features' of the original[/b]. congratulations on taking a million steps back. [b]the real board game still has better functionality, as you can just tell people you're playing with to speak less loudly.[/b] they could've replaced the original with the new (barely) working version but no, [b]wanna keep playing online? pay again, sucker![/b] (the first game only became free recently.) despicable. and [b]who's to say they're not gonna pull the same shit again with a so-called 'vol. 3' in a couple years?[/b] I wasn't going to buy this at all, but figured might as well warn people of the shenanigans. picked it up at -87% and still refunded, not for the 73 cents but the principle. also, [b]it's on mobile for $5 (and occasionally free)[/b], not much of a difference from the full price of the pc version, except it's the same lazy shit without necessary improvements.