Prismata Reviews

Really fun strategy game. Creating and executing your own plan from a pool of unique units is such a satisfying feeling. No RNG is a huge plus. Comes with a bunch of puzzles and a pretty decent campaign so far. The gameplay has an absurb amount of depth but isn't too difficult to figure out at a basic level. Artwork can sometimes be lacking but there's a bunch of cool skins so I'd say it makes up for it. The devs are very active in the community and there's lots of events.

Incredible game with no hidden information and no RNG (except at the very top skill level, there is some RNG in some sets depending on who goes first/second). Too bad not many people play :(

Since this is going f2p in a few hours, here my review. I bought Prismata Early Access in spring this year after seeing a video about it and it was worth every cent! I even bought further supporter packs beyond the Early Access price. Prismata is a neat (complex) strategy game... basically SC2 but turn based and without map. It has an easy entry through the first campaign (which is free... see pricing model below), which introduces the basic concepts and those are further extended in the combat trainings. After that one can basically start plaing against human players or bot in the core game. It has a high learning curve though because of the mass of units, but there is already a lot of material out there for those willing to learn and the community is really helpful. If you managed to climb that curve, the game gets really satisfying. Because there is no RNG except who goes first, you either win because you were better, or you lose because you were worse... but most of the time see why and learn from your mistakes (and if not, hop into the replay and analyze the game ;) ). Win-Win basically :) Since the game is f2p, there is no reason to not at least try it. Beyond the campaign because the core game is quite different from those puzzles (though there are fun), be it against basic bots. Pricing: The multiplayer part is completely FREE! The only thing buyable are skins for your units and some single player stuff (campaigns 2+, puzzle packs). TLDR: The game is free and insanely good and fun, though pretty difficult. No reason not to try it if you like to think for a change.

The easiest way to describe Prismata is to call it a RTS-themed (think Starcraft) chess. Chess comparison comes from the fact it has 0 RNG of any kind and no hidden info so the game is deterministic i.e. one of the players has a guaranteed win based on the starting positions. But just like Chess, Prismata is incredibly complex where solving it is impossible. Players start with 6 or 7 Drones that harvest gold (2nd player starts with 1 extra drone to compensate), gold buys you technology structures that produce blue/red/green resources (not official names, but that's the accepted naming convention in the community). Subsequently gold and tech resources buy attackers/defenders and your goal is to kill opponent's units while protecting your fragile drones and attackers. Sounds simple at its core. The biggest draw to Prismata IMO is the fact that even though it is deterministic, games play out completely differently each time and you aren't required to memorize openings like in a game like Chess. This is achieved by giving players random units each game (There's about 100 units in the random unit pool right now and each game you get 5-11 random ones, 8 being the number for standard 'tournament' mode). "Wait, didn't you say there is no RNG?". Yes and I wasn't lying - even though the units change, they are mirrored for both players! Once the game starts, nothing will depend upon RNG determining the outcome, it's up to your and your ability to come up and execute a superior strategy. A unit may be super good in a particular set of units, but get completely countered in another - figuring out which strategy to choose is a challenging but fun task. Another cool part is that players don't own the "cards" (units), all the units are available to everyone in competitive PvP mode so there's absolutely 0 gameplay advantage to paying players (they can get some sweet cosmetics though!). This also means that devs have no qualms about balancing units - no one can complain that their cards got nerfed so devs can act swiftly and keep the balance at the top notch state. If talking about the cons of the game graphics definitely stand out - the art may seem a bit "cheap" and the play screen may seem bland and generic. It obviously has a lot to do with the fact that developing team is small (3-5 people) and don't have a huge budget, but it's also because devs favour functionality and clarity over flashiness. The gamestate in Prismata can get rather complex with nearly 100 units on each side in some cases so unnecessary animations/flashy effects would slow down the game and clutter the screen. Another downside to a lot of players may be that the game has no comeback mechanics, if you fall behind and your opponent overwhelmed you, you dont have a path to counter him most of the time - the game snowballs. So an early mistake or inefficiency in your build may easily get punished down the line by good players. The upside of this though is that if you see you are clearly behind, there's no need to wait until you "bleed out", you can concede and move on to the next game, trying not to repeat the same mistake again in the future. In some games with uncertainity/hidden info sometimes you know you have only 5% chance to win, but you sort of have to stick around for another 15-20 minutes just in case opponent makes a mistake which can be incredibly frustrating. The game also has a lot of great features. Replays seems like no brainer in a competitive game, but there's also a super easy way to share replays with other players through a replay code. This coupled with the fact that the game has 0 hidden info means there's no secret strategies to hide, you can very easily find replays of top players and see how they played a certain set. You can also spectate games very easily, like the top players playing on the ladder live. Another amazing feature is the ability to analyze a game - if you think you made a mistake at some point, you can go to that part of the replay and open it in analysis mode to play out the game from both players sides and see whether a different line of play might have changed the outcome. Overall Prismata is a unique strategy game with very deep and challenging gameplay if you decide to see past the bland exterior and decide to actually try it.

Prismata is a beautiful game. It may seem daunting at first, but the more you learn, the more you can see its beauty. The campaign is helpful as a tutorial for the first 5 missions or so. After that, give the 1v1 a try against some easy bots to figure out what you're aiming for because that's where the beauty is at. The tutorial is puzzley and fun, but not nearly as satisfying as the head to head fights. Learn what you can from some bots and casual matches, then watch some Msven and Amalloy (Alan Malloy) on Youtube to learn some finer points of strategy and you'll be well on your way. This game has an unlimited skill ceiling. You'll be learning new unit combos and interactions for as long as you play. It's worth your time.

Fun game, the AI is great and it has good features for learning like being able to roll back turns and sets of puzzles to teach concepts. Also, not really a card game. There's no deck, and both players have the same hand of 'cards' to play from, which is always full. So it's more like a unique board game or something with a card aesthetic. Give it a shot, it's free.

Prismata is a turn-based abstract Starcraft-esque game whereby both players have access to the same (randomized per match) set of units. Pros - No Collecting Legendary e-peen/cards: both players in a match always have access to the exact same tools (randomized sets of units). - 100+ Randomized units means that every match provides a fresh experience and keeps you on your toes. - No Pay 2 Win: only a generous Pay 2 Cosmetics Quicker system. - No BS RNG: when you lose it's because you were outplayed by your opponent. - Prismata allows for replaying and analyzing previous matches which encourages study, learning and eventual mastery of the game. Cons - Relatively small but healthy player base (100-200 concurrent players) but it will grow when the game goes F2P. If you've always wanted to play Starcraft but never had the APM to be a pro or if you've always wanted to play competitive card games but without any Pay2Win mechanics then you'll most likely fall in love with Prismata.

Summary: Prismata is turn-based Starcraft meets Magic: the Gathering. It's recommended if you like the resource management and build optimization of Starcraft, but find unit micromanagement frustrating. Also recommended if you like the tactical gameplay of Magic: the Gathering, but dislike the cost of collecting cards and dislike games being determined by which player draws the right cards. Pros: - Deep and unique strategic gameplay - All players on an even playing field - Every game plays out differently - Excellent, non-cheating AI with a broad range of difficulties - Rich support for competitive play - Very affordable Cons: - Small, hardcore playerbase - Sometimes makes me feel dumb - Skins only obtainable through a microtransaction slot machine Prismata is one of those rare genre-innovator games for which it is difficult to make direct comparisions to other games, but which is, in retrospect, surprising that something similar hasn't been done before. The best summary is "Starcraft, the card game." Over the course of a match, you and your opponent will take turns building units by spending resources in exchange for playing cards to form a tableu of units, selecting some units to attack your opponent, and managing your defenses. However, instead of playing units from a hand of cards, they are built from a card pool which allows all units to be built at any time, provided you have the required resources available. This unit pool of fifteen to twenty-two units is randomly generated at the start of each match from a library of more than one hundred options, changing the optimal strategy each game, and rewarding the player more able to adapt their own strategy to the available choices. The units themselves are purchased using five different categories of resources. At the start of a match, you start with two engineers, which produce energy, and a handful of drones, which produce gold. (The first player gets six drones, and the second player gets seven.) You can use energy to produce more drones, and use gold to purchase other units and structures. These structures produce additional red, green and blue resources, which are further required to buy more advanced units. Some units are purely economic, others can attack your opponent, others defend against attacks, and some can do both. Many of the more expensive units have an ability which you can choose to activate once a turn, perhaps spending some resources, perhaps making that unit unavailable to defend, in exchange for some positive effect. The five categories of resources, the wide variety of units with unique effects, and the attacking and defending phases bring to mind Magic: the Gathering as a gameplay comparison. However, unlike Magic, the same units are available to both players during the game, and unlike Magic, there is no need to buy card packs in order to get access to units. Because the only randomness during the match is the selection of units available, and because the same units are available to both players, the winner of a match is determined only by he who makes the best decisions. This can be very rewarding when you win, but when you lose, there isn't anything to blame but your own poor performance. This isn't Hearthstone, where you can shift the blame to the random number generator. This isn't League of Legends, where you can scapegoat your teammates. The high learning curve of Prismata and lack of random elements means that acquiring the skills required to succeed against other players can be a frustrating experience. This is particularly the case because the player population is somewhat small, with less than two hundred players online at any given time, and quite hardcore. If you are the sort of player that is easily frustrated by losing, this may not the game for you. However, if you respond to a losing streak by trying to analyze your mistakes and attempt to "git gud", to put it in the parlance of our subculture, then Prismata will be a rewarding. The game does provide the tools for improving your performance. There is a replay system allow you to review your mistakes and do "what-if" scenarios to see if different decisions would have led to better results. You can also spectate top-level players in-game, making the game itself a rich environment to learn from the best. Mitigating the initially brutal multiplayer experience is a lengthy set of single-player battle training missions. These missions walk you through available tactics and strategies for effective Prismata play. You can expect to spend twenty hours or more progressing through the single player content. Also available is a very capable AI opponent, with many difficulty settings, which should allow anyone to find the right level of challenge. Currently, Prismata is available through Steam for $25 USD, and the value for dollar at that price point is very generous. However, be aware that Prismata will, in the future, be a free-to-play game with microtransactions. The full gameplay experience will be available for free. Whales will be on even footing with the completely free-to-play player. However, skins for your units are acquired through a microtransaction slot machine which seems optimally designed to bilk the potential problem gambler. A trifecta of exploitation makes this so: difficult to estimate probabilities, cognitive biases about loss aversion, and an in-game currency creating psychological distance from real-world dollar value. Of course, these skins are cosmetic only, providing no in-game advantage, so you are free to ignore them entirely. But the process of acquiring skins does feel a little slimey. I'd strongly prefer directly spending money on skins, instead. If you are interested in Prismata, I would recommend buying in at the asking price on Steam, since it does give you extra single player content, but if you are unwilling to pay the asking price and can't wait for the free-to-play roll out, be aware that sometimes streamers on Twitch have keys to give to new players, and apparently there is a Discord where you can ask for a key and get one. I've also seen the developer give keys to people asking about the game on the Prismata subreddit.

This game is the absolute pinnacle of turn-based strategy. It is really a surprise I only heard about this game now, a few days after the release on steam, even though the game has existed for over 3 years I heard. And why you definitely SHOULD buy this game? Here are a few examples of my reasons behind my decision to get Prismata: - I like chess, I've played HS, Gwent, Duel of Champions, Fire Emblem and loads of other different turn based strategy games, but I have never come across anything like Prismata before. The combination of no RNG(apart from coinflip, which has around the same effect as chess) and very complex game mechanics which need to be perfectly executed or you literally can lose instantly, really creates a very competetive and interesting game environment, where you always feel you can improve gameplaywise after any given game. - Prismata has been made super-indie, by only a couple of people and because of that has a completely different mindset compared to for example Duel of Champions, which is another game I also loved, although it was shut down by Ubisoft. The developers have clearly emphazised how much it means for them to create a no-p2w environment where you don't have to grind for the cards, or anything, although this is not a card game but a resource management game. Completely opposed to for example the "pay until you are broke" - method which sounds like to be the monetization option for Valve's newest "strategy" game Artifact and many other similar games in 1v1 strategy genre in general. - The developers have come up with a really clever solution to prevent the game from every getting solved, or repetitive, as the available "card" pool for both players is partly randomized every game. And yes for both players means both players have the same options, in every game, negating most balance issues with cards being overpowered or too weak, as you cannot choose what to take with you ingame. - The lack of deckbuilding was a weird thought for me at first, but it actually is the perfect solution for any game like this. The reason why card games or other strategy games which involve deck building of some kind get tiresome rather quickly, unless new cards are added very often, which has its own issues with balancing and older cards getting useless and price for new players etc. Although I repeat, this is NOT a card game even though it maybe might seem like one when you take a first look at the UI, I feel that comparisons to popular card games work well with this game, as the strategy is in the end somewhat similar, just without the surprise factor of your opponent having a hand you cannot see. When the options are open to inspection for both players, the mindgames really kick in. And as every game is different and you have to figure out a new strategy for every given game, and also look out for what your opponent is doing, the game will never feel stale! - Since steam release although the success isn't like HS level, I have had no trouble finding opponents when queueing. Also the AI is really challenging and the single player missions are already so difficult that it feels like they have a lot more content than they actually do, funnily enough. I like the art style of the game even though I have seen many people calling it "cheap" or "mobile like", but tbh I think for such a small development team the art style is more than good enough, and main plus I'd say every unit at least feels unique and distinct, thanks to the artwork. - Main positive is the mechanics though, but explaining all those in a single review might take a little too long, but I just say that after turn one, literally anything is possible. The units have cool combos and setting up situations where you will end up ahead in the long run is crucial to winning any game, and the key is WHEN to do things or not. Negatives: -Price of the game can feel a bit high (around 21€ for me with the first DLC) but it did feel worth it for me after I played a while. The game will likely be free to play some point but I wouldn't wait for it as the founder edition has some cool bonuses, like letting you unlock the various skins and other cosmetics for the units a lot easier. Talk about supporting a great game! - The skill ceiling is REALLY HIGH, like yeah this game is not for everyone, it can feel overwhelming without any experience about these kind of strategy games, and it will take a while even for more experienced puzzle solvers like me to get the hang of it. But if you feel like you are up for a challenge, you will get it. - If you require GWENT level of art, then maybe this game is not for you.

As someone who can only play StarCraft 2 with ~50APM and failed to defend fast pool everytime, I really love Prismata. A very complex and interesting turn based strategy game. Even as a professional mathematician, I find puzzles and matches in this game deep, hard and very exciting. Different from most of the modern card/turn based strategy games, this game has almost no RNG (except the coinflip in the beginning of each match, and randomized advanced units, which are the same for both side), and all information is open to both side, so calculation and prediction play very very important role here. The learning curve is somehow steep. More or less like a good RTS game, there are things to memorize: common openings, tricks and trades... But luckliy, there are very good articles about these aspects already: google Prismata library. Once you get over the basics, every game becomes very exciting and unique. That said, this game is not for everyone. It is for those people who like rigorous strategy and calculation, and hate the gamble effect RNG brings. A very unique game, also well polished. And somehow to my surprise, the in game chat and the community is very friendly, helpful and very warmful towards new players.