Few artists have left as big a mark on the gaming industry as Kazuma Kaneko, the famed Demon Artist, who is known for mixing old folklore with modern elements, which come together to create stunning urban worlds filled with supernatural elements. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that he has taken his art into the modern roguelike deckbuilder by offering to the world Kazuma Kaneko’s Tsukuyomi, blending the genre with some traditional JRPG monster-collecting elements. Will this mix of new and old strike a harmonious balance?
It is hard not to feel a strong sense of nostalgia when booting up this latest roguelike deckbuilder. For any fans of the Shin Megami Tensei series, the sense of familiarity in Tsukuyomi is striking, and that is not odd at all. The famous artist Kazuma Kaneko, who has worked on the series for decades, has been one of the leading minds in the overall worldbuilding and art. Tsukuyomi has a way with mixing old folklore with more modern elements. This creates a very unsettling atmosphere as it adds to the feeling that these myths could truly exist. It also contributes to the curiosity and fascination of encountering new deities and demons.
All of this happens both through the dungeons themselves and through a gacha-like system. How they intertwine is quite interesting and draws on elements from different progress philosophies, blending monster collecting with randomised deckbuilder mechanics. The gacha aspect provides access to different deities after a set number of encounters. Which one you get is, in part, random, but also based on your choices. Afterwards, one can freely pick them up when offered a new one, not only in the current run but also in future ones. Then there are the demons that are gained through regular roguelike dungeon gameplay. This focuses more on giving the player access to random cards and upgrades throughout the run.
While both of these systems are fun, there is an imbalance between them. The issue is that there are far too few cards in the randomised dungeon card pool, which means players are likely to reliably find the cards they want. Another problem is that many of those cards are often just straight-up worse than some deity cards obtained through the gacha, which can be handpicked. Additionally, Tsukuyomi uses a combat engine in which you draw a card each time you use one. It doesn’t take long to figure out that a thinner deck is better, as the player wants to cycle through the deck each turn. Logically, these cards are preferably the stronger deity cards, making the random demon ones upgrade fodder most of the time.
Due to that issue each run will feel very similar over time once a sizeable collection of strong selectable cards has been built. This removes much of the roguelike elements, making it lean too heavily into a pure monster-collecting RPG. While this will not be a problem for those who are into these sorts of experiences, fans of roguelikes might be a bit peeved about the fact that each run quickly gets eerily similar to one another. Especially as this negatively impacts the need to adapt on the spot, which the genre is known for.
Thankfully, the main story solves this in an interesting way. Later boss fights specifically target the most powerful strategies players gravitate to, forcing one to try different builds and adapt on the spot. While this works for the main story, it has the opposite effect in randomised post-game content. Building a unique deck for the final boss is fun, but not knowing your opponent limits options further. The goal shifts from making an interesting deck to building one that counters every boss. As an example, hate-tech is so strong that any deck countered by it risks losing with no way to prevent it.
Hate mechanics are nothing new to the genre and are needed. However, most games have these at a reasonable level. Take Slay the Spire as an example. While Time Eater punishes decks that rely on playing long combo chains, these decks can still reasonably win if they take this into account. In Tsukuyomi, if one plays a combo attack deck and faces a boss that not only reduces damage but also returns it, they have no mathematical chance at all. The hate is just too strong. Unless players have unlocked the right deity card, there are no counterplays they can get on a floor. It feels like an odd freemium mechanic leftover from the game’s smartphone roots.
All this aside, Tsukuyomi is still a highly addictive dungeon crawler. The deckbuilder elements create very complex play chains. With the intricate boss fights it also never gets boring, despite its predictability. The art style, world and game mechanics all share a common theme of interchronality that feels ever-present and adds to the gnosis-based mysticism that inspires the game. Tsukuyomi always asks the player questions; questions with outcomes that affect both the moral compass and gameplay mechanics. This encourages them to make choices that are sometimes seen as immoral, and to explore all possibilities and find their own balance.
The choices are not always clean cut from a moral perspective. One encounter has the player meeting an overly obsessed girl who is looking to buy the best gift ever for the person she loves. The player is then given the choice to either talk her out of it or help her do it, neither of which is clearly good or bad. In these moments, Tsukuyomi shows its true genius. It is just a shame that more time wasn’t spent expanding this throughout the story. Actual macro choices affecting the main story would have been very welcome. Not because the story is bad, but because they could add that extra layer to really hit the gnostic themes home.
It is hard not to fall deeply in love with this title as a JRPG fan. However, it might be a bit harder for those into roguelike deckbuilders – and that is fine. As a river to the deckbuilder genre, it is phenomenal. The main story gently carries the player into the genre’s mechanics like a ferryman. Don’t expect it to be a two-way ride, though, as the JRPG progression system might be seen as a nuisance to fans of traditional deckbuilders, as it does get in the way of the random nature of the genre.
