There are a lot of deckbuilder roguelikes out on the market at the moment, and few systems are as great to play these short-burst experiences on as the Nintendo Switch or other portable devices. They are perfect for both brief five-to-ten-minute sessions and extended marathons. It was, therefore, a pleasant surprise to see Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale get a Nintendo Switch release, letting people play the game on the go during coffee breaks at work and then finish a run at home in the comfort of their living room. How well does this port hold up, though? Read on as Cubed3 takes a peek at one of the more unique deckbuilders on the market.
Any fan of the deckbuilding genre can’t have missed the wonderful Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale. Like it or not, there is one thing it excels at that is a rarity in the genre: uniqueness. A lot of deckbuilders feel more like Slay the Spire clones than anything else, and for good reason. It is a safe and easy title to release, as people are always looking for more variations in the genre. It is a well-known phenomenon, even in the physical tabletop market where deckbuilders have been a staple for decades, starting with the wonderful Dominion, which shaped the market.
Therefore, it is really refreshing to see something entirely different and new. Unlike most digital deckbuilders, Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale isn’t a turn-based single-combat encounter kind of game; no, instead it is going for an approach where each ’round’ is a dungeon with multiple enemies to find and loot to obtain. The loot deck is built in a similar way to more traditional digital deckbuilders. The player starts with a starter deck containing some weak cards and then purchases, obtains, and removes new cards, just as they would in a normal game. However, there is where all similarities end.
Unlike most deckbuilders, the player’s loot deck is mixed with the enemy deck to create the dungeon. Then, as the dungeon progresses, cards are flipped from the top of the deck onto the 3×3 grid that makes up the dungeon, revealing either loot or foes, offering the thrill of decision making with every turn and maintaining engagement through the freedom of exploration. It’s a remarkably good game design that significantly enhances engagement and prevents the gameplay from feeling dull and repetitive.
Developers always takes a huge risk when creating something entirely new and unfamiliar, but somehow it works. While the system is complex and in-depth, it doesn’t deter even casual players initially. The first couple of dungeons in a run are always relatively simple, giving everyone a sort of training ground to get used to the gameplay mechanics. However, later dungeons start to ramp up the difficulty quite significantly, and if the player’s deck is just a messy mishmash of cards that does not work together, they will likely perish, which makes victory feel oh-so-good and well deserved.
To make these early dungeons feel exciting for experienced players as well, Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale has a smart system for rewarding the player after each fight. At the end of each battle, the player receives a few gems; however, they also earn extra gems for all pieces of loot they haven’t used. This makes even easy encounters feel engaging and like they are keeping people on edge, as these extra gems will be helpful later on to fine-tune the deck in the store.
The design is so clever, both for each individual dungeon, as well as for the pacing of a full run. It is easy to see why Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale has been a massive success, to the point that even five years after its initial release, it is still being ported to new systems. It is truly innovative and manages to be surprisingly balanced as well. It lacks the massive high rolls of something like Slay the Spire, but it also lacks some of the low rolls, and is therefore a way less luck-dependent experience.
In addition, it is brilliant how the game scales up in difficulty in the New Game+ mode. As with most great roguelikes, there are systems in place to gradually increase the difficulty over time as the player continues to beat the game. Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale handles this quite wonderfully, slowly ramping up the difficulty without being overwhelming, yet always keeps one on their toes. Another really fun game mode is an “endless dungeon” that continually fills itself with progressively more difficult enemies until inevitable failure. Sure, it takes away the deckbuilding from the game, but it makes the roguelike aspects shine even brighter.
There is, however, one issue with the Nintendo Switch version. In docked mode, it seems to be impossible to choose New Game+ as the game requires the use of touch controls to do so. This is a minor problem, as it can be easily resolved by simply removing the Switch from docked mode. Nevertheless, it is an issue that players should be aware of. Hopefully, this will be fixed in a future update.
All in all, Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale is quite a wonderful and creative digital deckbuilder that truly takes the concept and makes its own thing with it. That is really respectable in itself, but it also manages to strike a remarkably balanced difficulty level. To do something new is truly a challenging task, but to create something new that works phenomenally well is the hallmark of a great development studio. All credit where it is due, Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale is a title that is easy to recommend to anyone, newcomers and veterans alike, not just as a deckbuilder, but also as a puzzle game!
