It was meant to be a step into new territory for developer Klei, however, during development things didn’t quite mesh together, resulting in a pivot revealed during this year’s E3. It’s a shame the soundtrack isn’t available on Spotify or YouTube – it’s worth listening to outside of the game.Griftlands’ first reveal came with the promise of an RPG set in an expansive open world and featuring turn-based combat. Put together by Jim Guthrie, it perfectly captures the feel of a gritty post-apocalyptic world where anything can be had for the right price. While the art is top notch, where Griftlands really shines is its soundtrack. The character animations, voices, and combat animations are nice, though. Everything takes place on a single map, so you’re watching your character’s icon move around the same space. Klei took a 2D animated approach to the game, making it feel like an interactive comic book of sorts. If a character hates you, it unlocks a bane negative perk that can influence the battle if they attack you. If you resolve every scuffle by killing your opponent, you’ll quickly make enemies of most of the characters. Each character belongs to a faction and has friends and their own motivations. You’ll also have to manage your reputation among the many characters of the Griftlands. You can rest up at the end of each day to recover some health, or buy food items that appear as cards to work heals into your deck when you need them. I would have been nice to feel like negotiating with someone isn’t just slamming the right cards down at the right time.Īside from managing your card decks for survival, you’ll also have to pay close attention to your health, resolve, and money. It’s refreshing to have a game that focuses on other ways to end encounters, but negotiation decks didn’t feel fundamentally different than combat decks. Negotiation involves breaking through your opponent’s arguments and protecting your own with concrete evidence, kind of like shielding your combat cards. Both decks play out similarly, with successful negotiations often avoiding combat. Griftlands gives you two decks to manage – combat and negotiation. I played on normal difficulty, which I felt like had a healthy mix of challenge and breeze-through battles. It didn’t impact my ability to win against the final boss, but it did present some interesting challenges. If you end up in a fight, killing them could have drawbacks down the line.īy the time I finished my first play through, most of the Admiralty hated me for flaunting their rules in Murder Bay. Say you’re carrying contraband and get stopped by the cops. Traveling around has a chance to generate random encounters, which can influence how the play through goes. Gameplay takes place entirely on two screens – traveling the map and the combat screen. You’ll also unlock brawl mode for each character after winning a narrative run at least once with the character. Players must win a game as Sal Fallon the bounty hunter to unlock Rook and Smith. There are currently three playable characters, each with their own motivations and back stories. Story mode allows you to fail encounters and live with the consequences. The standard mode includes permadeath for an iron man roguelite experience. The whole world feels alive as characters react to how you choose to solve situations. There are three characters with fully distinct storylines, and several outcomes depending on how you play. Players start with Sal the Bounty Hunter unlocked. Players get a negotiation and combat deck to manage that can be built out in a variety of ways. Griftlands is no different, combining a world rich with lore that reacts to your actions with card-based conflict resolution. Klei Entertainment has a reputation for successfully melding multiple genres together into an excellent gaming experience. Will you survive the Griftlands or fall another nameless victim on the dusty road to Murder Bay? Klei experiments with a narrative-heavy deck building game and it works.
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