Card-en-Ciel Review
Card Games in the Battle Network
Card-en-Ciel positions itself similarly to developer Inti Creates’ flagship franchise, Azure Striker Gunvolt. When the first Gunvolt game released, it was effectively sold as a spiritual successor to the Mega Man Zero games that Inti Creates had developed years prior. Card-en-Ciel likens itself to another Mega Man spinoff franchise, Mega Man Battle Network, taking heavy inspiration from its premise, adding in a deckbuilding roguelike twist to the core gameplay, and adding in Inti Creates staples such as a scoring system based on performance and an emphasis on replayability.
Card-en-Ciel follows protagonist Neon, known as the Gaming Chair Detective, and Ancie, a game developer, as they work to banish MODs (Mad Obstructive Data) from the game Ancie is a developer on. The MODs are abnormal data from other games that are invading Ancie’s game, Rust Tactics, and so Neon begins his investigation into the matter alongside Ancie. The premise itself is rather thin, much like the rest of the story itself. Ancie and Neon’s growing dynamic over the course of the game is fun to absorb, but the game makes little effort in the narrative department otherwise, including a rather lackluster showing from the antagonists, Nanakt and RiTa.
Instead, Card-en-Ciel spends most of its time on fleshing out the individual dungeons themselves. Each dungeon contains characters from either a fake video game created to reference a certain game genre, such as traditional RPGs or Dating Sims, or characters from Inti Creates’s own franchises, such as Gal*Gun and Azure Striker Gunvolt. Each series gets fleshed out through Neon and Ancie’s dialogue so the player has a general idea of what the franchise was about, but this dialogue is definitely aimed towards those familiar with the preexisting franchises, meaning those who aren’t as familiar with Inti Creates’ catalogue won’t be able to connect with these dungeons as effectively. In this way, Card-en-Ciel can feel like primarily targeting its own fans. Meanwhile, the antagonists of the game’s narrative only show up between dungeons and in their own special dungeons, making the dungeons feel even more disconnected from the plotline.
Neon and Ancie, the stars of Card-en-Ciel’s thin, lighthearted show.
Card-en-Ciel’s presentation is no slouch. The art style pops and does a good job meshing with the different styles brought to the table by both the fake and preexisting franchises while also maintaining its own identity. The soundtrack is itself a delight. At first it might seem a bit limited in scale, with only a few songs for each scenario. However, the game’s Muse mechanic allows the player to trigger an animation followed by a unique song based on the conditions they met, making for a lot of different musical possibilities for each battle.
The gameplay is where Card-en-Ciel shows its true colors. After the player chooses a dungeon and difficulty, they are dropped onto the first of three floors. Each floor consists of a boss the player must reach, with several rooms separating the player from the boss. The player can freely roam the dungeon, even avoiding optional enemies if they so wish. However, if they refuse to engage in battle, the Memory Gauge at the bottom of the screen fills, which increases the chances of a negative event occurring in a room the moment the player steps into it. This system does a good job of incentivizing players to engage in combat while also not overly punishing them for avoiding it, as the negative effects are rarely more than a minor inconvenience.
Combat in Card-en-Ciel might be familiar, but brings enough of its own ideas to stay fresh.
Once the player enters combat, they are moved into a 6×3 grid. The player is able to move between the leftmost nine tiles, and the enemies occupy the rightmost nine. Unless otherwise specified, the player will begin with three cost, which is used to play cards, and five cards randomly drawn from their deck. Cards can either be used to activate the effect written on the card, consuming the indicated amount of cost, or be used to move based on the type of card at no cost. Generally speaking, red cards are used to either deal damage or move the player up and blue cards move the player down or deal break damage. Enemies all have break points that, when depleted, will leave them unable to move and take double damage for the remainder of the turn. Break damage also has an effect on the amount of damage the enemy will deal, so players will often find themselves aiming to break an enemy before dealing direct damage.
Enemies also have a timer that counts down every time the player uses a card, and when that timers hits zero they will unleash an attack. Players can see where the attack will land and simply move to avoid it, but some attacks are unable to be avoided. To answer this, yellow cards have the ability to trigger an action phase. During the action phase, the player will be asked to press a button at the correct moment to avoid the enemy’s attack and deal damage. Unfortunately this mechanic can feel like an interruption rather than a climactic moment, but it is undeniably satisfying to avoid damage altogether when the other option is death.
Many cards are based on characters from preexisting franchises as well as original to Card-en-Ciel.
Meanwhile, green cards are used for a wide range of support effects, including drawing more cards, creating more cards in the player’s hand that are independent of the deck, or even lowering the cost of playing a card. More and more effects are introduced that synergize with certain card archetypes in the game, and every dungeon has a specific focus on what kinds of cards are more common to encounter, including archetypes like playing identical cards over and over again or recovering cost and making extremely powerful hands. The player is also able to play cards frighteningly fast, so if one knows what they are doing the entire match can be over in a matter of seconds depending on their strategy. After the player wins a battle, they will have the opportunity to choose a card to add to their deck, and each dungeon is relatively limited in the amount of different cards, meaning it is easy enough to create a focused deck.
Muses play a massive role in enabling strategies. Muses are cards that exist outside of the deck and activate when the player meets certain conditions. Muse effects remain constant throughout the battle, and often the effects of multiple Muses complement one another. For instance, one Muse can add an extra copy of a card to the player’s hand, while another Muse might increase the damage dealt by cards generated in such a way. If ever Card-en-Ciel is unbalanced in the player’s favor, Muses are the culprit, as they enable so many incredibly powerful strategies while having little in the way of negative consequences. However, major enemies and bosses can be so powerful that these strategies often feel necessary to combat this, so balance is rarely an issue.
In fact, powerful enemies can often be a great way to experience the full power of a deck without the match ending in a matter of moments because the enemies can reach health values well into the thousands. While the regular enemies often fall too fast to pose any meaningful threat, these more powerful foes allow the combat to truly stretch its legs. Sometimes it feels like a straight beatdown where the player’s deck is so overwhelming that even the strongest, scariest enemies are no challenge. Other times, it feels like the player is literally a protagonist in a Yu-Gi-Oh! episode, narrowly snatching victory from the jaws of defeat by drawing the exact card they need to turn the tide. Couple this with the game’s general responsiveness and quick pacing, and it’s easy to see how Card-en-Ciel never fails to deliver fun experiences.
Muses often turn the tide of battle.
After finishing a dungeon, the player will be scored based on how many turns in combat it took to complete the dungeon. A higher score does increase the amount of experience the player can gain, which the player can then use to unlock bonuses such as more health or a higher chance at rarer cards. However, when players are just starting out, they are encouraged to spend more time in dungeons unlocking cards and gaining more understanding of the game’s mechanics. The scoring system is meant to incentivize completionists and hardcore players to continue playing long after the story is completed, and does a good job of doing so without hindering those who prefer a more casual experience.
It is often said that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. This seems to have been Inti Creates’ modus operandi for the better part of the last decade, and Card-en-Ciel is no exception. While a card-battling, rogue-lite RPG in the style of Mega Man Battle Network is not a wholly original idea, this game’s spin on the concept brings more than enough originality in its mechanics to stand on its own. Couple that with an impressive level of polish and stellar presentation, and it’s easy to recommend Card-en-Ciel to anybody.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.
Satisfying combat that doesn't sacrifice speed for strategy.
Fun Music and Visuals
Protagonists are a fun pair
Endless replayability
References are often for fans only
Story is incredibly thin
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