Foretales is the tried and true of a different narrative game based on cards.

In recent years, card games In the video game field, the population has dwindled. Even without considering titles like Hearthstone and clones, many teams in the roguelike space have tried this route and had great success like Slay the Spire.

However, card games can take other avenues, as Inscryption shows, which blends escape room and adventure. Now it’s time for Foretales, a narrative card-based game, but far from the classic deck-building that players are used to.

The game is expected to be released for PC and Nintendo Switch this summer, but we need to explore the first four hours of the game by understanding the mechanics and main ideas of this interesting adventure.

Here are all the details in this news Foretales tried.

Sherwood

The world of Foretales immediately remembers him. Disney’s Robin Hood Sherwood: anthropomorphic animals of different natures, in fact, live in a medieval-like society. We are the volatile Volepain, a thief with a heart of gold, the son of a miner. Next to us is Leo, a tiger who has found a job that can give us all the money we need.

The task is to steal a lira from the nobles of the city. The only problem is that when we got there, Volepain’s strange visions of the future, which indicates catastrophic events. From now on, our goal is to change the course of history.

Forecasts are divided into two missionsallows us to block various events at the center of our visions and open new paths. Each negative event has a counter that shows how many quests can be completed before that future occurs. At the trial, we had two or three shifts to act, and it’s clear we can’t save everything and everyone. From stage to stage, choices must be made, and as confirmed by the developers, the game is designed to be replayed to explore alternative endings and try out previously ignored missions.

We also saw that it is not just tasks that define the future. Also at each level small optional tasks, which allows you to receive event-changing bonuses. In a particular case, a particular action required us to perform several steps in different tasks to obtain a very useful tool (this is an important plot element and we couldn’t be more precise).

Don’t think that endings are just a matter of narrative. We can choose to leave Leo in prison from the start (after he gets the dollar he gets caught). We were able to get two more characters during the trial, but we’re confident that at least one of the two (according to the player’s preference) could fall behind. So you can only have two characters instead of having four, which can significantly change the rest of the quests that have been tried.

For now, complo It’s interesting with a variety of mysterious characters that can become versatile later in the game. Even the heroes are delightful, always ready to comment on the game actions we take. Instead of playing a stand-alone card game, it always feels like you’re leading a party of characters in a D&D session (there’s also a great storyteller voiced by Travis Willingham of Critical Role).

discovery

How to play, however, Foretales? Each task is represented as a kind of card game on a wooden table. There is a game board where setting boxes appear. Each field contains a card representing a location taken from a special deck. For example, if we are in a city, streets, markets, squares, etc. Each task asks us to perform tasks in the environment, such as finding a person in a particular setting card.

We have one hand to act. character decks Every computer we bring with us in the mission has four or five types of operations and a limited number of cards. Volepain can, for example, listen to conversations or use powder to create a distraction. Leo can use his nose to find food or use his bow to pull someone out from afar.

Each action card allows you to put one of the setting cards back into the deck and place a new one, perhaps getting some small bonuses like food and money. However, it is often more convenient to use a specific card that unlocks “hidden” areas that are not normally found in the deck and cannot be seen on their own. We can get better resources in these areas.

This exploration side Therefore, the main goal of the game is to use the right cards to find the right places. Secondary areas are also important as it is essential to collect the above mentioned resources such as money and food. Then there is an “honor” and a “evil” value. All of these resources are useful for interacting with some cards. A few examples: The “crowd of people” setting honors you for giving food, while the “merchant” setting rewards you with food for giving money.

war

However, resources are also useful for warfare. Often times, certain environments are blocked by some enemies and you need to win one to move in that direction. war. You can win with a true automatic turn-based combat where each character attacks the card in front of them. Usually, however, it’s a less recommended solution, as losing even a single character’s entire Health Points will result in the mission failing (failing a mission won’t penalize the plot, you can just try again or change the mission penalty).

This victories They come first by paying enemies to get them to escape, or scaring them with “evil” points, or using other accumulated resources. In addition, character action cards have special effects in battle.

Some only increase attack for one turn, but others can stun, dodge or knock down enemies the value of their morale. This is a central feature, because by resetting morale we will evade all enemies. Therefore, every fight takes a tactical slant to find the best way to handle the situation while wasting as few resources as possible.

Meanwhile, acting too violently will also take action custom dialogsIt is pointed out that we left a corpse trail here.

Finally, we point out that we avoid going into it. various card types and actionsIt’s the secondary stuff that isn’t fundamental to understanding Foretales’ premise, but always helps to diversify each mission.

graphicallyThe foretales are exquisitely drawn. The cards are all beautiful, and thanks to Christophe Héral’s soundtrack (Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil) and sound effects, it really feels like you’re in settings drawn on small playing cards.