One Step From Eden developed by Thomas Moon Kang and publisher Humble Bundle is out today and it might just be my new favourite game of 2020. Note: Key from the publisher.
Inspired by Megaman Battle Network, to fill a void the developer felt they could fill with their own creation. They've certainly done well with it. Eventually, I might get sick of every developer trying to add in some form of cards and deck-building…but certainly not today. One Step From Eden is madness, pure and simple. Step left, right, activate an ability to throw across the screen at the enemy and dash around the board again. It's brilliant. It's like some kind of hypnotic dance you're doing with your fingers.
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The majority of the game is done during these fast-paced battles, and as you go through them taking down all sorts of weird and wild creations you build up a big collection of cards which are your abilities. After each battle, you do thankfully get a chance to mix-up your deck, have a needed breather and practice before moving on using an FTL-styled map where you pick a node.
What is quite a shock is how difficult it actually is and it takes a while to get a good rhythm going with the right attacks, all while you're dodging around the board so it can be quite a mental workout. The brief tutorial slides weren't exactly a big help but it's not a huge issue with how much practice you can do. It's like the direct opposite of Slay the Spire, you're using cards and building up a collection but the pace is obviously a hundred times faster since it's all in real-time so it's actually more like Wizard of Legend. It's incredibly exciting though, which is the most important factor when talking about One Step From Eden.
It's not just the combat that's good, the ridiculously varied card abilities also need a light thoroughly shined on them. You don't get a lot of time to appreciate them either, since the battles are so furiously quick but there's a lot. Something I quite liked is how you can pick two areas of ability cards to focus on, which slightly tailors the type of rewards you're likely to see based on your preferred types of attacks. A nice little touch.
Another sweet feature is how you get a preview of exactly what each card will do, before you pick it. This is brilliant, so not only can you ensure it matches the type of deck you're trying to build but you even get to see it in action first.
There's over 200 spell cards, another 100 or so game-changing items!
If single-player isn't enough for you, there's also co-op player and PvP. I thought it was crazy enough trying to beat it by myself, taking it on with another or facing a friend is a whole different thing and just makes me love it even more. Take a look at this PvP battle:
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We're rubbish at it, constantly doing missteps and failing all over the place but it's magnificent fun. My brain and my fingers ache from playing and I write that in the nicest way possible. Body aching fun. If you want something that's going to entertain you and challenge you for a long time to come, One Step From Eden is a game I can thoroughly recommend. There's even Steam Workshop and mod support.
One Step From Eden is a game built for repetition and at no point does it get boring thanks to the sum of all things: fast and fun battles with awesome abilities, sweet visuals, lovely music and so many damn cards to choose from. You can pick up One Step From Eden from Humble Store and Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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