Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four
Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four Trailers
Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four - Full Release Trailer
Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four - Early Access Launch Trailer
Cardaclysm - Announcement Trailer
Critic Reviews for Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four
Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four is a complex deckbuilder game with simple presentation featuring RPG elements acting like a roguelike — all wrapped in a very pretty package. While it suffers from some balancing issues and more information on the battlefield would be welcome, there was a lot attempted here with plenty accomplished. It’s pretty criminal that a game that looks this good doesn’t feel truly ready for release yet; given a few more months, Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four should absolutely shine like the diamond in the rough it is.
For me, Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four is a mixed bag with a ton of potential, but too many small issues that are impossible to completely overlook. I really liked the card evolution and deck building systems, I appreciated the quests, equipment and randomized nature of the stages, and the turn-based combat is generally satisfying. I just don’t like the difficulty spikes that are largely due to the uneven resource requirements and the rough control optimization. I have a feeling this would play better on PC with a mouse and a keyboard, but appreciate seeing games like this make their way to consoles, where I tend to play more. A bit of UI / control cleanup and better balance of resources would make Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four a much better overall title that is still worth a look – but be ready for a bit of frustration.
I really wanted to gush about Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four. But it’s just far too poorly optimized for Nintendo Switch. Hopefully, it runs better on PC, but I can’t confirm that. All I can say is it was a great premise held back by poor balance and mixed execution. I truly hope Elder Games learns from this release and makes an unstoppable card game in the future. As it is, I can’t really recommend this one, even to hardcore fans of the genre.
With a preponderance of deckbuilders on the Switch it has gotten increasingly difficult to distinguish anything but the most unique or well-crafted experiences...
