Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars Reviews
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars, the new game from NieR creator Yoko Taro, is a peculiar little game. It knows what it wants to be! And its aesthetics definitely come first. But if you’re at home in its slower pace and tavern feel, you’ll have a good time.
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is highly enjoyable because of its classic JRPG roots paired with a fantastic audio-visual onslaught that results in a short but sweet adventure. While I wanted more out of the experience, I very much liked what I got plus it tickled my appetite for more NieR. The adventure was easy to get into and the collectibles kept me around until the eventual end.
In a lot of ways, I applaud the concept behind Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars. It’s different, commits fully, and absolutely captures the experience it wants to create. The problem is, a gimmick like that can make it a hard sell. Games as a medium have distinctly different advantages, as well as those games catering to different elements, making it more of a well-executed concept. Naturally, fans of Dungeons and Dragons will likely find the experience comforting and enjoyable, whereas most other players will see a unique-looking game that plays like a rather generic RPG.
Despite its lack of innovation and that it does not add anything that we have not seen before, Voices of Cards is a game that knows how to stay fresh and fun thanks to its story, dialogues and an attractive and functional combat system that does not we want to stop until we complete it. The soundtrack and its artistic design are also noteworthy and make up some of the best elements of this title.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The great thing about Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is that it is another delightful Yoko Taro game with all the subversion of known clichés it provides and it is presented using a unique visual aesthetic. But it is not without its faults as gameplay-wise it lacks any big innovation and the random encounters are just too much and sometimes even make your progression a little tiresome.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Overall, the game is unique and fun. It’s pretty, it’s short, and its sound design is amazing. The cards are gorgeous, the characters are well-drawn with fun costumes. Players will have fun for all 15 hours of this JRPG. That being said, the game was a bit of a letdown in the price department. Had the game been $10 USD cheaper, I would have hailed it as a great achievement and a fabulous JRPG for anyone who loves them. However, it just doesn’t feel like a $30 game to me. I would recommend this game to anyone who loves old-school RPGs with beautiful graphics and loves to replay games to complete all the content.
It's a shame that Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars has failed to reach its true potential. Kimihiko Fujisaka's art is impeccable, Keiichi Okabe's soundtrack is phenomenal and the ideas in general are very good, but they fall into a cycle of simplicity and repetition that ends up overshadowing some true genius moments. Despite the problems, this is a good short-lived RPG on Switch and probably the best option for anyone looking to play something using just the touchscreen.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a welcome surprise among this year's RPGs. Every little detail oozes charisma and you can feel the developers' affection for their creation in virtually every moment of the game. The absence of more difficulty levels and the overall mechanics' simplicity may not suit everyone, and the line between calm and boredom is always a difficult one to traverse, but those who appreciate the proposal and moderate their expectations will find a concise adventure here, relaxing and — most importantly — fun.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Yoko Taro's new game is definitely not going to rise as one of the best projects of the last few months. If you want to immerse yourself in a world of cards without complicating your life too much, you have before you a good option.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The way Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars presents itself is by far one of the strongest points of the game. A video game that pretends to be a table top game is a nice change and occasionally stimulates the imagination. For that reason alone, the game is worth playing.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
A fantastic tabletop RPG in video game format, with incredibly polished gameplay + Immersive world brought to life by the game master & cards gimmicks + Interesting characters that do not conform to genre tropes & cliches - Too short at 10-15 hours & slightly too easy with no difficulty setting
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is an entertaining and creative diversion while it lasts. It certainly sets itself apart with relative ease but it does suffer a bit from diminishing returns.
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is like an 8-bit RPG if the bits were made out of several cards themselves. It is very much a throwback to older classic RPG genres like Dragon Quest. The story presented is one that is not new but with the inclusion of a narrator reading pretty much anything that is written on cards, it gives the player a storybook feeling that gives a sense of immersion. It is a neat idea with plenty of well-drawn characters and places to explore. It is not a full-priced game so know it may not be as long as other games, but any classic RPG fan should give it a try.
A traditional JRPG by some of the key team members behind the Nier series. Presented in a tabletop game aesthetic, Voice of Cards delivers a fantastic story.
But those who take a chance on Voice of Cards might be surprised. Its tabletop style is endearing and a testament to the idea that gripping adventure transcends the need for cinematic cutscenes. Voice of Cards puts the "game" back in "role-playing game" in fun, compelling, and thoughtful ways that will delight players throughout their time with it.
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is the sort of game that you'll play when you want a slow-paced and relaxing adventure; for that, it's an excellent experience. However, it can sometimes be bogged down by its gameplay's own indulgent vapidness.
There aren't many places to explore, random card events in dungeons and the overworld are repeated frequently, and everything comes to a close too soon. Without question, Voice of Cards represents a great entry point for RPG newcomers that employs a compelling and unique aesthetic. If you've shuffled your way through most of the RPGs on Switch, however, you might find this Isle Dragon more of a whimper.
There’s the basis for a really solid storytelling platform here — it just remains to be seen if that is part of the long-term plan for the game, or if it was always intended to be completely self-contained. Still, in the meantime we have a satisfying, enjoyable, beautifully presented, enormously atmospheric and delightfully unconventional RPG to enjoy — so if you like the idea of virtual tabletop fun, Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars should absolutely be part of your collection.
So, while Voice of Cards could be refined as a game, the vision is impeccable, and while the game's not as outrageous or subversive as NieR and its sequel, it still represents Yoko Taro's unique qualities as a game designer and narrative writer: he is forever experimenting and pushing boundaries. Voice of Cards is almost subtle in this, but the way that it aims to work collaboratively with players to share a story, rather than tell it, is a delightful departure from the norm for the JRPG. I don't think anyone expected him to follow up NieR with a "card game," but Yoko Taro has hit onto something very special here.
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is another good game by Yoko Taro, with well-executed concepts worthy of the director's other works, although it doesn't reach the level established by bigger games due to its limitations.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review