Posted on: October 23, 2020

ZDZero

Games: 104 Reviews: 1

Really good, but annoying at times

I'm really pleased on how they managed to make Gwent feel so varied. There are two types of encounters: battles, and puzzles. No two encounters are the same. All battles and puzzles seem to matter and have a reason to exist in the larger context of the story. However, some puzzles can be a bit annoying, requiring some really obscure solutions. I had fun with most of them, but some are just awful. Some are also extremely simple and feel like a waste of time compared to the others. There's one particular annoying sequence at the end. For most of the game, the game autosaves right before a battle, puzzle, or important decision, so if you're having trouble you can reload that save, change your strategy and retry the same battle with little to no downtime. Towards the end of the game this changes. You have a really simple, but slow, puzzle, followed by a boss battle. The puzzle is so simple that probably you can do it without thinking about it, but it will still take 1 or 2 minutes. The battle is quite different from all the others you experienced so far, and may require some radical changes in your strategy or deck. Only, this time, the game saves before the long, slow, annoying puzzle. The battle is also slow, with the enemy looking at two cards from each deck every other turn, which involves a slow, long, unzippable animation. He also has an almost infinite supply of cards, so you can pass at what you may think is an advantage (let's say 200+ vs 40), and then watch as he slowly recovers from that. It's just one battle and one puzzle, but the game shows such little respect for your time that is spoils the entire experience. Still a fun game and a good story.

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Posted on: October 31, 2020

Riccardion

Verified owner

Games: 151 Reviews: 2

What's left to be said?

I just finished this game and want to chime in with the praise of the other reviewers. The story of Thronebreaker is about you, Queen Meve, trying to fend off an invasion with your little army. A simple premise, but they tell a very engaging story with it, peppered with all kinds of twists and betrayals. As someone who never read the books and only played Witcher 1 years ago, I also enjoyed how they let one dive in into the world and history of the setting. The progression through the story is essentially linear, with a lot of content to explore on the side-ways. The side-quests are numerous, some involving only a simple decision as to what to do in a given situation and how much resources to expand for it, while most involve armed conflict. They then usually conclude by asking you to make moral decision on what happens to those defeated/saved during battle. This is one of the strong points of the game, as these decisions are not only tough because going with your conscience may not only go against your troops whims, but often it is entirely unclear, what the 'right' choice even is. I was actively pondering at many of them. The 'grey morality' thing is touted a lot with this franchise and Thronebreaker goes wild with it and does it a lot better than I remember Witcher 1 doing it. Then there's the card game. GWENT is not the best card game I ever played, but it does a well enough job at providing depth while having simple rules. Midway-through I thought, I found an optimal deck, but then the game threw a series of fights at me, which had me reconsider and further optimize the composition of my deck. My one critique would be, that the selection of cards at your disposal is fairly limited and only a fraction of what is encountered in the game, due to the cards representing factions and characters you encounter and ally with over the course of the story. Tl;dr If you like Card Games and a good story, play this.

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Posted on: November 19, 2020

heyimnavy

Verified owner

Games: 100 Reviews: 10

A surprising gem!

To be honest, I didn't expect much of Thronebreaker, though most of my hesitancy came from how CCGs usually hande DLC content. However, this game is no DLC. It swallows you with its deep, character driven narrative, accompanied by wonderful graphics and beautiful soundtrack. It's a breeze to get through and super fun to play. Not nearly as stressful as Gwent and such an amazing experience. My only real "complain" is the lack of New Game+, even though there is a morality system is in place and you end up wondering what would happen if you took a different decision. Still, it's a great game in its own regard.

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Posted on: March 18, 2021

number_of_smiles

Verified owner

Games: 32 Reviews: 2

sophisticated logic and storytelling

a slightly unconventional view of the witcher universe. interesting and challenging puzzles. it's a pity that it sold poorly, and no add-on came out.

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Posted on: June 3, 2022

netsatan

Verified owner

Games: 88 Reviews: 1

Great, with few unnecessary mechanics

It's a hidden gem. I like the game a lot - the writing is great, graphics style is original so is the gameplay overall. It's not Witcher's 3 Gwent, but is a nice game nonetheless. I didn't like the puzzles tho, I'm building my deck for a reason, I don't want to solve some generic pre-defined problems with only one possible solution.

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