Neurodeck: Psychological Deckbuilder

A game that plays and feels exactly like any other deckbuilding game. It has a very intriguing and potentially great premise (your cards and enemies are all inspired by real life phobias and psychology) but sadly doesn't offer anything new nor special. Slay the Spire is way more fun. Monster Train has the innovative 3-floor mechanic. Griftlands has the super awesome animations and is overall so freakin' cool. Neurodeck has...only a neat idea. Animations are barely ok. Sound is average. The "horrific monsters" (see game's description) are non-existent and not only they're not "horrific" but most of them are actually kinda funny-looking. You only have 2 characters (only 1 unlocked at start) to play with and the writing for them goes from bad to worse. Their "backstories" are full of cliches and stereotypical depictions. You have no proper Tutorial and most of the terms and game mechanics used have zero explanation. Not a big deal but it's yet another detail that screams Early Access (even though it isn't EA). Every session consists of 19 nodes/missions (~30 min to beat) but some Bosses are borderline unfair and you can lose a lot of time beating them simply because the phobia has some truly nasty ability that cripples you beyond repair. The "light RPG mechanics" are very very light and that cool-sounding line "help you defeat the monsters in your mind" is only a line. There are no "monsters in your mind". You only fight the phobias, like you fight any Boss in any deckbuilding game. There's no profound or life-exploring insight other than putting a "phobia skin" over a regular run-of-the-mill standard Boss. Replayability is limited too (after 8-12 runs you've seen it all) and the "psychology" gimmick gets old quick. TL;DR: Massive deckbuilding completionist fan? Maybe. It has a deck and monsters and all that. Everyone else would be better off going with some of the other, way better and/or more original deckbuilding games out there. **bought on another platform

The idea behind this game is excellent, and I applaud the developers for conceiving of it, but the game is unrefined and it feels like they ran out of budget. For gameplay, the style of a deck-builder seems like a good choice, and the basic components are there, such as different characters with unique playstyles, random cards that allow you to choose a particular playstyle in each session, and monsters that you learn the behavior of in order to defeat next time. But the RNG doesn't work in your favor, and you're left with choices that don't compliment your previous decisions. So it feels like you're being penalized for those choices. The translation from French into English is unrefined. Many small errors abound. For example, on the Ramen card, where it says, "This ramen are tasty." When it should say, "This ramen is tasty." They should have hired a native speaker. The story is unrefined. The premise of the game is that you're using the Neurodeck to conquer your fears and anxiety and become a better person. But the game's limited narrative is full of sadness, anxiety-ridden dreams, and emptiness. There's no positive reward for defeating each monster, and you don't feel a sense of accomplishment, nor that you're overcoming your concerns in real life. There's no positive reward for defeating the final boss. In fact, for the one unlockable character, when you beat the game with her, she laments about how she divorced her husband, the kids have left the house, she's sad and alone, and only has the Neurodeck, which as she just discovered, is incapable of solving her problems or removing the existential dread of emptiness and the ticking of time that is slowly creeping her toward her inevitable fate of death. Is that the feeling the game developers wanted to instill in the player? That your choices are worthless, including in this game, and that you're going to DIE soon?! This game has potential, but the developers needed to put more effort and thought into it.

It’s rather unbelievable that this game has a demo, since this game seems like a demo! It’s potentially an interesting concept, marred by lack of substance and quickly devolves into repetition. Small story, about 6-7 hours of gameplay. Not much replayability. I got it for free on a giveaway, and while it was an interesting diversion for a moment, it doesn’t make me want to play the full version. Oh wait, that’s right, this IS the full version!

The game collects anonymous statistics about who-knows-what for who-knows-who by default. I was offered a native linux version that works on Ubuntu 22.04, even though the description says it's windows-only. Don't expect too much psychology and story in the game. Lower your expectations. Now lower them again. Lower them a bit more. I got very strong feeling of "one deckbuilder with permadeath, it in the phobias bag" store shopping list entry. All the enemies you'll fight in the game are some kind of phobias, but I didn't see one label with what is the scary "substance" in the phobia. Agoraphobia. Err... Heights? Agriculture? Tractors? Your guess is probably better than mine. The cards and stats are also themed in (dealing with) phobias colour, But the game makes you I-agree a warning about the risks you take while playing the game. Your mileage may obviously wary, but it only made me disappointed by following lack of depth in the topic of psychology. Unlike Eliza (talking about games in psychology dept.), Neurodeck will not make you ask questions. Yes, the game has light RPG traits present. You get to choose some perks that will influence your play-style, but with RPG I expect at least some story development, and the game offers none. Sometimes you'll be able to read a bit from your avatar's diary (you do it, no voice-over), But why does the person suffer from whatever-phobia? *crickets* The game lacks a manual or glossary. You'll get "tutored" on the very basics of the game, but most of the time you're on your own. The card will get `faded` after use. What does it mean? *crickets* And I'm quite confident I saw a "your/you're" type typo in there.