Nowhere Prophet aims to be your next card game fix

Originally published at: https://statelyplay.com/2019/07/19/nowhere-prophet-aims-to-be-your-next-card-game-fix/

  • PC/Mac/Linux

I’ve been playing the hell out of Slay the Spire, first on PC and now on my Switch, for months now. You’d think it would get old but it’s still my go-to when I sit on the couch and grab a controller. Starting today, however, StS has some strong competition. Nowhere Prophet from Sharkbomb Studios is a just-released roguelike deckbuilder that adds a ton of story and tactical doodads to differentiate it from other solo deckbuilders on Steam.

Nowhere Prophet ditches StS’s fantasy tropes for post-apocalyptic ones. Personally, I prefer fantasy over the dreariness of humanity’s demise, but to each their own. Like StS, there is an overland map of branching paths you can take to to the Big Boss each with its own randomly generated speedbumps. Unlike StS, however, you’re not sure what you’re going to find at each location and you might also get ambushed along the path before you reach the next location.

All roads lead…somewhere.

Each confrontation or friendly encounter is preceded with a heap of story that really sells this terrible world you’ve found yourself in. What really makes the story element pop is the cards themselves. No, they’re not littered with flavor text. Instead, each card represents a member of your convoy. They can be wounded or killed in battle, which means that card goes bye-bye and your deck shrinks. The game keeps track of your wounded or buffed followers via human silhouettes, making the story part of the game feel much more like an actual story than just some fluff tacked onto a card game. You can also find loot along the way and share it with your followers which will raise their morale and, perhaps, give you an edge the next time you deploy them in battle.

Battles themselves are played out on different sized grids and only your followers with nothing between them and the enemy can attack. You can shift unexhausted minions around the board or attack with them each turn in Hearthstone-style combat in which both units take damage based on the attack value of the opposing unit.

This is a boss battle. Doesn’t quite give you that epic feel, does it?

You have a secondary deck of cards in a Leader deck. These are one-time effects that allow you to buff characters, damage enemies, lay traps, etc. You only have so much energy each turn (it increases by one each turn, just like Hearthstone) to play cards, and both your Convoy and Leader cards draw from this same pool.

You can see my wounded and buffed followers along the bottom. Oh, and you can buy/sell stuff and all sorts of other RPG-like things. You can even level up your character and equip them with weapons, armor, etc.

Nowhere Prophet is available right now for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam and offers a bit more meat than StS. Part of StS’s appeal, however, was jumping in and understanding exactly what was going on. Nowhere Prophet is a little more opaque, which comes from adding more options. I guess what I’m saying is that Nowhere Prophet and StS are different enough that owning both isn’t the worst thing in the world, especially when you can pick it up for 10% off the regular price. That brings it in under $25 which seems like a bargain thus far.

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any word on the mobile version?

Post-apocalyptic?!? They must make this available on mobile!

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There’s no mention of mobile (or even switch) in their press materials.

Not saying it’s not happening, but they aren’t mentioning it at all yet.

It would translate very well to mobile imo. It’s already reasonably laid out on screen for it.

And the that end, I bought the game on steam last night and started playing on my Xs Max using steam link. It works reasonably well. Some card selection is fiddle because you have to get used to also deselecting the card (the first card you inspect in you hand stays selected). That’s led to a couple of miss-casts, but it’s something to get used to. Other than that, like StS, controls are simple so it’s steam link playable, and how I can see it would work native on mobile.

Edit: and check this out, a bit of a dev blog in another forum, going since 2014!
Post number 4 mentions iOS. Nothing definite but at least on the devs radar and possible.

https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=42754.0

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FWIW I’ve spoken to the publisher re: a mobile version. It feels like he kinda hates the mobile market so whether we do see a mobile version I guess depends on how well the PC version sells.

Which seems very odd. Mobile market is where it’s at atm.

And I’m only partially saying that because I would love this game on Android :stuck_out_tongue:

Same - I’ve played it on PC and it’s pretty fun but it’s competing with all the other games in my library. ATM there’s not as much competing for my time on my phone.

But he talked about some numbers he’s got via his research, and he’s generally not a fan over how mobile prices itself vs. the rest of the games industry, so from his POV mobile is very much not where it’s at.

This is very possible, I only have us as a reference :stuck_out_tongue:

Nowhere Prophet is fantastic.

I don’t play games on my computer … yet I couldn’t stop. And I never play games until the end … or maybe I do. Completed the quest on my fifth or sixth try.

Highly, highly recommended.

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Like @EICJoe and @TheDukester my PC gaming has a large backlog, and I’m usually looking to get away from sitting at the desk. I see that the dev posted this week that “We are planning on releasing console versions in 2020 and that will definitely include a Switch version.

Reading that excellent forum link from @Shadowfax it sounds like the dev is okay with tablets, but not optimistic about phones, implementation-wise without considering the mobile phone market not being as good a fit, business-wise.

I wonder if this will end up similar to “West of Loathing”? WoL was running on an iPad, but I’ve read where Apple’s emphasis on universal apps may have delayed an iOS version due to UI implementation issues on fitting it on an iPhone screen? Then the Switch release became a major focus, then focus shifted to the “Reckonin’ at Gun Manor” DLC, first for Steam and now the Switch and GOG.

And Switch seems to be where the action is. We sell more copies on the Switch than we sell on the PC now. That’s where the audience seems to live.
https://www.reddit.com/r/westofloathing/comments/bekquo/jickass_podcast_on_wol_dlc_and_next_game/

Then when I think of “SteamWorld Heist” on iOS never getting “The Outsider” DLC, one reason evidently being related to Apple’s requirements/policies ["… and technical issues… our DLC would require you to restart the game (which Apple doesn’t allow) unless we rewrite it completely."]

So here we are, with my impression being that the promise that iOS held for gaming has been a bit of a wasted opportunity, that I’m not optimistic we’ll see any further SteamWorld content on iOS, the Nintendo Switch looks to be the mobile platform for SteamWorld and West of Loathing content, as well as a gaming audience willing to spend money on quality premium software.

Having said that, we have seen some promising iOS developments, such as “Battle Chasers: Nightwar” released on iOS as a quality premium port, and Civ VI in line for the expansions.

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