HELLCARD + Bruja DLC Review – The Undead Hordes

Today we are taking a look at HELLCARD, the latest entry in the Return 2 Games series, as well as its recently released DLC. The Return 2 Games series is an ongoing project by developers Thing Trunk, which will feature seven titles of different genres as one massive franchise.

HELLCARD is the second game in this franchise and functions as a party-based RPG where players face overwhelming hordes of monsters and undead. The game features the pop-up book style that Book of Demons established, but this time in the format of a turn-based card game.

So, how does the latest entry in the Return 2 Games series perform when compared to other turn-based roguelikes? Is the new Bruja DLC any good? You’ll find the answer to these questions and more as soon as you flip the page and check out our full review for HELLCARD.

HELLCARD
Developer: Thing Trunk
Publisher: Skystone Games, Surefire.Games
Platforms: Microsoft Windows (Reviewed)
Release Date: February 1, 2024
Players: 1-3
Price: $24.99

As stated before, HELLCARD is a party-based RPG where the player takes control of three characters. The game seems to be geared towards online co-op, but playing solo is also a valid option. In co-op, each player gets to create a character of their own by picking from five different classes, while solo players create one character and hire companions to fill the remaining party slots.

Players who enjoy setting up combos and synergies will have a good time with the game’s combat system, as there is a lot of depth that comes simply from figuring out the order of skills needed to resolve a turn perfectly. The game can be quite difficult as you are learning it, but figuring out exactly how to deal with a terrible situation without taking any damage will add a few wrinkles to your brain.

Each controlled character has a set amount of mana that they can use to cast skills, but pretty much every class has access to skills that either don’t cost anything or let you refund mana and draw an extra card depending on certain conditions, so you’ll be making a lot more than three moves per turn.

Solo runs can feel a little dense at times, because not only do you control three characters with lots of available actions, but also each stage is jam-packed with enemies. It’s no exaggeration to say that HELLCARD is a turn-based version of Diablo 3, as you will always find yourself surrounded by massive hordes of undead.

Playing solo does have its advantages, though, as it lets you hire companions, which are different archetypes of the starting classes that come pre-equipped with their own cards and artifacts. It’s honestly a shame that players can’t choose between those archetypes for their own created character, instead starting every run with the same deck, rather than a slightly more cohesive build.

Companions will make their own choices and have a set upgrade path, which means that none of them will become disgustingly broken like a player who knows how to exploit the game’s mechanics, but they are still really fun to play as for someone who is just starting out.

As far as its gameplay goes, HELLCARD is like an arena version of Slay the Spire, where players have to do their best to dispatch of enemies as effectively as they can while also preparing for incoming damage.

Turning the smaller enemy encounters into horde fights is a really fun spin on the formula established by other card game roguelikes, and the overwhelming amount of enemies actually makes for a really tense experience, as even though this is a turn-based game, it does make you feel exasperated as you see an obscene amount of incoming damage above your party members.

Despite being inspired by Slay the Spire, HELLCARD actually has some good ideas of its own, like the card upgrade paths. Rather than just giving cards more damage or a cost decrease when upgrading them, cards have three evolutions with different effects, which in turn also have three subsequent evolutions of their own, making for a really interesting upgrade system.

The latest DLC released for the game adds the Bruja character class, as well as her companion variations. The Bruja is constantly playing with her own life as she pays for her spells in health, but can also heal herself when certain conditions are met.

The new Bruja class has a unique mechanic called Reckoning, which generates self-inflicted damage when using your most powerful spells. Reckoning can be avoided by blocking or acquiring the grace status effect, but there’s always the chance that you may stack it too high and not have a way to defend against it.

Reckoning has a symbiotic relationship with the Bruja’s deck, as she generates it with certain cards, but also uses the value as a damage modifier on some skills. Deleting an entire area of enemies with a high reckoning stack feels incredibly good, but also nerve-wracking to know that it might turn into direct damage at any point.

The Bruja is one of the two advanced classes, alongside the Tinkerer, which are only unlocked after beating one run. Her risky playstyle is not for the faint of heart, and balancing reckoning without letting a massive damage stack kill you in one turn can be quite difficult.

As a companion, the Bruja is a fantastic addition to your party, and her different archetypes have somewhat safer playstyles that focus on different aspects of the cards available to her. Some archetypes don’t even build reckoning, instead building up damage by constantly spending health and then healing afterwards.

The Bruja is a great addition to the game’s roster, and will probably have a spot on your team in every run, as her utility and damage are simply too good to pass up. She offers up the perfect balance between risk and reward, while also being mechanically interesting and full of building potential.

Overall, HELLCARD is a solid turn-based card game. It suffers a bit from same-y runs, and the game’s unlock system being linear makes acquiring rewards a bit of a chore, as you don’t even know what you are going to unlock until you get it, but the game has a very strong foundation and delivers a fun roguelike experience.

The online multiplayer is also surprisingly active, and it’s very easy to find matches regardless of the time of day. The game is more than playable solo, but seeing the absolutely busted builds that some players will run online is quite fun.

If you aren’t bothered by long runs and enjoy turn-based combat, then HELLCARD is a pretty good choice for a roguelike. The Bruja DLC is also a very solid addition to the game and worth picking up.

HELLCARD was reviewed on Microsoft Windows using a game code provided by Skystone Games and Surefire.Games. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. HELLCARD is available on Microsoft Windows (through Steam).