Mahokenshi is principally Slay the Spire with samurai wizards, and that is a stable promoting level proper there. It is a deckbuilder, the type of recreation the place you begin with a set of garbage playing cards and accumulate higher ones as you’re employed in the direction of your purpose, however one which tweaks the style conventions in some uncommon methods. Plus, you get a katana.

The theme seems to be the least impactful a part of Mahokenshi, a skinny layer of second-hand Japanese folklore on prime of the acquainted components. The mahokenshi are mystic warriors who’ve made offers with divine spirits for energy, and there are 4 to unlock, every with their very own deck. The one who minimize a take care of a spider will get playing cards with poison and stealth results, whereas the one whose powers come through a turtle spirit will get protection boosts and damaging spikes. In between combating goblins, bandits, and cultists, these 4 face the occasional oni, whereas the merchandise that lets them ditch ineffective playing cards is a kimono for some cause. The Japanese-ness is fairly superficial is what I am getting at.

The construction is what actually differentiates Mahokenshi from different deckbuilders. You play on a hexgrid, spending motion factors to manoeuvre your samurai throughout the floating Celestial Islands to search out treasure, quests, power-ups, and so forth. As an alternative of a randomized Spire or the mix-and-match Hell of Monster Practice, all of its 18 missions have pre-determined layouts and targets, every telling a little bit story. One started with a tense chase, 4 feral oni pursuing me via the forest towards a fort. That affected the deck choices I made, making motion playing cards extra worthwhile than regular, and altered the way in which I performed.