Because it’s a roguelite with so much character and quest variety, there’s little to lose-but so much to gain-by committing to a chaotic playstyle, even at the risk of flaming out. Like many of Klei’s titles, there’s fun in failing and making mistakes. You can also adopt a pet-so far I’ve adopted Turnip, Stinker, and Carapace on various runs-that will fight by your side! Buying a drink for someone improves resolve and makes them like you, but adds useless tipsy cards to your deck which can only be slept off or disposed of during negotiation. Saving a union laborer from a financial shakedown will earn you a “Voice of the People” boon, which plops an additional argument in your favor into your negotiations. Wealthy merchants will add “kickback” negotiation cards to your deck, which require paying shills (in-game currency) to play. Characters' tactics reflect their title or station. It’s all buoyed by funny writing and gameplay mechanics that tie together the game’s world-building. Or you can use negotiation before battle to give opponents an “existential crisis” which makes them worse at fighting. You can also goad someone into attacking you, allowing you to murder them “in self defense” without social repercussions. Kill enough targets and you’ll get a negotiation card that makes your intimidation cards more powerful, because people are afraid of you. Players can choose to invest in a battle playstyle, buying cards from merchants and bartenders at saloons and bandit camps across Havaria. Negotiation decks have diplomacy or hostility cards, the latter of which can be fine-tuned to create a virtuous loop of insults. You can architect your play style around being roguish or smooth-talking. Both decks have “flourishes” which function like specials, allowing players to deploy special extra-powerful cards. Other playable arguments include “gossip,” which baits the enemy to focus on destroying it, instead of your main argument. Opponents can target it specifically, aiming to de-escalate the power of diplomacy cards, though it wouldn’t attack the main argument. Playing an “influence” card, for example, will create an additional “argument” that boosts the damage of all other diplomacy cards. They function like powers and shields, adding flavor to gameplay by making it feel more like having an actual argument. Each player has a core argument with “resolve”-knocking it to zero will end the negotiation, making the player rely on other tactics to complete the quest-but several other “arguments” can orbit around it, each with their own resolve bar, damage allotment, and debuff-style perks. Losing in battle means the climb is over. Players can murder or have mercy on opponents, after reaching the panic threshold on their health bar. Battle is more straightforward with cards dealing damage, putting up defense, or triggering powers or debuffs like bleed, which can stack into powerful play strategies. And every job you take comes with an array of options from carrying it off as promised, to selling out (or murdering) your employer, bribing a guard, blackmailing allies, or simply taking the money and running.Ĭarrying out these quests involves playing one of two deck-building games (battle and negotiation) and sometimes both. Every room you enter in Havaria’s Murder Bay-busting in like some kind of cyborg cowboy-will have an array of characters you can ally with, piss off, or simply pass the time talking to. Quests are often time sensitive, and each evening caps with a boss fight.īut here’s the kicker: in Griftlands, your choices and actions permanently change the fabric of the game, for the duration of the run. Gameplay marries Slay the Spire-like elements with a point and click map that offers various quests, as well as options to heal, over the course of five days-with each of these days acting as a section of a climb. Starter character Sal (there are two additional characters to unlock) is a twin-blade carrying bounty hunter, out for blood against debt-broker Kashio. Griftlands is a science fiction western, set in the scummy world of Havaria, full of grifters and scammers trying to get rich or just get by.
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