Signs of the Sojourner

Genre: Turn-Based Card Game

Players: 1

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Review:

Signs of the Sojourner is a Card Game released on PC in 2020 and ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2021. This game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, but unlike most games in that setting, its focus is not on combat or survival. Rather, Signs of the Sojourner is a game about how we communicate with each other, with the main gameplay intended to simulate conversations between the game’s characters.

The presentation here is nice, featuring somewhat crudely-drawn characters with a lot of personality due to their colorful designs, in front of similarly crudely-drawn and colorful backgrounds. These characters are further developed by strong writing that really gives these people some great personality. However, what really works beautifully here is the game’s lovely acoustic soundtrack, with great mellow themes like the Main Theme, Bartow, and Clifton. This music does a great job giving this game an excellent laid-back tone.

When it comes to the gameplay, Signs of the Sojourner isn’t really like any Card Game I’ve played. It’s set up like a co-op game, with both you and the computer-controlled players you’re taking turns with essentially trying to work together to create a working chain of cards. Each card has symbols on its left and right side indicating which cards it can and can’t connect to. These symbols represent different types of communication – speaking emotionally, logically, creatively, and so on.

As you place cards down, you’re trying to follow the cards your conversation partner plays while trying to ensure that they can do the same. You start out with only cards that feature circles and triangles, but over time you’ll get cards with other symbols as well, along with cards that have unique abilities, like a card that can copy the last card played, one that can be inserted anywhere in the current conversation, and one that will allow you to shuffle your hand.

I think this is a really clever way to represent conversations in the game, showing the disconnect when you don’t know how to speak to someone in a way that connects with them, showing how you pick up speaking habits (good and bad) from those you converse with, and showing that there are benefits to different ways of communicating, but there are also strengths to developing one type of communication as well. This may all seem abstract, but it’s represented well in the gameplay.

However, there is another element here, and that is the way the game represents travel over a map. Players gradually learn about new places, and must travel to trade for goods they can bring back to their hometown, with these trades only successful if you carry out your Card Game conversations well.

While I commend the game pushing players to have to head out to new areas and converse with different people to acquire these goods, I question the wisdom of incorporating the game’s “exhaustion” mechanic, which adds into your deck trash cards that are essentially conversation-killers as you travel away from home. While this mechanic makes sense in the game’s Card Game metaphor about conversation, it works against the game’s desire to see players head out farther from home, and ultimately just works as an added frustration in the gameplay.

There is one other element here I should address, and that is the ontrols, which work wonderfully here, regardless of whether you’re using a traditional gamepad or the touchscreen.

Overall, I think Signs of the Sojourn succeeds not just at being an excellent Card Game, but also developing a unique and original concept that should get players thinking about a basic part of our everyday lives in a different way. While I think some of the other elements of this game make for more frustration than I’d like, overall this is a delightful Card Game that has a lot to offer players intrigued by its concept.

tl;dr – Signs of the Sojourner is a Card Game where the cards simulate a conversation between the player and their computer-controlled conversation partner, each taking turns trying to create a successful chain of cards with each other. It’s a great concept and it’s executed brilliantly, but the game mucks this up somewhat by giving players mixed signals about whether to venture to far away new areas in the game or stick close to home. Still, even with its flaws, this is a solid game well worth playing.

Grade: B

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Card Game

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