Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden

Genre: Top-Down Dungeon Crawler / Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1, 1-4 Competitive Minigame (Local Alternating, Local Wireless Alternating)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Voice of Cards Trilogy along with Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars and Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden.)

Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden, like its predecessors The Isle Dragon Roars and The Forsaken Maiden, is a Top-Down Dungeon Crawler and Turn-Based JRPG, with this sequel released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch in 2022. As with the prior releases in this series, this game takes a somewhat minimal approach to the genre, with everything in the game represented by cards, dice rolls, and voiced narration, with this game’s story (apparently unrelated to the previous games) telling the tale of an underground dweller whose village is destroyed by monsters, only to find soon after that she ironically has the ability to capture and control monsters, making the power she relies on come from something she fears and despises. Using this power, she sets out to seek the cause of the monster attacks that destroyed everything she loved.

Before going on, I’ll say that this game is extremely similar to the first game, and as such I will be copying the text of my review of that game, changing it where it seems pertinent.

I didn’t think very highly of the first two games’ plot, but this time I actually found the game’s story to be surprisingly engaging, if a bit dour in tone compared to the previous games in the series. And while I felt that the second game’s change in narrator from Todd Haberkorn to Mark Atherlay was a downgrade, this game brings us yet another new narrator, Carin Gilfry, who in my opinion is about on par with Haberkorn in terms of quality, but her soft, quiet voice brings a different sort of tone to this darker story that works extremely well.

And once again the voiced narration is joined by visuals that are… well, cards and dice, but with everything featuring lovely artwork and good lighting, as well as attacks and magic having actual effects fitting to what’s going on. Nothing special, but appealing nonetheless. Add to this a wonderful soundtrack with great instrumental and vocal themes like In Search of Stars, Backward Glance, and Desert 2, with many of this game’s themes seeming fittingly more subdued and atmospheric, which seems appropriate. All in all, this game’s soundtrack is definitely on par with the best the series has yet had to offer.

Not satisfied to merely take the series in interesting directions with its story, the gameplay in The Beasts of Burden does some interesting things as well. The monster-capturing mechanic doesn’t actually play out like a Pokemon-style Monster-Collecting game. Rather, “capturing” monsters (either as prizes after battles or purchased in shops) is the main way your party gains new skills in this game, rather than getting them automatically when they level up. What’s more, these skills can be traded among your characters, giving you a lot of flexibility in customizing your party. And that’s not to say the characters themselves aren’t unique, with each gradually gaining abilities that make them better-suited to particular skills, such as the main character’s boost to healing abilities.

Beyond this, the gameplay here is once again pretty typical for the respective genres, with a few decent elements like a shared magic system to keep combat interesting. There are nice little quality-of-life touches here and there, like being able to automatically move your characters to any spot on the map you’ve already uncovered (with this ability constrained a bit in dungeons). I should also note that this game makes very good use of the Nintendo Switch’s touchscreen in handheld mode, although the traditional gamepad controls also work fine. And there’s even an actual card game that players can play against the AI or even other players, although this is more of a minigame than a major part of the game.

Overall, Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden is easily my favorite game yet in the series, something all the more surprising after the second game in the series, The Forsaken Maiden, was something of a disappointment to me. However, far from being another simple copy-paste job, The Beasts of Burden takes the series’ gameplay and presentation and gives it new life with a fantastic new story and a wonderful new monster-capturing mechanic. This gives me hope that there’s still potential for this franchise to surprise and delight, and I hope this isn’t the last we see of these games.

tl;dr – Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden is a Top-Down Dungeon Crawler and Turn-Based JRPG with a gimmick that everything in the game is represented by cards, dice rolls, and some wonderful narration. While it still bears a lot of similarities to the first two games, this game’s excellent story and delightful new monster-capturing mechanic make this the best game yet in the franchise. RPG fans not put off by this series’ simple visual style should absolutely give this one a look.

Grade: B+

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