Castle Morihisa

Genre: Turn-Based Card RPG / Roguelike

Players: 1

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Review:

Castle Morihisa is a deck-building Card-Based RPG Roguelike released in 2022 on PC and Nintendo Switch. Normally this is where I talk about how Slay the Spire looms large in this particular subgenre to this day, though of course in recent years we’ve gotten other fine additions to the genre like Balatro and Inscryption. Here’s the thing, though – the comparison to Slay the Spire is particularly apt here, not just because the two games are in the same genre, but because the way the two games play is nearly identical.

I suppose, to be perfectly fair, Castle Morihisa does have come unique elements going for it. Its Japanese mythological theme runs very strong through the game, not just in the presentation but in the different characters and card types too. And there are some mechanics that set this game apart, such as the Fallen Hero mechanic, that gives players a selection of hero banners that each provide their own trio of single-use abilities that you can use at any time. There’s also this game’s unique approach to the shop system, which is always available rather than only being accessible at select times, but you have to spend cash to reset the stock rather than it happening automatically. And there’s also an RPG style skill tree (well… skill concentric circles, I guess).

Okay, so yes, there are quite a few things this game is doing to set itself apart from Slay the Spire. But the moment-to-moment gameplay? The deck full of attack and defense cards that are unique to each of the game’s different characters and each slightly different, only to become more so as you collect more cards that fit one of that character’s specialties? The energy mechanic? The enemies with forecasted moves to respond to? Power cards that are used once and then affect the entire remainder of the battle (called Tactics cards here)? All of this will be very, very familiar to Slay the Spire players.

Even individual characters have some direct similarities, like one of the ninja’s specializations in zero-cost shuriken attacks, which works very much like Slay the Spire’s The Silent and her shiv attacks.

However, here’s where I refer back to another thing I often say, that there’s nothing wrong with a copycat so long as it’s a good copycat, and where I then go on to ask if this game is a good copycat.

Okay, so, is Castle Morihisa a good copycat? I think so, yes. As noted above, it does plenty of things to set it apart, despite its similarities to Slay the Spire. Having said that, it’s not a great copycat. Much of the joy in Slay the Spire is finding deck “synergies”, cards and passive buffs that work together so well they turn you into a powerhouse. Castle Morihisa has these synergies too, but they’re not always as clear, or don’t always work so well.

For an example of this I can point to the shurikens I mentioned above. In Slay the Spire there is a power card, Infinite Blades, that places one of these in your hand every turn, something that’s super-important when your deck is built around the use of these cards. Castle Morihisa’s ninja has a similar Tactics card to place a shuriken in your hand every turn. Only… well, not all shurikens are zero-cost, meaning that if your deck is built around zero-cost cards, this card’s utility in your deck is inconsistent at best. Another run with the same character focused on discarding and drawing cards and getting added bonuses from doing so. Among the cards you can get with a discard bonus is one where the bonus grows the more cards you’ve played that turn, which might be useful… if your discard-focused deck wasn’t built around a Tactics card that has you discarding cards at the beginning of your turn, before any cards are played.

Another issue is the way the skill tree system is laid out doesn’t really play to your deck synergies, at times forcing you to spend skill points on a skill that is absolutely useless to you if you want to get at a skill you desire connected to it.

Again, this isn’t to say that there aren’t good deck synergies here, and after a few games I was able to build a deck that was eventually so powerful I trounced the game’s final boss. But these synergies aren’t as “neat” as they often are in Slay the Spire.

Before wrapping this up, I need to talk for a moment about the presentation, which does have the strong Japanese mythological theme I mentioned before, with music made to resemble a traditional Japanese style backing visuals designed to resemble Japanese watercolor drawings, with hand-drawn 2D art animated in the paper doll style… much like Slay the Spire’s art is.

Okay, so after all that, do I think Castle Morihisa is a good deck-building Card-Based RPG Roguelike? Yes. Do I think you might enjoy it as much as Slay the Spire? No. But if you do enjoy Slay the Spire and you’re also a fan of Japanese mythology, or if you’re just looking for another game that’s similar, I think you’ll find this game to be worth playing.

tl;dr – Castle Morihisa is a deck-building Card-Based RPG Roguelike that is very clearly cribbing a lot of its notes directly from Slay the Spire, though it does change a few things and the mythological Japanese theme does help to set it apart. This game isn’t anywhere near as good as the game that so clearly inspired it, but it’s still an enjoyable entry in the genre worth checking out, especially if you’re looking for something as close as possible to Slay the Spire.

Grade: B

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