Golfie

by Aethyna Jun 1, 2022 | 1 Votes | 88 Played | 0 Reviews

10 rate

Genres:

Sports , Card

Graphics:

Labels:

Deck Building , Roguelike/roguelite , Golf

Platforms:

Publishers:

Yogscast Games It’s tee time! Assemble the best deck of cards to get your cute little golf ball into the cup in the fewest number of moves possible in this one-of-a-kind and addictively entertaining, golf-themed deckbuilding roguelike, Golfie! Compete with others via the leaderboard or play again just to beat your own high score. Play Now Similar Games

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Summary Gameplay Community Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

Golfie is a one-of-a-kind golf game, and its deckbuilding roguelike aspect really helped. In this game, you’ll play cards from your hand to move your golf ball ever closer to the cup. The goal? Sink your ball into the hole in the fewest moves possible. There are many ways you can do it, some of which can be pretty insane! In addition to the huge variety of seed-based levels, each map is designed to give you sufficient challenge, whether it is obstacles that blocks the trajectory of your ball or thick patches of grass that drastically slow down your ball’s movement. Play against yourself or against other players worldwide via the Daily Challenge mode and see where you rank on the leaderboard!

Gameplay

Golfie comes with several game modes. You can get a feel for the game first via the more relaxing Free Play mode, or you could just hop into a proper run by clicking New Run. There’s also a Daily Challenge mode where you’ll play “the run of the day” and see how far you go. Every attempt you make will give you a score that will then be ranked against other players worldwide on the leaderboard. The better you do, the higher you go!

There’s also a new game mode called “Multiplayer” which I assume is a mode where you can “battle” other players in real-time and see who can reach the hole first. It’s probably similar to Turbo Golf Racing in concept.

Now, before the start of every run, you’ll get to pick a “Glitch”, from adding a rare card to your starter deck to getting 10 free coins right from the get-go. It’s basically a starting “advantage” that you get for free. Once you’re done, you’ll then head into your very first level to start golfing.

How the gameplay works here is that you’ll play cards - or cartridges, since the cards do look like them - to boost your swing. This will, in turn, change your ball’s trajectory, whether by allowing it to go further or move in a curve for example. There are some really interesting cards that you can get in this game to make your game even more fun, whether that be teleporting your golf ball or gliding it towards where it needs to go while mid-air.

Although there are some cards that don’t seem to be much use to me, at least based on how I tend to play the game, there are cards that when they appear together in your hand would make for a very satisfying combo. Naturally, these cards are usually rarer cards that may be harder to come by.

Similar to most card games, there’s a “currency” that’s very alike to the “mana” that you’ll need to put cards into play. In Golfie, that “mana” is called “Heat”. Every card you play here will “generate” some amount of Heat and by default, you can only play cards up to 5 Heat points, with most cards typically using up 1-2 Heat points. Rare cards tend to require more Heat though. There are perks and certain cards that can put you over that limit, but generally, 5 is the limit.

Choosing cards that modify how the ball moves is one thing; the real challenge is to get through the “obstacle course” that is the level. Most earlier levels are fairly easy, making getting a hole-in-one easy enough, but later on, the levels get more convoluted, with many offering alternate paths that are usually laced with honeypot items, namely coins, as well as a host of obstacles and challenges like thick grass, foliage, pools of water, uneven terrain, and more.

Since you get a limited number of shots per level, it’s wise to take calculated risks and take the straightest path to the hole even if it means forgoing a bunch of coins. After all, you do get more coins if you managed to clear a level using the fewest moves possible. That being said, it is also possible that you might accidentally get your ball stuck in between obstacles and couldn’t get out. At one point, that was what happened to me as my ball is stuck in between a bunch of bamboo plants and I wasted multiple shots just to get it out. Thankfully, I still managed to get the ball into the cup with my final shot.

What’s the point of collecting coins, you may wonder? Well, you’ll sometimes encounter levels where there’s a vending machine that you can hit with your ball to buy stuff from. The items sold here range from cards to perks. Personally, I find these machines to be super helpful in restoring some lives since they usually sell one or two Batteries which will add 1-2 lives to your overall health counter. Note that you get 7 lives for every run. You’ll lose one life if you fall into the water or roll off the edge of the map, and if you lose all of them, you’ll lose the run.

Unfortunately, if you can’t complete a level within the number of shots given, you don’t just lose a life - you lose the entire run and will have to start all over.

Besides buying cards, you can get free ones to add to your deck by hitting the blue crystals that sometimes pop up on a level. Usually, you’ll get to choose between 3 cards but if you get the relevant perk upgrade, you can expand your choices. There are pink crystals that will grant you a free perk - also chosen out of 3 choices, with more available if you have the relevant perk upgrade - as well.

What’s the difference between the two though? Well, perks are permanent passive abilities. They offer benefits like expanding your predicted trajectory, increasing the chance of encountering blue or red crystals, or giving you extra lives. Unlike cards, they aren’t added to your deck and can’t be played.

As you play, you’ll level up your little Golfie (the golf ball), and thus, unlock new cards and perks. You can view all the cards you’ve unlocked via the Memory Bank at the main menu. You can also unlock funky cosmetics for your ball including a plunger hat and paper 3D glasses.

I have to admit, Golfie seems to manage to nail that “just one more run” formula perfectly. Despite not being a fan of minigolf games albeit a huge fan of roguelikes, it was truly hard for me to drag myself from playing just to write this review. Each run in this game is fairly short and sweet too. My runs usually last me between 45 minutes to an hour which fits well into my gaming schedule, though of course, there’s that almost irresistible itch to play another run… in the name of writing a better review, of course! *winks*

Community

Currently, the main community aspect of the game comes in the form of leaderboards. You can see how you fare against other players in the game’s Daily Challenges. Even if you missed a day, fret not! You can easily revisit past challenges and play them too.

There’s also this new work-in-progress game mode, Multiplayer, that looks like it might just be the ideal game mode for players who are itching to pit their mini-golfing-slash-deck-building skills against others in real-time. We’ll just have to wait and see!

Graphics/ Sound

The bright and vibrant visual style that Golfie went for fits its mini-golfing theme. After all, it’s truly rare to see a dark and dreary mini-golf game. The player gets to rotate the camera at all angles and the ball is also highlighted with some shading, so you can easily see your ball even if it’s hidden behind objects. There’s even a nice little level preview at the start of every level, where you can see the entire course from start to finish. This makes planning your moves much easier.

In terms of sound, the game features different soundtracks for different maps. The music all matches their respective map themes well, though personally, I like the soundtrack that played on the Japanese-themed map the most.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, Golfie is truly a game that’s in a class of its own! Not only will you be tested in your deck-building skills, but the mini-golf part of the game is also challenging in its own right. The roguelike aspect, including the many cosmetics, cards, and perks that you can unlock as you level up, gives the game plenty of replayability. Even with the pending Multiplayer mode, the amount of content here is simply incredible… and this game is still in early access! So, if you’re up for a round or two of epic mini-golfing, look no further than Golfie!

New Game Added: Golfie

by Aethyna Jun 1, 2022

It’s tee time! Assemble the best deck of cards to get your cute little golf ball into the cup in the fewest number of moves possible in this one-of-a-kind and addictively entertaining, golf-themed deckbuilding roguelike, Golfie! Compete with others via the leaderboard or play again just to beat your own high score.