Paperback Adventures

by Aethyna Mar 3, 2023 | 1 Votes | 29 Played | 0 Reviews

10 rate

Genres:

Word , Card

Graphics:

Labels:

Adventure , Deck Building , Superhero , Roguelike/roguelite

Platforms:

Publishers:

Fowers Games In this unique roguelike deckbuilding word game, you get to choose and play as various heroes who set out to save the world from various enemies, from giant spiders to fearsome dragons, by making words based on the letter cards you draw from the deck. Will you be able to defeat every enemy that comes your way? Play Now Similar Games

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

Paperback Adventure is a unique roguelike deckbuilding word game that’s based on an actual physical card game. In this game, you get to choose and play as various heroes who set out to save the world from various enemies, from giant spiders to fearsome dragons, by making words based on the letter cards you draw from the deck.

Plotline

Although this isn’t made apparent enough in this game, you’re actually helping a novelist, Paige Turner, write her next bestselling novels by “describing” how the chosen hero defeats the slew of enemies on his/her/its quest to “save the world”. Each defeated enemy and boss will offer up paths, usually out of two, where you can then choose how the story goes. However, most of the time, instead of choosing the story you want, you’ll likely choose based on the type of benefits a path gives you.

Gameplay

Due to the uniqueness of the gameplay, it’s highly recommended that you go through the tutorial at least once. This way, you’ll be able to know how to use your cards the best way possible and what kinds of strategies you can use. Once you’re done, it’s time to get into a real game!

To start playing, you’ll need to first choose a hero to play as. You’ll start with only two choices, the Ex Machina and the Damsel, but you’ll be able to unlock the third hero, Plothook, once you’ve completed your first run. Each hero can also be further customized by their archetypes. You see, every hero in this game come with two special abilities by default but depending on the archetype you chose, the abilities will vary. Archetypes only will be unlocked after your first run, so don’t worry about it too much at the start.

Next, you’ll need to pick a difficulty level. There are up to 10 levels in total here with the first four being available right from the start. Each level brings a different challenge to your run, be it having lower max health or that the bosses, which you will face after every two normal enemies, have more health. There are also two more options – the Bookend and the Easy Mode. The Bookend will make your run a lot more difficult because your active card (more on these later) will always be the topmost card, while Easy Mode does exactly what it says it does.

By completing the previous levels, you’ll then be able to unlock the tougher levels right up to 10. Each completed difficulty level will unlock new items and McGuffins (more on these later as well) so in a way, you’re encouraged to win each difficulty level at least once. The levels are tied to each hero as well, so the game encourages you to play different heroes – to “level” them up - rather than just sticking with one hero that you like, that is if you plan on fully completing the game.

As a deckbuilding word game, the letters you’ll be using to form your words – only valid ones, mind you! - are presented in the form of cards in this game. By default, you will always have 12 cards in your deck and that you’ll get to draw 4 letter cards per turn from your deck.

Each card comes with icons, indicating Attack, Defense, and Energy, on both left and right sides. You’ll get to choose which side you want to use after you’ve formed your word, with the right side typically being the “attacking side” and the left side being the “defending side”. The icons will be totaled up and added to your attack, defense, and energy. However, unlike both attack and defense ratings which will be applied immediately, energy can only be earned at the end of your round and is typically used when you activate an ability or an item.

Each card also comes with an ability that can be “activated” depending on your need, but the thing is you must have only one Active card for every word you submit. So, even if you don’t need any of the abilities or if you need multiple of them, you’ll have to choose only one. Cards that are activated will end up in the Fatigued pile instead of the Discard pile. Fatigued cards can’t be played in the entire fight and won’t be reshuffled back into the deck once you’re out of cards, but there are other ways you can retrieve a Fatigued card such as activating a card that has that very ability!

You’ll also get two Wild cards that will refresh themselves every new round. Depending on the difficulty level chosen, one of the two wild cards may even grant you 1 free energy if it’s not used. From time to time, you may encounter Penalty cards as well. They often come with negative effects provided that they aren’t played and remain in your hand. This is why you should use them as soon – in that very round, in fact – as you can. Interestingly enough, penalty cards don’t always come with a single letter on their cards. Sometimes, you may get a two-letter penalty card, such as a “SH” card, that counts as a single card.

Now, the goal for every fight is to, obviously, defeat your opponent, who could be either a normal enemy or a boss. Regardless of which type of enemy you’re facing, Paperback Adventures designs your opponent really well, giving them special abilities that will keep you on your toes by forcing you to change your style of play to adapt to whatever hefty penalties your opponent will impose on you had you stuck to your old playstyle.

Besides being able to see what an enemy is about to do in its turn, every opponent also comes with two health bars, unlike your single health bar. The first health bar, a.k.a. the first stage of the fight, will stun your opponent for a round when drained. This is extremely useful to use for when your enemy goes into an enraged mode, greatly buffing its attack rating or if it’s about to use an ability that can be devastating to you. It’s also important to note that you will always go first in this game, so make sure to use that information to your advantage and take out an enemy before it can do the same to you!

To help you in your adventures as well, you’ll have access to Items and McGuffins. Items are stuff that you can activate using the energy you’ve collected, while McGuffins are passive abilities that will remain active throughout your playthrough. You can usually get these as rewards at the end of every fight, when you’re given one of two Paths to choose from, but you can also purchase them using Crowns at the shop. Note that unlike most games, you don’t earn Crowns simply by defeating enemies. Instead, you can earn them by playing certain cards during a fight. Crowns, unlike energy, persists throughout a playthrough, so you can accumulate them if you want.

I should also mention that besides Items and McGuffins (both Boss and Normal ones), the path you choose may come with other benefits, including starting the next fight with extra energy, being able to upgrade a card of your choice, or being able to replace a card in your deck with a new one, usually out of the 2-3 cards given. Some paths may even contain penalties in exchange for much more lucrative benefits, so it all depends on how much penalties you’re willing to take on for better loot.

Oh, and if you love puns, you’re in for a laugh!

Graphics/ Sound

Paperback Adventures features a nostalgic old-school aesthetics and art style that strongly reminds me of old paperback novels and superhero comic books. In terms of sound, the game features a selection of soundtracks, albeit fairly short ones so they cycle through pretty quickly, that match well with its superhero theme. Despite its more chillax gameplay, the music does make you feel like you’re in the thick of action, fighting off baddies with the power of the (written) word!

Conclusion

Paperback Adventures is a fascinatingly unique roguelike deckbuilding word game that may, unfortunately, appeal to a very niche type of players, specifically players who love playing word games as much as they enjoy playing deckbuilding games, who happen to also like the retro aesthetics of old-school superhero comic books/paperbacks. I happen to fall into that niche category of gamers, although I’m ashamed to say that I’m not familiar with its physical version, and Paperback Adventures is truly a delightful find! Of course, that’s not even including the many puns that will make you snort out a laugh.

New Game Added: Paperback Adventures

by Aethyna Mar 3, 2023

In this unique roguelike deckbuilding word game, you get to choose and play as various heroes who set out to save the world from various enemies, from giant spiders to fearsome dragons, by making words based on the letter cards you draw from the deck. Will you be able to defeat every enemy that comes your way?