There are two castles, and that ‘V’ between them means that they’re not on the best of terms. You play cards from your deck in an effort to destroy the nefarious enemy castle. And… well, that’s just about the only the aim of Castle V Castle.
The demo that you can currently leap into as part of Steam Next Fest does away with any pretence of tutorials or storytelling, instead leaning on the idea that the title does both of those things. What more could you need to know?
Castle V Castle is a strategic resource management game, accruing enough of each to use in offense and defence against that vile enemy castle. There’s probably some deep-seated visual analogy for the fact that you and your enemies look identical, but I’ll let you mull that over on your own time.
These resources are broken down into separate sections, with your castle’s level prominently displayed at the top. You’ve then got Build, which displays the number of bricks you have, and the number of builders, followed by the Attack category which shows your soldiers and number of weapons. Finally, there’s Magic, which contains Witches and Magic Power.
Each of these can be utilised to grow your castle, expand defences, or go on the attack, whittling the enemy castle down faster than they whittle yours. It’s simple, but there’s a real push-and-pull between the two sides.
Successfully completing a stage grants you a reward chest or, if you’re unlucky, a cursed chest. Either will give you the choice between two permanent upgrades or curses, before sending you off again to fight the next castle. They really do throw them up these days, don’t they? As you progress you might have to decide whether to focus on magic or old fashioned sword-swinging, depending on the curses and boons you’ve chosen.
The biggest sticking point comes when you don’t have enough resources to play a card. Discarding one will see it replaced by another, but you also lose your turn so it can completely change the outcome of a round if you don’t get it right. I found it easier to get rid of higher value cards, focusing on easier to play, low value cards, but you miss out on the most powerful attacks if you do that, from whirling dervishes of knights, to a robot that counts down through ten rounds before annihilating you.
There’s a great sense of character here, despite the simple black and white visuals and focused gameplay. The demo is quite short – 20 minutes, if that – so it’s not a huge timesink to check out, and if it captures your attention, there’s a daily challenge that you can hop into each day. Castle V Castle is listed as a singleplayer title, but it feels like a natural fit for online multiplayer, which I hope is something the team at Nopopo consider. Either way, I can see it capturing a good number of players in its grey brick walls when it releases.
Castle V Castle is a smart spot of strategy, with a great aesthetic. It’s definitely one to keep an eye on.