Mahokenshi review: a deckbuilder that sticks you with the pointy end

Most deckbuilding strategy games see you create a single deck of cards over the course of the game. With every completed stage, you're given the chance to add in new cards and take out old duffers, carefully honing those rough edges until it's your very own death by paper cut machine. Mahokenshi isn't most other deckbuilders, though. Here, you're tasked with creating a fresh deck of cards each time you start a new mission, bolstering your initial crop of starter attacks and movement cards with new, more powerful attacks on the fly as you move around its hex-based landscapes. Some can be found out in the wild, but most of them you'll be buying from village merchants, before upgrading them at dojos dotted around the map. And at the end the mission, they're all swept away.

It's certainly a refreshing take on deckbuilding, and it lends itself to even more spontaneous wins and comebacks than the usual frisson of tension you get from simply drawing a good or bad hand. But with main story missions quickly ramping up in difficulty, that scramble for bigger and better cards up front is often Mahokenshi's undoing. The whims of chance are felt more keenly than ever in Game Source Studio's debut deckbuilder, and they never quite felt like they're tipped in your favour.

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