Deathless Tales of Old Rus Preview
In a crowded world of deckbuilders, it can be hard to stand out. There are plenty of games that follow the formula. After winning a turn-based fight, you have an opportunity to choose (usually 1 of 3) new cards to add to your deck. You usually start with some basic attack and defense cards, and as you progress you will grow (or rarely, shrink) your deck, upgrade cards, and collect powerful artifacts that change the rules of the game. Deathless: Tales of Old Rus mixes and matches some cool ideas, but does it really have a new recipe?
An Old Land, A Cold Land
Deathless: Tales of Old Rus wants to leave a powerful first impression. From its presentation, one would assume that this is an excellent course in Slavic folklore and mythology. I did not find this to be the case. I probably know a little more about these stories than the average American, but most of my knowledge I picked up in Neil Gaiman stories. Deathless: Tales of Old Rus positions you as a Slavic hero, with the promise of unlocking a whole roster of legendary guys. On each level you will fight monsters and dark creatures who specifically hail from that corner of the world.
The first hero you play as is Varvara, who seems pretty cool. She has a braided whip (which unfortunately does not seem attached to her head like WWE’s Bianca Bellair). She deals decent damage and can use her whip-powers to re-order the enemies on the battlefield. The enemies include a Yaga witch, khuds, remnants, and river nymphs. They all look amazing and the coherent aesthetic is definitely to the game’s benefit. But that basically tapped out my knowledge. I couldn’t really tell you anything about Varvara, or stories featuring any of those monsters. As an educational intro to Russian mythology, Deathless: Tales of Old Rus is somewhat lacking. It’s more of a vibe than a lesson.
Fall In Line
Fortunately though, Deathless: Tales of Old Rus has a lot going for it in the mechanics department. Very few of these mechanics were new to me, but the combination of ideas may be unique. The game is played from a side-view, with heroes and villains lining up on their respective side of the board. The hero has a limited supply of energy to play cards representing attacks, skills, and powers. But the order the characters are standing in effects everything. With Varvara, you will quickly learn to whip melee attacks back and ranged attackers forward interrupting their plans.
It took a while for the positioning mechanics to click, but once they did, it will be hard to go back to a simpler game such as Roguebook. The cards are abstractions of some pretty cool fight choreography. After all, Varvara’s main strategy is killing guys and then propping up their bodies as meat shields. She goes pretty hard.
The exploration of the overworld is also somewhat unique. You aren’t navigating throuhg a series of interconnected nodes. Your route is chosen through a storybook, and the different areas are realized in prose. I actually really liked this. How many similar maps of icons can one gamer look at? The prose is well written, and evokes a tactile response. You’ll practically be able to smell those drowners.
Keep Things Moving
Beyond themes and gameplay, there is one area in which Deathless: Tales of Old Rus soars higher than just about any other game in the genre. This game looks rad! I don’t just mean the character models and designs, though they also rule. I’m talking about animations. I have long felt that animation is actually one of the most important ways a player interacts with a game, and Deathless: Tales of Old Rus wants to make the player feel involved and awesome. Monster skin will jiggle as the heroes gracefully dive and feint across the 2D battlefield.
Part of me still wishes Deathless: Tales of Old Rus was a bit more educational, but I learned to really appreciate its best attributes. Even compared to the many other deckbuilding indie games you can get on Steam, there is something special about Deathless: Tales of Old Rus, an attention to detail you won’t see elsewhere. And on top of that, the music sounds like The Witcher 3 in the best way. Deathless: Tales of Old Rus is still in early access, with many features to come, but I am confident that this is going to shape up to be a cult classic.
***PC code provided by the publisher for preview***
