I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into Golden Swirl, my previous experience with deck building games has mostly consisted of the likes of Gwent and Magic: The Gathering. What I found was a challenging yet surprisingly fun game, although not one that I could ultimately see myself putting a lot of time into.

Golden Swirl is a dark fantasy deck building roguelike, the way it seems to set itself from other games in the genre is through it’s semi real time combat system. This was a big departure from card based games that I have played before since they were mostly of the turn based variety.

Golden Swirl features 4 playable characters that each have access to unique cards with which to fill out your deck. Each character feels completely different to play and has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. The game employs a system in which every action taken outside of combat, such as opening chests, triggering events, picking up new cards, and even restoring hp all have a chance to fail, which will drain some of a resource called Golden Will. Allowing this to reach zero will boost the capabilities of enemies and make combat much harder. Combat itself is a game of managing action points to play cards with various effects. Cards are used to attack, defend, and even dodge and dash. Combat takes place in real time with the ability to pause in order to plan your next move.

The art style is a strong point for Golden Swirl, characters and cards both look great and use a hand drawn look that reminds me of games like Darkest Dungeon. Voice acting is also of a high quality, and the music manages to do a good job of matching the tension of some of the tough battles.

Overall, there is a lot to like about Golden Swirl, the games fresh take on the genre will please a lot of players. With that being said, I found the story to quickly become somewhat overwritten, to the point that I just kind of stopped paying attention, combined with the actual arenas that battles take place in themselves being somewhat repetitive and a little uninteresting, and this is not really a game I can see myself sinking many more hours into. Sure I had some fun with the game, but ultimately I did not really find myself wanting to continue going back for more.

Golden Swirl is by no means a bad game, and I am sure it will find it’s audience. I think it just comes down to the fact that I am not part of that audience. If you are a fan of games such as Hades and Slay the Spire and are looking for something fresh, then this game could very well be for you.

WildStar Gaming was provided with a review code by Plan of Attack. This has no influence on our editorial opinion or final score.