Ruff Ghanor: Game Review

Ruff Ghanor is deck builder game that’s based on Brazilian novels of “A Lenda de Ruff Ghanor”. It’s a game that embraces the very soul of the Ruff Ghanor universe, pulling in elements from its books, and to add more beauty to this package, it’s made by a hardworking Brazilian team who have achieved an astounding quality in their indie game project.

From the bat, I soon found out that I was entering a realm where choices matter. A lot. Your choices dictate your path, your character attributes, and heck, even the relationships you forge in this universe are shaped by the decisions you make. It didn’t take long for me to realize that even what appears to be a harmless decision now could flip my entire experience in the runway that lay ahead of me. Suddenly, I wasn’t only playing a game. I was living a story. Every card, not just an item in my hand, but an impactful narrative element swinging on the balance of luck.

Energy was my next important resource to manage. That’s right, the very life bar that I play with doesn’t regenerate after every encounter, meaning I had to carefully choose my battles and my recovery points. But guess what? Even a wrong choice could stick around, negatively affecting my deck and making my future battles all the more difficult. Ruff Ghanor treats you to real-life scenarios and calls for your proactive engagement to determine your fate in-game. Such is the beauty of games that focus not just on winning but also on the journey getting there.

However, certain things made my experience less enjoyable. Just as with every ambitious project, the blend of risk-reward scales is a challenge. The excitement of going through a well-executed plan was sometimes cut short by the frustration of losing my progress in the gameplay because of a simple mistake made in passing. The reality of having to start all over, yet being mindful of the very mistake that knocked me off the first round, can feel like a daunting task.

Nonetheless, I was continuously charmed by the attention to detail in this game. In true Jovem Nerd fashion, the depth of each character is breathtaking. Not just your allies but even your opponents are given so much depth, teasing you with their taunts and dialogues, adding flavour to the gameplay.

I also had a few concerns with the game balance. The gut feeling that luck was on my side, domain of roguelikes, sometimes didn’t seem present. Particularly during the later stages of each act, the challenges felt enormous, especially when I realized that minor faults made at the beginning snowballed and exploded destructively at the most crucial moments of the game.

But at the end of my review run, one question lingered – Is Ruff Ghanor worth your time? And I’ll say this. If you enjoy the thrill of decision-making, the allure of a good story, and the pleasure of seeing your choices shape your gameplay, then yes, it absolutely is. This game is a fantastic show of creativity and a must-try for anyone who fancies a blend of deck-building and story-telling. The only letdown for me was the game length. Despite the replayability of the game at the player’s disposal, I found that the game mechanics were so addictive, leaving me hungry for more.

In summary, Ruff Ghanor is a superb execution of a blend between card gaming and storytelling. The plot is engaging, the game mechanics are unique, and there is high attention to detail in the art direction and character dialogues. This game delivers a deep deck building experience punctuated by interesting challenges and exciting moments of dialogues and combat. While there are some hiccups such as balancing issues and minor errors in the English version, the overall experience is quite seamless. The replayability offers a boon, but the desire for more engrossing challenges lingers. All in all, anyone who’s looking to delve into a compelling storyline and a differently done deck builder should certainly try their hand at Ruff Ghanor. It’s definitely worth the time and the thrilling experience.