I really just gave up this week. I had a whole bunch of demos to play but I really just did not want to play any of them, so I went on Steam and found a genre of game that I do not play very often, deck builders. I have talked about some in the past but those were story-based games with a novelty deck building minigame tacked on. This week I am in a band and I aim to save the world using the power of metal. This week I played the Power Chord Demo.

Power Chord is a rogue-lite deck-building game from Big Blue Bubble. It’ll be released in early access on PC in December and that sweet price is unknown to me.

Dive bars are being taken by the damned and it is up to you and your band to take it back and save the world with MUSIC and cards, I guess.

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The name of the game is deckbuilding and the demo onboards pretty well. The deck consists of cards with abilities that match the band. The starting band has an aggressive member, an AOE member, a healer, and shield-er? That’s fine, I’ll go with that name. Each band member has a set of cards that match their ability and they all get shuffled into a deck. When the battle of the bands begins the player will draw essentially six cards. Throughout the demo, the amount of beats (or mana) is four and the costs of the cards are on the top left side. Choose cards until you run out of beats and it passes the turn, and the bad guys get a go.

Do the thing until either band loses all of their health points.

Rouge-lite elements arise after defeating a stage and all that is was picking between three new cards or money. Money is used at the shop to buy trinkets or more cards as well.

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Cards are pretty standard with little room for synergy in the beginning, but as you progress the deck begins to take a shape and the game really shines. Cards that heal upon dealing damage, damage, area of effect cards, and shield cards are all at play, but it is the rewards for defeating enemies that are the best cards. drawing extra cards and even gaining more beats really ramp up the power of your deck.

There are only four beats to each turn and it really makes you think about what cards are most important to play. 

Power Chord is a really fucking colorful game. The colors are loud and everywhere, it honestly looks just like a real show.

The music is also really good. I was about the music the whole time. Music plays in the background and when cards are played the band plays a melody that compliments the background song.

Power Chord has something going for itself and I am glad to say it. It was so fun that I played almost three full playthroughs of the demo (I had to go to work). It feels good, looks good, and the cards eventually get o to a place that feels good. Card’s don’t feel too overpowered (so far) and the enemy AI doesn’t seem so stupid. They spread damage around and when a player is at low life they do prioritize their demise. After you get into a groove, Power Chords demo is really quite fun.