This month I want to make more of an effort to play some more AAA games and talk about them. I am still playing and talking about indie games (next week is Rogue Legacy 2!) but I have been playing Resident Evil 4 Remake and I am having a lot of fun reliving the old times. ANYWAY! This week I am rolling dice and killing monsters with the results. This week is Tamarak Trail.

Tamarak Trail is a deckbuilding rouge-lite from Yarrow Games and Versus Evil. The game will be released for the PC sometime in 2023.

The player can take the role of three different classes to travel through the Tamarak Trail face off against monsters and beat back the army of monsters brought on by a massive “star” that fell from the sky.

Tamarak Trail really makes its presence known when introducing the “deck.” This time around it is not cards but everything is replaced with a pair of dice. These dice are special because it is the way that your character attacks. Along the trail, the player will meet a plethora of different abominations: Giant mosquitos, slug men, pigeons with guns, and even a raccoon moose.

The player has a set amount of points that serve as both action points and defense against enemy attacks. Points are regenerated at the end of the turn but when lost, fatal blows will be given and when the player has suffered enough then it is game over.

Throw the dice into the designated area; both at once or one at a time, and sling spells. As the player moves on and gets a hang of how the dice work, the game introduces every other mechanic all at once. When successful in battle the player is offered a choice of three new dice facings. Options may include a damage modifier, a status effect enabler, or an ability that takes advantage of multiple bounces. Note that a majority of dice facings rotate the die onto another side as well, making for potential combos. Once taken, the player can fully customize their die in whatever fashion they desire.

The customization menu is incredibly intuitive with die facings in full view, and the ability to break down the dice into it’s “t” form to show the player where dice will rotate when an ability specifies. For instance, if the player has an ability that when played “rotate the die to the top” the menu will highlight where the top would be so that the player can build their “deck” for ultimate synergy.

For a demo, the trail is incredibly long and arduous. You have a few different paths to take that eventually meet up at the same boss fight. Battles, events, and campfires that restore hearts are littered throughout each path.

Tamarak Trail’s UI really reminds me of a lot of games like Darkest Dungeon; from the player and enemy placement on the screen to the status effects, it is all really DnD inspired. The game is also very pleasant to look at from the perspective of enjoying the look of eldritch monsters. The animations are kind of stiff when attacking but it’s the demo, who cares.

Tamarak Trail‘s demo is the bee’s knees. I love everything about the demo. Decks are old news, the modern gamers roll dice. Rolling dice and building the correct deck is more fun than a lot of the games that I play. watching the dice roll and hit a potential infinite combo tops anything. The resource management of points and defense is outstanding.

With the demo being so incredibly long, there was never a time that I felt like I needed to reset because I did not get a good ability after the first couple of battles. To date, I have almost eight hours in the DEMO. I cannot stress enough that all of the mechanics that are present within the game are executed so well and it makes it so god damn fun to play.

I have nothing but good things to say about the Tamarak Trail demo. I cannot wait until this game releases.