Faeria (Nintendo Switch) Review

Although this starts off on an awkward foot of a forced-tutorial section of around five levels before even the main screen is unlocked, Faeria ends up being a largely competent collectible card game that mostly succeeds in staying away from a 'pay to win' model. Taking place on a small hex grid, players build up lands, summon monsters, and try to kill their opponent first. Drawing clear inspiration for Magic: The Gathering, it stays far enough away that the new result is a fun experience, if nothing else.

Early on, it definitely struggles trying to decide what exactly should be happening to the player. Forced into a type of campaign (no main menu or home screen to start with), it is an odd choice to throw gamers through this stumbling block before arriving finally at the 'main' part. Here, those in control can slowly unlock new cards through single-player missions against the AI or go play online against others on a ladder system. As a quick note, players will need to be paying for Nintendo online for this privilege.

The root of the game feels simple enough to be welcoming, with a little depth for longer-term players. Ultimately, the whole system feels a bit unnecessary in the end. To explain, on each turn players decide what type of land to build, claiming the tile and element for themselves. This also builds up their elemental summon power for different types of cards. In a way, they build the board to suite their strategy, such as going defensive, or stabbing forward aggressively into enemy territory.

Based on cards and elements, players 'play' their summon cards to the board, represented by a simple token that generally moves one hex. As they engage in battle with the other monsters, players take turns summoning more monsters to the field or using other card effects, such as heals or attacks. Similar to other card-based adventures, creatures have two simple stats (beyond its summon cost): attack and life. Creatures hit each other for their attack simultaneously, and anyone still alive remains on the board. It gives some interesting moments; for example, a big 10/10 monster is slowly broken down and its final blow is given by a small 1/1, which, of course, dies in the process but finally removes the menace.

The elements represent different creatures and styles of combat. The forest creatures focus on heals, buffs, and general synergy between their units, whereas mountain creatures are big and tough, as an example. Faeria reveals these new decks and styles of combat slowly, which for solo players is great for the CCG aspect, but those looking to launch straight into online will find problems.

Some issues are that the game requires permanent online access, even for single-player, which is going to be an annoyance for some. It was an unfortunate decision, so say goodbye to any type of mobile play. Another issue is the user interface is sometimes problematic, such as icons being too small, or the battle history not showing what buffs were in play on a creature. It is frustrating, especially as enemy attacks can come fast and often leaves a feeling of 'how did my guy just die?'.

The entire game feels a little like a mobile title, requiring logging on daily to get currencies to unlock items, and play through missions to get the better cards. Luckily, the only true 'pay to win' lies in buying expansion packs with new cards; the base cards are largely competent. Although this sometimes suffers from pacing issues of its unlocks, for a new spin on the CCG theme, it succeeds. Nothing is especially mind blowing, but on the other hand, nothing truly knocks the action down. This one is going to largely come down to if the person is a fan of CCGs - being fun, if not a 'must play'.