14 DAY TRIAL // 
The deckbuilding genre bloomed after the success of Slay the Spire. Many developers have tried to borrow the formula and add their own twist to make their game stand out, but few managed to also copy Slay the Spire’s success.
Liberte is one of the many deckbuilding games launched this year. Developed by Superstatic and published by Anshar Publishing, Liberte combines quite a few genres in its attempt to offer players an enticing, yet original gameplay experience. Mixing deckbuilding, hack & slash, roguelite and horror elements is quite bold, but that’s what I love about indie developers, they’re taking risks trying to make their games rather unique.
The game is set in an alternate history line in which the French Revolution has been hijacked by a mysterious monster from another dimension, Lady Bliss. Although Liberte is inspired by the real French Revolution and those familiar with France’s history will recognize many names and events in the game, the addition of a Lovecraftian creature changes things a bit.
Liberte is split into multiple acts, but since this is a roguelite, you’ll be forced to play these over and over again until you manage to not die. The first few hours act as a tutorial where you’ll learn that your character can use powerful abilities that are added to the game in the form of cards.
You play as Rene, an unusual local who, for reasons unknown, is bound by Lady Bliss. Force to do her bidding, Rene must find the perfect ruler for France by navigating the massive intrigue between the four most influential factions in Paris. At the beginning of each act, Rene must choose a side from two factions and gain influence points upon completing that faction’s objective.
The influence bar is populated with various prizes that can be claimed whenever you have enough points. You can get craft materials, powerful new cards, skins and other items that will help Rene throughout his Lovecraftian journey.
There are no “classes” in the game, although there are different types of decks that are suitable for specific characters. Rene can change skins in between acts and choose to play one of the other characters that use different weapons. Rene is bound to play a melee deck because he’s using a rapier, but there are other heroes like Ana who is using two pistols, thus allowing you to play as a ranged character.
For a less nimble melee playstyle, you’ll have to unlock yet another skin, although I found melee a bit lackluster when it comes to powerful abilities compared to ranged. Not to mention that at the end of each act, you’ll get a debuff that will make the next one harder. These vary and can royally screw you if you get one or two particular debuffs that can lock down your deck.
Speaking of decks, Liberte adopts a rather unusual take on the deckbuilding genre. Each deck can contain up to 40 cards, but you will not be using all your cards during an act. Instead, you get random cards when you level up and you have to use mana to play them. With very few exceptions, mana comes from cards, so you have to “burn” cards to get mana, which you can then spend to play other cards.
It’s a bizarre system that I couldn’t get used to, but it seems that it works just fine for Liberte. Obviously, some of the most powerful cards from each type of deck must be crafted. Blueprints randomly drop throughout the levels, so grinding is actually needed if you want to improve your deck with cards that can actually make a difference.
The grinding aspect is a bit annoying because you’ll be running through the same corridors over and over again. Liberte isn’t really a pretty game, so that doesn’t help either. The good news is you don’t really need to grind to finish the game. But if you want fewer frustrating moments, grinding is mandatory.
In between the four deck archetypes, there are more than 100 cards to craft, so there’s plenty of variation when it comes to playstyle. It’s just a matter of finding the blueprints for these cards and gathering enough materials to be able to craft them.
Liberte’s story is more appealing than its combat and level design. Unfortunately, gaining influence with the four factions in the game is another grind in itself. If you want to unlock a certain prize from the influence bar that’s toward the middle, you’ll have a very long road ahead, mostly pepper with even more grinding.
The combat in Liberte strongly reminds me of Hades, although instead of gaining powers, you get cards from your deck. Sadly, combat isn’t as tight as I would’ve wanted, and the hitboxes seem all over the place. My ranged character is missing half her shots almost every run and it’s not because of the enemy’s abilities. Surprisingly, I had no issues with the bosses, which seem well-designed, albeit maybe a little bit easy to kill.
The Good
- Compelling story
- Great voice acting
- Original deckbuilding mechanics
The Bad
- Combat needs more polish
- Requires a little bit of grinding
- Disappointing level design
Conclusion
The idea of having half of your deck being destroyed for mana and the other half being actually used during a run is rather unique. What’s great about Liberte is that if you find a good build that you want to use, you’ll always end up with the cards you need if you have them included in your deck.
Combat needs a bit more polishing, but it’s serviceable for what Liberte wants to be. I did enjoy the story very much and the voice acting, but I feel that the game needs more varied environments and enemies. I wasn’t too impressed with the progression system, which requires a lot of grinding. Thankfully, you’re allowed to skip this aspect if you’re mildly skilled.
Review key was provided by the publisher.
