Wildfrost Review (PC)

Fungun launches his powerful Shroom blast, managing to deal long-term damage to two of our opponents. I also play the Pombomb to eliminate another three, a pair of which were getting ready to launch their own attacks this turn. My played card means that my turn ends but no opponents can strike.

The Berry Blade card allows me to both deal damage to the boss I am facing, a weird snowman called Bamboozle, and to heal the leader of my party, Ashbark. The leading opponent can strike all my characters when he attacks, so it’s important to use snowballs to keep him frozen and unable to do anything. But focusing on him allows his minions to attack from time to time.

A pet named Boshu arrives on the field to add some extra healing capabilities. Wooden swords and snowballs continue to fly around. I move Fungun to the front of the row where my leader is and he bravely takes hits, giving me the time to deal with other enemies and then focus on the boss. A final attack from Ashbark drops his health to zero. He splits into two characters and I need to dig deep and get a good hand of cards to have a chance to win the battle.

Wildfrost is developed by Deadpan Games and Gaziter, with publishing from Chucklefish. I played on the PC using Steam. The title is also offered on the Nintendo Switch. The title has a unique approach to a card-driven battle system, uniquely focused on characters and positioning.

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The game’s universe is affected by a magical and unyielding winter that has caused even the sun to be frozen over. The town of Snowdell is the final center of resistance, drawing in characters who want to fight against the cold. The entire experience is run-based, with players taking on the role of a tribal leader for each attempt. Based on their action and performance, the town will develop, with new buildings opening up to reveal new capabilities.

Players will meet a large cast of companions and pets, in addition to the three leaders players can choose from for each run. It’s impressive that each of them, despite being mostly a collection of stats and keywords, has a distinct personality with a clear connection to the game’s themes.

Wildfrost is a card battler, but it has some unique twists to the formula that increase player options and vary the difficulty. As stated, there are always three potential leaders for a run. Depending on their tribe, the chosen avatar gets a range of cards. Some of them are attacks or modifiers. But heroes, companions, summoned creatures, and contraptions will also take the field and fight directly against enemies.

The combat space features two rows with three positions each. All characters on the field are on a timer, showing when they will attack. Keywords and abilities are also clearly shown. Each time gamers play a card a turn passes (there are some exceptions to this rule) and a bell in the lower right of the screen can be used at any time to re-draw the hand. Another timer tracks the turns until enemies get reinforcements.

Companions can be taken out of the field, although circumstances might require them to sacrifice all their health to protect the leader. Players need to carefully use their cards to limit enemy actions, eliminate their keywords, improve their party, heal, and more.

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Outside of battles, a range of encounters gives players more options. Frozen companions need to be broken out of ice, special totems drop charms that can tweak how cards and characters work, and treasure chests offer extra cards. Finally, a store can offer all of the above, as well as crowns that make one card playable at the start of each match.

Wildfrost is a tough game. Even a normal battle can lead to injuries, especially when players have a limited choice of cards and companions. Boss battles are always difficult, with different phases and some very powerful opponents. Frustration can creep in but the rogue-lite structure helps alleviate that.

Snowdell’s buildings, developed by reaching certain milestones, will expand what players can do. Try to get the extra two tribes as quickly as possible because of the increased variety they introduce. Once that’s done, it’s a matter of focusing on one playstyle while finding ways to enhance cards and characters suited to it.

Make sure to check out the daily challenge, which shows how complex the tactical element of the game is. And when the level of frustration gets too high, it might be time to try another tribe or experiment with new combinations of characters and cards. I don’t like hard games most of the time but Wildfrost’s run-based structure makes it easy to enjoy it in small chunks,

It helps that the experience is very cute, with a presentation that embraces the long winter theme and infuses it into all its elements. The many, many heroes you can start as or recruit all have personality, as do the enemies (I particularly like the members of the mushroom line-up). The interface is easy to read and understand and players can always right-click on a card to get details about all its stats and associated keywords.

Sound design delivers from the same level of quality. This might be a fight against a world-ending supernatural event but the music is jaunty and filled with energy. I love the optimistic chime of the bell that re-draws the hand of carts. All elements of the presentation are calibrated to match the game’s universe.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion