Heretic's Fork
The hybrid of real-time tower defense and deckbuilding has always had potential that has never been fully explored. Theoretically, it should be one of the best things ever – the precision of careful strategy in a tower defense blended with the satisfaction of customizing gameplay with selected cards in a deckbuilder. When done right, such as in favorites like Kingdom Tower Defense and Heroes of Solitaire, it provides the most complex and interesting kind of challenge.
Set to an absolutely thundering EDM soundtrack, Heretic's Fork is a rare game in that hybrid that not only feels excellent in its balance and execution, but also manages to bring an interesting new twist to the usually stagnant deckbuilding genre.
In Heretic's Fork, players draft and combine cards in their small deck to add weapons to their tower and deployable minions to the field. These minions will take down hordes of sinners attempting to escape hell while the players are busy laying down the law from their card table – whoever they are in their chosen role.
Right now, players are especially craving a bit more strategy and precision in their tower defense games, and Heretic's Fork feels just right as one that still offers plenty of choice even in its bite-sized package. The main game mode throws players into an endless series of hellscape moral infractions that steadily escalate from teenage delinquents to demon lords before culminating in a highly probable demonic fifth-dimensional invasion. Each wave finishes spawning, and players get to take a turn, drawing new cards and playing them.
The clever, unique thing here is the interesting choice players make every time they draw a new hand: The resources they use to survive are also used to progress. In most deckbuilding games, players draw their starting cards and progress by adding more to their deck. Here, players will regularly have to choose between beefing up their weapons or trying to add a card to their deck that will improve their chances of surviving the next wave.
Striking that balance is the key to play, and Heretic's Fork is smart in throwing the right amount of difficulty at players right away. While the cards are simply combined with others of the same rarity for a new card of higher rarity, the new card is completely random. Should players risk getting rid of two useful Rare blues for a shot at a more powerful Epic purple card? Can they afford to spend two of their limited six energy on that choice?
The demo, which players can download from Steam for Next Fest (that’s June 13 to June 26), is a nice bite-sized loop of two waves with boss fights against two of the basic sinners – a robber and a murderer. It’s just enough to convince players that Heretic's Fork is absolutely something they should be playing, and that they’d better get in on the Next Fest demo blitz by playing the demo right away.
Players do all this as mid-level hell bureaucrats with access to the oddly retro computer system HERETIC'S FORK, while their choice of demonic on-site manager provides powers and abilities to use in the game. Expect to flaunt hellish authority by using underlings to fire warning shots or brimming their electricity to make menacing examples of sinners who defy.
Endless waves of sinners will then try to get out of Hell, taking the form of all kinds of horrid monsters and bosses. Great fun – especially in local co-op – lies in unlocking new kinds of sinners with new monster forms, making the choice of demonic on-site manager even more strategic.
As each wave finishes spawning, players get to take a turn, drawing new cards and playing them. Hell's cadre of sinners is not the only threat on deck, however; expect to struggle against the heroes of light and legions of good souls trying desperately to save their eternal foes.
So, if you are looking for a turn-based tabletop deckbuilding game with a flavor of hellfire, Heretic's Fork appears to be exactly what you've been looking for. And if this doesn't quite tickle your fancy, there are plenty of other Deckbuilding Defense games you should try.
