Publisher: Valiant Game Studio
Developer: Valiant Game Studio
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E
KreatureKind is earnest.
I put that in italics because it really needs to be emphasized: more than anything else, “earnest” is what defines KreatureKind. It’s a deckbuilding game where the goal isn’t to fight your opponents, but rather to engage them in a respectful debate and try to win them over to your side. You don’t have to choose between different types of attacks, but instead you have to figure out whether to make rational or emotional arguments, or even if it’s time to launch a rhetorical onslaught at all – sometimes, after all, it’s better to practice self-care and brace yourself against whatever your opponent might try to throw at you.
How you feel about this approach will depend on how cynical you’re feeling at the particular moment you’re playing KreatureKind. If, like the game itself, you’re also very earnest, you’re likely to think that KreatureKind is a brilliant innovation on the deckbuilding genre. While so many games try to mimic Slay the Spire, KreatureKind takes a wholly different, non-violent approach. It strives to be inclusive and respectful, and is simultaneously simple enough that anyone could pick it up and play it, while also being deep enough that it’ll take several runs before you really know what you’re doing.
And if you are cynical? Then you might just note that even if the game dresses itself up in the language of community and empathy and wholesomeness, it’s still about grinding your enemies down with rhetoric until one of you concedes the argument. Moreover, you’re not even really arguing – this is no Ace Attorney-style visual novel where you have to look for flaws in arguments to get to the truth. Instead, you’re just picking whatever cards give you the best shot at eroding your enemies’ HP down to nothing. Is it really all that different from your usual deckbuilder if the end result – you vanquishing your enemies, with them having 0 HP left – is still the same?
While I largely tend towards the latter point of view, it’s nonetheless neat to see KreatureKind attempt to try something new, even if it doesn’t succeed. Add in a very chill-sounding soundtrack and visuals that are pleasant to look at, and you can see what KreatureKind’s developers were trying to do, even if they don’t quite succeed in the end.
Valiant Game Studio provided us with a KreatureKind PC code for review purposes.
