Disclaimer: at this time I have just completed the first campaign on Introductory difficulty. If I wait to 100% the game before writing a review we'll all be in nursing homes by the time I do.

If you don't know what a roguelite deckbuilder is, go look it up - there are a million games of this basic type out there. I'm here to talk about what makes Griftlands exceptional.

• Story and setting:
  Many games of this type are 'gameplay first', perhaps with good art but usually lacking a strong narrative other than "get to the final boss". I usually expect something like a monster about to eat the world, so someone has to get a lot of cards and kill the monster. Yawn. Griftlands has escalating challenges as well, but the gameplay is all framed naturally in the relatable stories of its protagonists. Sal's backstory and motivation for hunting down her story's final antagonist is much more inviting storywise than I've seen in any other game like this. There are short dialogues surrounding every battle, and critically, every single conflict has handwritten reasons to happen, with distinct mission goals and understandable perspectives on both sides. Perhaps they will get repetitive in the multiple plays the game structure encourages, but my first 8 hour playthrough never came close to repeating itself.
  
  These very personal stories are set against a stylish and well-realized "run down science fiction" backdrop. Imagine a whole game world with the lawless and diverse feel of the cantina scene from Star Wars and you'll have an inkling - or just watch the trailers which do a great job of conveying the style. If you don't like the trailer art and music you might have a harder time enjoying this - I immediately loved it and it doesn't disappoint in gameplay.
  
  
• Characters:
  Astonishingly, every single person you meet in the game has a name, a unique hand drawn face, and at least a sketch of a personality. Some are bigger wheels than others but they are all individuals. The game tells me there are over 700 people to meet, learn about, befriend, fight, bribe, work for, steal from, do business with, double-cross, buy a drink, or completely ignore. Even better, the game tracks everyone you meet, and whether they like or dislike you, whether they ended up dead because of you; and these relationships can have substantial gameplay effects! Make an enemy in the Admiralty and you might suffer a tactical penalty when facing government agents in future battles, due to their sharing information about your weaknesses. Befriend a prominent merchant and become a favored customer, with hefty discounts at every shop in town.
  
  
• Gameplay variety:
  Make no mistake - the game is very focused on deckbuilding conflicts! Don't worry that there are a hundred minigames distracting from the meat. There aren't. BUT, remarkably, there are two separate, fully-fleshed, similar but distinct battle systems here. You build a completely separate deck for each!
  
  One is physical combat, which I'm sure we're all familiar with. The organizing of cards, synergizing status effects, defensive cards, and direct damage will make sense to anyone who's played this kind of thing before. This part works pretty much as you'd expect. Personally, I like the cards, the strategies, the presentation, and the pacing here. If this was all there was to the game, I would still like it and recommend it.
  
  The remarkable thing though is the second battle system: negotiation, in which you try to persuade an opponent to your point of view. This can mean anything from intimidating an enemy into surrender without a fight, to talking a creditor into forgiving a debt, even to asking a friend to stick their neck out to help you. The system of orbiting arguments and intentions protecting each side's resolve and broadcasting their next moves is a lot different from the combat gameplay. I found it all dizzying at first, but the learning curve is not steep and I was quickly able to internalize the meanings of the various factors at play (although plotting optimal strategies will take a lot longer to master).
  
  Having two systems, similar but definitely not the same, really helps keep things fresh. Some missions will be straight fights, some will be pure negotiations, and many will involve both forms of conflict, and the game tells you up front which are which. So if you like just doing combat over and over, you can pursue those opportunities. Or if the combat begins to get a little repetitive, you can seamlessly switch over to a negotiation mission and enjoy that different texture.
  
  
• Player agency:
  Again, in a deckbuilder I pretty much expect a series of escalating conflicts, perhaps with branching paths but essentially linear. Griftlands sort of follows this format but feels much looser. In pursuing the end goal of Sal's story, instead of moving from left to right on a world map, or down dungeon levels trying to get to the final room, you pursue opportunities which appear around the city over time, or as a result of player decisions made, including plenty of side jobs to choose from that have nothing to do with the main plot. In Sal's story, the final conflict in essence comes to you, as your target will present themselves after a set number of days passes. This gives you the freedom to pursue what jobs you wish in the meantime. I think you can even just sleep for 5 days and do nothing if you really want to, though this would leave you broke and woefully unprepared for the last conflict. There are certainly better and worse decisions to make; nevertheless the fact of letting me make my own choices about things was very appreciated.

I'm really looking forward to spending a lot more time with Griftlands: first to see the three stories of the different protagonists, and then to replay them at higher difficulties, to unlock the scores of cards I haven't even seen yet, to meet hundreds more unique characters, and to see the different ways that the stories and relationships can shake out.

The game is a couple years old now and frequently goes on sale. I picked it up recently for $8 which it is easily worth. Honestly I wish I'd paid full price for this when it first came out - I feel like I've wasted a lot of time not having Griftlands to enjoy and come back to from time to time. But I plan to now.

[h1]An engaging deckbuilder, outstanding in so many ways.[/h1] Disclaimer: at this time I have just completed the first campaign on Introductory difficulty. If I wait to 100% the game before writing a review we'll all be in nursing homes by the time I do. If you don't know what a roguelite deckbuilder is, go look it up - there are a million games of this basic type out there. I'm here to talk about what makes [i]Griftlands[/i] exceptional. [list][*][b]Story and setting:[/b] Many games of this type are 'gameplay first', perhaps with good art but usually lacking a strong narrative other than "get to the final boss". I usually expect something like a monster about to eat the world, so someone has to get a lot of cards and kill the monster. Yawn. [i]Griftlands[/i] has escalating challenges as well, but the gameplay is all framed naturally in the relatable stories of its protagonists. Sal's backstory and motivation for hunting down her story's final antagonist is much more inviting storywise than I've seen in any other game like this. There are short dialogues surrounding every battle, and critically, every single conflict has handwritten reasons to happen, with distinct mission goals and understandable perspectives on both sides. Perhaps they will get repetitive in the multiple plays the game structure encourages, but my first 8 hour playthrough never came close to repeating itself. These very personal stories are set against a stylish and well-realized "run down science fiction" backdrop. Imagine a whole game world with the lawless and diverse feel of the cantina scene from [i]Star Wars[/i] and you'll have an inkling - or just watch the trailers which do a great job of conveying the style. If you don't like the trailer art and music you might have a harder time enjoying this - I immediately loved it and it doesn't disappoint in gameplay. [*][b]Characters:[/b] Astonishingly, every single person you meet in the game has a name, a unique hand drawn face, and at least a sketch of a personality. Some are bigger wheels than others but they are all individuals. The game tells me there are over 700 people to meet, learn about, befriend, fight, bribe, work for, steal from, do business with, double-cross, buy a drink, or completely ignore. Even better, the game tracks everyone you meet, and whether they like or dislike you, whether they ended up dead because of you; and these relationships can have substantial gameplay effects! Make an enemy in the Admiralty and you might suffer a tactical penalty when facing government agents in future battles, due to their sharing information about your weaknesses. Befriend a prominent merchant and become a favored customer, with hefty discounts at every shop in town. [*][b]Gameplay variety:[/b] Make no mistake - the game is very focused on deckbuilding conflicts! Don't worry that there are a hundred minigames distracting from the meat. There aren't. BUT, remarkably, there are [i]two[/i] separate, fully-fleshed, similar but distinct battle systems here. You build a completely separate deck for each! One is physical combat, which I'm sure we're all familiar with. The organizing of cards, synergizing status effects, defensive cards, and direct damage will make sense to anyone who's played this kind of thing before. This part works pretty much as you'd expect. Personally, I like the cards, the strategies, the presentation, and the pacing here. If this was all there was to the game, I would still like it and recommend it. The remarkable thing though is the second battle system: negotiation, in which you try to persuade an opponent to your point of view. This can mean anything from intimidating an enemy into surrender without a fight, to talking a creditor into forgiving a debt, even to asking a friend to stick their neck out to help you. The system of orbiting arguments and intentions protecting each side's resolve and broadcasting their next moves is a lot different from the combat gameplay. I found it all dizzying at first, but the learning curve is not steep and I was quickly able to internalize the meanings of the various factors at play (although plotting optimal strategies will take a lot longer to master). Having two systems, similar but definitely not the same, really helps keep things fresh. Some missions will be straight fights, some will be pure negotiations, and many will involve both forms of conflict, and the game tells you up front which are which. So if you like just doing combat over and over, you can pursue those opportunities. Or if the combat begins to get a little repetitive, you can seamlessly switch over to a negotiation mission and enjoy that different texture. [*][b]Player agency:[/b] Again, in a deckbuilder I pretty much expect a series of escalating conflicts, perhaps with branching paths but essentially linear. [i]Griftlands[/i] sort of follows this format but feels much looser. In pursuing the end goal of Sal's story, instead of moving from left to right on a world map, or down dungeon levels trying to get to the final room, you pursue opportunities which appear around the city over time, or as a result of player decisions made, including plenty of side jobs to choose from that have nothing to do with the main plot. In Sal's story, the final conflict in essence comes to you, as your target will present themselves after a set number of days passes. This gives you the freedom to pursue what jobs you wish in the meantime. I think you can even just sleep for 5 days and do nothing if you really want to, though this would leave you broke and woefully unprepared for the last conflict. There are certainly better and worse decisions to make; nevertheless the fact of letting me make my own choices about things was very appreciated.[/list] I'm really looking forward to spending a lot more time with [i]Griftlands[/i]: first to see the three stories of the different protagonists, and then to replay them at higher difficulties, to unlock the scores of cards I haven't even seen yet, to meet hundreds more unique characters, and to see the different ways that the stories and relationships can shake out. The game is a couple years old now and frequently goes on sale. I picked it up recently for $8 which it is easily worth. Honestly I wish I'd paid full price for this when it first came out - I feel like I've wasted a lot of time not having [i]Griftlands[/i] to enjoy and come back to from time to time. But I plan to now.