Moonsigil Atlas is a genuine delight that makes you rethink deckbuilders

Moonsigil Atlas has officially released, a deckbuilder that's really like nothing else. Note: A key was provided to GamingOnLinux.

It really breaks apart what deckbuilders usually do, and then pieces it back together with the power of shapes like some sort of deckbuilding tile-based puzzle game. The result is that it feels completely different to any other deckbuilder I've ever played.

How does it do this then? Well, there's no energy or mana system - which nearly every other deckbuilder will have. Instead, you play as many cards as you want as long as their corresponding shape will fit into the battle board grid (the Moon) in the centre of the screen. Every card has their own shape and effects, making it as much a turn-based battler as it is a puzzle game where you're trying to optimize every single play of the cards to smash through your enemies.

So here you're not just picking the cards to build your powerful deck based on what they do, but taking into account the shapes of all of them too. Thankfully, as you go through you can upgrade cards and even change their shape to fit more of them on the board and to make them more powerful. It's just so incredibly inventive, I love what they've done with the gameplay mechanics here.

As for the actual battles - you have to protect the Moon's health during the battles, as enemies will be playing their own shapes during each battle encounter. To counter this you have a type of card called Wards, which can apply shields that you put down where on the grid your enemy will be attacking. As long as they fit into the grid in the right place, you can successfully block attacks. This can get a little complicated when there's multiple enemies around the moon, each with their own areas of attack and placing down their own card shapes - sometimes there's quite a lot to think about.

You also get another type of card that can remove your placed cards, which is useful for Wards because you can stack up multiple lots of shield to prevent damage. But again, the cards need to fit into the grid to work.

Each turn you'll draw 5 cards to use however you see fit, going into the discard pile when used. When you run out, your discard pile is shuffled back to draw from again - so you never actually run out of cards to use.

Much like other similar games, a run has you go through various encounters across a node-based map where you pick your lane to progress through. Certain nodes are battles, others give you cards or allow you to remove cards, some allow you to remove a tile from one of your cards to make them smaller and more.

See the release trailer below:

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What can make it really quite challenging on top of the enemies from multiple directions to counter, is that certain enemies will also fill up the grid with their own effects that can mess with you. Like covering the board in a sigil that gives them +1 strength every time you play a card. There's a few different sorts like this, including shapes you have to try and cover up with your cards - or you'll take damage at the end of the turn.

You get to play with three different characters with their own unique set of cards, although you only start with one as the other two need unlocking. Not overly difficult to do, they just need you to actually finish a full run with each to unlock the other. As you play more with each character you also get mastery levels, unlocking more cards

Game Highlights:

• Cards with physical shapes: Every card is played on the game grid, with its own shape, keywords, and effects
• Space is the real resource: Play as many cards as you want, as long as they fit on the board
• Tens of thousands of combinations: Use Moonsigil's non-linear upgrade system to reshape cards, inscribe runes, add keywords, and create run-defining synergies
• Three playable characters: Master different strategies across Feldryn, Aladara, and Tark’thul
• Cosmic enemies and board-altering bosses: Face astral entities and Titans that change the rules of combat

Absolutely worth it. A must have challenge for fans of unique games that put a new spin on things. I just do wish there was more of it. More boss and enemy types would have been great but other than that - I think it's excellent.

Priced at $19.99 / €19.99 / £16.75 with a 10% discount until June 11th.