Trials of Fire

Trials of Fire is a roguelike, created as a hybrid of a tactical RPG and a card game. It was developed by Whatboy Games, an independent studio.

Plot

Trials of Fire takes us on a journey to the fantastic world of Ashe. This land fell victim to a cataclysm, after which it became a postapocalyptic wasteland. Those who managed to survive found shelter in small settlements. From one of them, Terralin, one day a team of three heroes sets off to find the resources necessary for survival.

Mechanics

Before starting the game in Trials of Fire we choose the task we're interested in and its difficulty level, as well as select three heroes to take control over. Heroes are varied in terms of professions, and thus - their skills and preferred weapons. Then there's nothing left for us to do but start the actual gameplay.

We explore the vast map, observing the action from the top-down view. Despite the fact that an arrow on the edge of the board leads us to the goal of the mission, it's worth checking other locations on the way. There we can find valuable supplies (including food, which the team needs to survive in the inhospitable world), as well as useful equipment in the form of weapons and armour. In addition, in many of these places we take part in various random events and make decisions affecting the further course of the expedition.

Sooner or later (it's usually the former) we'll encounter enemies, after which we'll be transported to a separate arena covered by a hex grid, on which tokens are placed to symbolise the characters and the enemies. Skirmishes take place in turn-based mode, and during them we play cards representing the combat skills of the heroes; the deck is created by the items we have equipped to each character. Heroes' abilities are divided into passive (which last for the entire battle) and active (which have an immediate effect after the related cards are played). The cards we can use at any given time are determined by the value of our willpower. If we want to use more advanced ones, we have to sacrifice other cards from our deck, thus generating missing points. As it's not difficult to make a mistake here, the game allows us to undo such decisions at any time. It's worth remembering, however, that moves can be combined in impressive and deadly combinations; for example, moving all your enemies to one place with a magical tornado and dropping a fireball on their position will maximise the effects of the second move.

As we progress, heroes not only gain better equipment, but also advance to the next experience levels and unlock new skills (and thus more cards), which they can then use in battle. In addition, the combat potential of the characters can be increased by upgrading their equipment with rare resources. In addition, over time we unlock new team members. This is important because after death there is nothing left for us but to start the game over; then nothing stands in the way of trying to choose the team composition differently.

Technical aspects

Trials of Fire has colourful graphics of decent quality. The whole game looks pleasant to the eye also due to the original style; the game takes place on the pages of a book, on which we watch not only the equipment and statistics of the characters, but also the exploration of the map and the course of battles.