Arcane Drifter is an Real-Time Card Battler with Action RPG and Roguelite elements. As the Drifter, you arrive in a once-prosperous mining town, now overshadowed by despair and the stench of death. Children have gone missing, those who venture into the mine never return, and the ground pulses and quakes with an otherworldly menace...
Investigate the mine.
Find the missing townsfolk.
Save the town.
Arcane Drifter uses unique real-time card game mechanics that reward quick strategic thinking and preparation. At any given time you will have access to a two card hand and a stash on both the left and right side.
The Lifecycle of a Card
To understand the combat in Arcane Drifter you should learn the lifecycle of a card.
Here is a card's journey:
It goes into your hand (from your deck.)
It get's played into the Queue.
It charges up. (..like an ATB in Final Fantasy)
It resolves. (Becomes a fireball, lightning bolt, counterspell, etc)
It cools down for a time
It returns to the deck.
After defeating enemies you have the opportunity to select a loot drop reward. In Arcane Drifter items can potentially contain passive effects (like what you might see in Diablo, eg. stat buffs, life leech, etc) and more importantly cards. For example, you might find a shield that contains both a lightning card and a fireball.
How do I build my deck?
You can build your deck by equipping items recovered from enemy loot drops, treasure chests or quests. In this way you are able to quickly build a deck and string together powerful combos. As you become more comfortable with the game you can fine-tune your deck by crafting new items.
In Arcane Drifter, you'll navigate the mines and beyond using a node-based map, much like in Slay the Spire. However, instead of choosing your path in advance, new sections of the map are revealed as you explore each node. In this way you are able explore a given dungeon with the same frictionless quality of a node map without losing the spirit of discovery.
You will most certainly die. In fact, you will probably die a lot, lucky for you an ominous, disembodied voice has taken an interest in your exploration of the mine. Whether it be out of boredom or a hidden agenda it has opted to countlessly resurrect you... you just have to pick a card.
Each card is modelled after the major arcana and contains a punishment for dying. You can always completely restart by embracing death or you can respawn with a consequences like "losing an equipped item" or "pay gold to open treasure chests."
Features
Real-time Card Battles
Loot-based Deckbuilding
Quests & Story (can you save the town?)
Extracting Cards From Items / Forging Equipment
Choose Your Own Resurrection (you can come back, but it will cost you)
Exploration via Node Map