Hearthstone meets a roguelike dungeon crawler - Looper Tactics Quick First Impressions

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PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Skip the demo for now and wait to see if the full version of the game shakes things up any more. Looper Tactics is a cartoony roguelike deck builder that merges familiar card-battling mechanics with dungeon crawler elements. Even though I found exploring dungeons really enjoyable, Looper Tactics’ card-based gameplay falls short and offers nothing that titles like Hearthstone, Legends of Runeterra, or Magic: The Gathering Arena haven’t already done better.

TIME PLAYED

I played the demo for Looper Tactics for three hours, completing the first major level and making it near the end of the second. I’ve probably beaten around thirty-some computer-controlled opponents since I started playing, but I’ve struggled against some of the stronger enemies in the second level, including that level’s boss. I’ve also already unlocked fifty cards out of the eighty-seven that are currently in the demo.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Dungeon exploring. Exploration adds a fun and refreshing twist to Looper Tactics that isn’t found in most other card games. I loved the thrill of scouring different areas, unlocking rewards and finding card vendors. These sequences also offered me the welcome chance to interact with other characters and learn more about the world I was venturing into.

• Visual style. Looper Tactics’ cartoony visual style takes over every character, card, and environmental object in the game. The bold, cool-hued colors and heavy black outlines give the game an appealing dark fantasy vibe.

• Saving. It’s minor praise, but I did greatly appreciate that I could save my game right before entering a level in Looper Tactics. If I died, I could return to the start of that level and enter again. Although this meant that I had to explore an entirely new, randomized dungeon layout, this feature helped me progress and try out different routes and deck compositions.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

• Card battles. I’m always looking for something unique and refreshing in the genre, but Looper Tactics doesn’t bring anything interesting to the table. The gameplay mechanics, hero powers, and card effects are pretty similar to those in Hearthstone and Legends of Runeterra, with only slight differences in the form of status effects that affect cards permanently across the dungeon run and an auto-attack feature that takes place after each player’s turn. There just isn’t really anything to set the card mechanics apart from other more established and polished titles.

• Text and translation. Some of the text in Looper Tactics is a little out of shape. The card names aren’t all formatted the same, so some cards might be capitalized while others aren’t. The card effect descriptions are a little hard to understand and messy. And I ran into several words and phrases across the demo that weren’t yet translated from Chinese to English.

💬 Will you play Looper Tactics or are you going to pass on it? Let me know in the comments!