The game “Stormbound” was recently released by Kongregate, and it is a great example of simple game play with tense action. “Stormbound” is a dueling game with two players using custom built card decks to try and destroy the opposing base. In order to win, the player uses mana which regenerates each round to play cards and destroy the opponent’s base, structures and troops. There are three main card types: structure, troop, and magic. Troops are used to advance a player’s front line, which allows a player to play cards closer to the opposing base. Structure cards have varying powers from simply holding the line to buffing or de-buffing cards on the board, while magic and power cards are used to turn the battle to the player’s favor. While players can build their own decks each deck has to be built around a specific faction.
There are five distinct factions each of which bring their own special flare to the game. The first is the swarm faction whose play style revolves around deploying a constantly advancing swarm of goat-like warriors. The second faction is the Ironclad, an army of robots that deploy endless tides of robotic forces to overwhelm and control the board. The winter pact is the third playable deck which makes use of powerful individual units and magic powers that slows the enemy to a halt. The fourth deck is the Shadowfen an army that prioritizes using magic and dirty tricks to take out their enemies from afar. The final playable deck is the neutral deck, which unlike the other decks who can’t use cards from other factions can be used in any deck and have a variety of units from all factions and even have some unique cards of their own.
Unlike other apps such as “Clash of Clans”, that uses a trophy system to rank it’s players, “Stormbound” has 30 levels with players starting at 30 and working their way down to one, with each level offering new rewards. The catch is that in order to advance in level the player must win each game in a row with two wins making up one level, each game that a player loses results in one of the two wins being removed or the player will go back a level. This creates high stakes game-play making it possible for every move to be the last. For those who don’t want to play against an online opponent and deal with the stress of level advancement can instead play the game’s campaigns. There are four campaigns, one for each of the four major factions, with three missions each. Completion of the missions rewards the players with cards of increasing rarity depending on the level from the respective faction allowing players a chance to get cards and build decks for every faction.
All in all, “Stormbound” was a blast to play, it’s simple but tense game-play forces players to actually make and use strategies. While the level system could be more forgiving for more casual game-play and the campaigns could have more missions, “Stormbound” is a great game for anyone who like cards games and or is looking for mobile strategy games that offer a real challenge.
Mitchell Miller // Staff Writer
