Sunderfolk

I see a few bad reviews, I see a few mention of bugs, I would ignore those if I were you. If you're curious, this game is a more accessible Gloomhaven. Its a good ol' table top adventure with a card mechanic that works out quite well. My wife and I have beaten the game 3 times, and it took very little to get into. There are some fun builds to figure out for each character, and each character is very unique in its own way. I honestly can't recommend this game enough.

It's a perfect coop game, interesting interactions, clever ideas focused on the fun to be had when playing with friends, good progression, good character design, good voices, cute visuals... No notes!

This game has to be one of the best games I've seen in a while. It has some pretty good gameplay and the voice acting is actually pretty well done. But the real thing that makes it so good is the main feature of the game, so lets start there. Normally to play with friends you'd either have to gift them the game or you'd have to all buy the game, Sunderfolk is a 4 player game so you'd have to convince 4 of your friends that this game is worth buying right assuming they'd even have the money in the first play? Wrong. This game does something that you would think you would never see in this microtransaction battle pass greed infested gaming industry. Only ONE of you needs to own the game for everyone to be able to play it together. That's right, you heard me. This game basically allows you to stream your game to your friends and they can connect via their phones. The app they need to download is completely free so they don't have to spend any money to do so, all you need is to stream your game on a platform(like discord) and they scan the QR code and they're able to play just fine no need for them to buy the game at all. This has got to be one of the most amazing QOL features I have ever seen in a video game and I don't think anything will ever be able to top it. Because it allows you to play with any of your friends without them needing to spend money if they don't want to do it, and allows them to test out the game to see if they like it so you don't have to tell your friend to buy a game you like, and then turns out they wasted their money and hate it. Also if they decide to buy the game with you, they get the benefit of being able to use their mouse and keyboard instead of their phones if they think its worth the cost to do so. I have to give props to the developers here for actually designing this feature because it's rare to see something like this happen because everybody is greedy in the video game industry nowadays. It's this main feature is why I think this is one of the rare instances in that the high price of the game is actually justified. because they do lose out on a lot of money by having their game be this way. Now lets move on to the actual gameplay. Sunderfolk is a story card-based RPG where you build your deck and abilities to make builds. The game has 7 classes to choose from and you have your typical roles, support, DPS and tank. You then start out in a main hub where you can buy items to use in missions or buy new cards to use and edit what abilities you want to use. You can only select 3 abilities to use(the amount increases as you level up) so you have to actually strategize what abilities you want to use. You can also talk to the residents in the Main hub and build up a relationship with them and they may respond by giving you extra gifts such as an extra item or some money. Once you're ready to choose a mission instead of being forced to do missions in a linear fashion you actually get to select from a choice of 3 missions to do, so you can decide which missions you want to do first, and which one you want to do later. Now, as for the combat. Teamwork is actually pretty important in this game because it does another thing that's unique. Instead of having a turn order and having to wait for your friends turn to pass before you take yours, everyone takes their turn at the same time. What I mean by this is that anyone can choose to take their turn at anytime and play a card. Only one person can play a card at a time, so you have to communicate with your friends on who should go first. Whoever plays a card first is a person that goes first, then second etc. Another QOL feature is that if you take your turn and then decide you don't want to yet, you can cancel your turn and let your friends go instead. This invites some strategy and teamwork to the game such as letting your friend take your turn first so they can either weaken the enemy's defense or buff your attack up so your ability can deal more damage. Another thing that invites teamwork's are ultimate's. Each character has their own ultimate that does different things, whether that be buffing the party or damaging enemies. However, where the teamwork aspect comes in is that only ONE person can use an ultimate at any given time. Once an ultimate is used it puts everyone's ultimate on cooldown so if you just spam out ultimate's all willy-nilly you may end up hurting yourself(and annoying your friends) since you're preventing them from using their ultimate's. And your ultimate may not be the best for the current situation compared to your friends ultimate which may have been better for the situation. You have to actually communicate with your friends and strategize what ultimate you want to use. When you make an attack the game will randomly draw To end off, This game is basically a very amazing game to play with friends. It actively invites teamwork and communication, and your friends don't need to buy the game to play it. you can just stream it to them and they connect with their phones. It has to be one of the best multiplayer-friendly games I've seen in a while. If you are looking for a game for you and your friends to play together, then look no further because Sunderfolk is the game for you. They can play it from anywhere all over the world without having to buy it.