Just when you think you’re a gaming historian with all this information crammed into your little brain, a game or series comes along to remind you that you’re nothing. For me that was Culdcept, a series I remember seeing in my peripheral gaming vision but never looked into. I’m not sure why though, because I knew it involved cards and I’m a sucker for stuff like that. Well I decided to change that with Culdcept Begins, the first new entry in the series in around a decade.
The first Culdcept game (which was just called Culdcept) originally released on the Sega Saturn and PlayStation, although admittedly didn’t come over to the west. Eventually the series made it over here though, and the PS2, Xbox 360, and 3DS all played host to it. Now almost thirty years since its inception, Culdcept is back, and now I actually know what it is.
In Culdcept Begins you play as Kamur, a trainee Cepter who is looking to help defend the kingdom with magic cards called Culds. There’s a whole backstory in this world about a legendary Cepter who was unstoppable in past wars, and four elemental kingdoms that once threatened the peace. It’s a narrative that’ll feel familiar to anyone who’s played more than a handful of JRPGs, but is engaging enough in its own right with some likeable characters and a gorgeous art style.
When I said I’d review Culdcept Begins I thought I’d be playing something akin to Magic the Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh, but I was incredibly mistaken. While the game does involve cards, you mainly play them when wandering around a board. The goal of each battle is to reach a certain amount of magic before your opponent, and against all expectations it pretty much feels like playing a fantasy version of Monopoly.
Most of the cards in your deck are creatures, and if you land on an empty space you can place them there. Then when another player lands on this space they’ll need to pay you magic, just like owning a property in the Hasbro classic. You can even pay to upgrade the land your monsters are placed on so the toll is higher, in the hopes that you’ll earn just enough magic to win the battle.
There’s much more complexity to Culdcept Begins than a Sunday game of Monopoly though, and it took me a while to fully understand everything. Creatures are buffed when played on spaces of the same element, and by amassing an army on a specific colour of square you’ll gain a chain bonus. There’s also bonus magic you’ll earn for going around the board, and different spaces that provide various buffs and perks.
Culdcept Begins really comes to life when you refuse to pay a toll, and instead try to battle an enemy creature. You can use any monster in the hand to take on a foe, and if you’ve got any equipment cards you can throw one of them into the mix to buff stats. Both attacker and defender can use cards though, so you’ll have to try and predict how your opponent will aim to take you down. This gets more complex when you add key words into the mix that cause you to deal bonus damage to certain elements or allow you to attack first, and terrain bonuses that add extra health to those defending. I won’t pretend I didn’t lose dozens of battles just because I overlooked a little something (even after hours of experience) but I had fun regardless.
Alongside gear and creatures, there are also spell cards which you can play at the start of turns. These have immediate effects like changing your dice roll to a specific number or stealing a chunk of magic from an opponent, and can really turn the tide of battle. Balancing your deck to include everything you want is tricky, because there’s so much useful stuff to cram in there. You’ll get loads of different options to add consistently too, after winning battles or from the shop for your hard earned gold.
The story mode of Culdcept Begins has plenty of content to enjoy, especially with all the extra side quests you can complete to find out more about your party. When you’re not in the mood for an epic adventure though you can also play a custom match, either against the AI or online against friends or randoms. You will use the cards you’ve unlocked in the main game for this though, so it’s better once you put some time into that.
I had a lot of fun with Culdcept Begins, but it does have some frustrating elements. Quite a few times I lost games were because of things like poor dice rolls and bad hands, which never feels good when it happens to you. Keeping track of all the elements in combat is tough too, and the game doesn’t really help you learn about keywords and mechanics much at all. Another aspect that I’d have appreciated some help with is deck building, because you’re pretty much given no guidance with that either.
Culdcept Begins brings fantasy Monopoly into this decade, and I had a great time learning all its intricacies. There’s not any other games I can think of that blend board games and card games quite like it, and alongside this there’s even an epic adventure to experience. It has a few issues with onboarding and unlucky rolls can feel miserable, but it really made me hungry for more from this cult classic series.