AXE GHOST

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Usually, I like to start my reviews with a lighter paragraph, a little opener that leads to the topic of the game I will be talking about. Sharing a bit of myself through the lens of these few sentences gives you proper framing of the state of mind. Or my likes and dislikes. I believe it is called 'building a rapport'. This time around, I have no such whimsical anecdote to share, but more a visceral experience I want to think we all shared. Even if just once in our lifetime of this gaming hobby. That one game that frustrates you to no end. Feels impossible. Gives you ulcers, makes you curse under your nose, and question what the hell the developers were even thinking!

And yet. And somehow. It sticks... It refuses to leave your side, occupy your mind, drill a hole into your very being. It might be because you refuse to be bested by a piece of digital entertainment. Or perhaps, despite the things that grate your soul to fine cheddar, there is something there you cannot deny. A transfixing, tantalizing quality that calls to you with its siren's song. No matter the reason, you persist. And as often goes, since you do, you get better. You peek under the veneer of evil design choices, to strip the game of its cruel challenge and something finally... Clicks. Your brain, at last, managed to untangle the impossible shape of what is demanded of you, and suddenly it becomes obvious, bah, easy even!

That's AXE GHOST to me. Now you might be thinking - gosh, this guy must HATE this game to the core. This sounds like the beginning of a scathing review. Perish the thought! The very opposite, really, but the journey there was a bit of a hassle. AXE GHOST is just that unique of an experience. I even have troubles trying to ascribe a genre to it - it is a logical puzzle, at its core, so I will have to stick with that and call it a Puzzler. While making wild gestures in the air that the term is somewhat lacking. Because, see, it's a card battler. And tactics game. And also, roguelite'ish in structure, I reckon. Yeah, it is a bit of a wild mix and a bane of every reviewer - lacking a simple, direct comparison to other titles!

Each daily challenge grants a selection of tools your cards will possess, as well as a very well-made explanation of what each action can do.

So what do we do with our Ghost that Wieldeth The Axe? We combat monsters, of course. But it is not a simple affair. Monsters descend in orderly fashion down the rows as if they learned invasion plans playing Tetris. Our armament is our handy axe... and a plethora of cards with our spectral powers, allowing us a wide variety of moves to pull off. We can move blocks of enemies here and there. Shift rows and columns. Generate new monsters to form connections and blocks. Swap the monster types. All that in pursuit of locking down a big block of monsters to bash with our axe and see them explode. Ultimate goal of each scenario? Destroying a boss that requires being surrounded by the same monster type to be damaged. And doing that a few times in a row. Sound simple enough, right?

Well. It isn't. The daily puzzles are devilishly crafted and - at least for me - always feel like a struggle uphill. Each time I get close, the cards seemingly conspire to not allow me to deal with the problem at hand. Those singular monsters of the wrong type amidst the crowd! Bane of my existence. Or so I thought. I had to bash my head against the scenarios over and over. I could not foresee the next steps to formulate proper chains of events. To create setups for the next set of cards, to anticipate when the coveted axe will land to deliver me from evil. But the more I tried, the more my mind loosened up, the more I started to see the patterns, to see... The Future.

Because the game, despite its difficulty, is not only perfectly fair, but also does its best to arm you to deal with the conundrums it will lay before you. You can see the next 3 cards in line for the coming turn. You can plan. Each of the three cards on each turn can be played in one of two ways. And plenty of said options can be further altered by direction. The best advice I could give is to not stress too much about the incoming glob of mixed enemies, but to firmly lock in on a plan using the tools presented to you to form that big block that will clear the screen and - hopefully - rout the enemies to earn you the coveted golden Coin. A boon most needed for the incoming boss fight.

The sweet taste of victory makes bashing your head against a challenge worth it.

I must also praise the art style of the game. Sure, it's Ye Olde Pixel Art, but it has this quality to it reminiscent of the older aesthetic, the grim firmness of the late DOS era, but with modern concessions needed for clarity of conveyed information. It's sharp, it's atmospheric, and the special prize should go to the animations - kinetic, sparkly. Zesty. You can feel the impact of played cards. And the great sound design helps here as well, with a really snappy response to your actions and great, ominous yet upbeat melodies for the stage to unfurl.

And to add strangeness and freshness to the concept, the game is running daily. And I mean real-world days. There's no campaign, no map, no progression. Every day, you can launch the game, see a new daily challenge, and do your best to overcome it. Like WORDLE! Just infinitely more fun and more demanding.

Would I recommend AXE GHOST? Vehemently so. It's a peculiar game you cannot really binge or be done with in an evening, but it is still designed to be enjoyed in little morsels. A sit down for half an hour or so to bash your mind against a puzzle and then, once solved and wrapped up, come back tomorrow for more. And heck, maybe even see your name on the Leaderboard, being among the Chosen Few who managed to overcome the challenge of the day. It's a good feeling that I am happy to chase after.