“Nowhere Prophet” by Sharkbomb Studios (Martin Nerurkar), Anjin Anhut, Georg Hobmeier, Claude Fehlen, Brenden Gibbons, Casey Parkhurst, Jack Allen, Martin Buntz, Mike Beaton, Steffen Reichelt, Lawrence Steele, Syndrone & No More Robots (Mike Rose, Simon Carless, Pip Hoskins, Dan Foster & Jas Purewal).
“A [singleplayer] game with tactical card combat. You travel across a strange planet with maps, that are different every time you play. Recruit followers, find loot and manage your resources as you take the fate of your convoy in your hands. Each fight will make you want to tweak and improve your deck to face the next encounter. Travel through this broken world and search for a new hope among the ruins.”
I am a huge fan of certain roguelikes and invested over five hundred hours into “FTL: Faster Than Light”, I recorded a full run speedrun video of “Into the Breach” and was addicted to “Dicey Dungeons” for several weeks after its release. “Nowhere Prophet” could become the next title in this line of glorious time eaters, as it already is a masterfully designed and audiovisually top-notch early access title.
As the prophet of your group, you have to lead them on several maps from the starting point to the exit. However, greedy bandits, hostile priests and rogue drones will cross your path, and in case you cannot avoid the battl, you will have to guide your troops wisely into the fight. While the neat tutorial will explain each game mechanic to you, allow me to formulate the basic design in layman’s terms.
Each of your units gets played like a card into the field, costing you a certain amount of energy that will get refreshed after your turn. The units have an individual strength and individual life points. When one of your units gets attacked by another one, the energy of your unit gets reduced by the amount of the attacker’s strength and the attacker will get its life point reduced by the strength value of your unit. At least, that would happen when it does not have any special ability – and there are tons of them.
Over three hundred cards with various effects can be found and acquired in “Nowhere Prophet” so far, which already opens up dozens of different strategies. Of course, the game is not only about tactical fighting and deck-building. There is a strong component of resource management in there, as you have to ensure that enough food is available for your followers and that their faith in your course is not depleting too much. Always keep in mind that a journey through the wasteland is a disstressful matter. But every now and then you come across places that offer you a safe spot rest or a market or even a secret, hidden place. I am sure I did not even saw the half of it all after my several playthroughs, but I cannot wait to dive into this excellent game once again. [PLAY]
