Nadir: A Grimdark Deckbuilder

Nadir: A Grimdark Deckbuilder is a combination of a roguelike and a card game, inspired by Darkest Dungeon, Slay the Spire and Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. It was jointly created by Team Nadir and Black Eye Games.

Plot

Nadir: A Grimdark Deckbuilder takes place within hell. The playable characters are all famous figures turned avatars of the Deadly Sins after their deaths, roaming the underworld to seize control over it.

Mechanics

Each run of Nadir: A Grimdark Deckbuilder begins with character selection. Though their number is initially very limited, progressing through the game unlocks more playable (anti)heroes. Each of them has unique traits, which means our choice determines their initial skill set and our playstyle. The adventure begins after we make our choice.

During our journey through hell we'll face a variety of opponents. In addition to regular enemies we'll need to overcome powerful bosses, requiring tactical thinking and careful planning of our subsequent moves. Battles are turn-based, tasking the player with playing cards consisting of two elements - blue (sacrum) and red (profanum). Both halves correspond to specific abilities and attacks as well as grant various buffs (or debuff our foes). Curiously, the game allows the player to preview the enemy's move queue, letting us play the cards that can counter their attacks and give us an advantage.

Progressing through the game unlocks new card halves which we can freely combine with each other, creating our most desired, powerful deck. Our base of operations is an infernal village, where we can stock up on additional cards and unlock new characters. During our subsequent runs we acquire resources, which can be spent on expanding it.

Technical aspects

The visuals of Nadir: A Grimdark Deckbuilder are cartoonish although also grim, reminiscent of the Darkest Dungeon series and the Hellboy comic books.

Last updated on 10 February 2023