Arcane Trigger is a new pixel art roguelite title from developer MiniWhale Studio and publisher Anotherindie. We first reported on its release on Steam earlier in November, and now we have had the chance to try it for ourselves. Arcane Trigger is now available, priced at $8.99, with a 10% discount still in effect as we shared our thoughts. On the face of it, this is a deckbuilder game with strategy and roguelite elements, but it goes much deeper than that, as choices, especially in the later stages of each run, have huge implications for the build of your character.
Each time you start a run in Arcane Trigger, you can choose between three different wizards, although you’ll only be able to select one at first. As you progress through the game, more character options become available, as do the starting buffs that are unlocked the more you play. As with all these kinds of games, there is a lot of grinding to do before really seeing everything the game has to offer. This isn’t a bad thing, though, as the more you unlock, the more interesting each run becomes and the more variety appears.
Each run lasts up to about 20 minutes and finishes after the 15th wave of enemies. You won’t always make it to the end, and there will be more unsuccessful runs than completed ones. Each wave gets more intense, and you must find a balance as to which card to pick up and which ones to discard. At first, it all seems quite overwhelming, but once you start to learn the nuances of how each ability combines with others, you start to build a powerful character and will start getting much further with each go.
Arcane Trigger does have a bit of a luck factor in that picking up three of the same card creates one powerful card that usually becomes the difference in how successful you are. We noticed that on runs where we managed to get a few combined cards early, we would usually go on to complete all 15 waves. You gain cards by destroying enemies. The more enemies that you destroy in a wave, the more chances you have to get cards. Failing to destroy enemies in a round is disastrous, as it means your character takes a large amount of damage instead.
Some buffs enhance your cards, and these are given at the end of most rounds and have plenty of choices. What you pick will mostly depend on what cards you already have, and this is where the deeper strategy of Arcane Trigger begins to present itself. As the waves progress, you’ll start spending a little more time managing your card inventory and taking care to destroy the weaker ones to make room for the more powerful ones. This isn’t as difficult as it seems, as you always have at least three cards to choose from, and you can respin the deck to provide more options if nothing takes your fancy.
This all happens as cards are randomly picked from your deck for each attack. We learned early on that keeping an eye on what you have is vital, and having a range of different cards is paramount to making sure you’re effective against all the varied enemy types. It sounds very complex, and in some ways it is, but once you start to get into a rhythm of recycling weak cards, moving more powerful ones into better positions, and making better choices on new cards pulled from the deck, you start to win in the game.
Arcane Trigger is a brilliant example of a deckbuilder title that has genuinely unique ideas mixed in with balanced progression. The light strategy is also well done, as you don’t need to learn what all the hundreds of cards do; just be aware that it’s important to dump weaker cards for stronger ones to make sure you’re powerful enough to keep the waves back. There is, of course, that luck that is needed in what cards are drawn, but ultimately it’s more important to manage your deck and give yourself the best chance to gain three of the same, especially in the latter stages, when getting three level four cards combined can be devastating on enemy health bars.
It’s not just the balanced gameplay that makes Arcane Trigger a good game; the pixel art is vibrant and bold, with a great color palette. One criticism is that some of the enemies in Arcane Trigger do feel a bit samey, as does the singular playing field, but this is nitpicking on what is fundamentally a solid title that has a lot of depth. For fans of pixel art games where grinding and experimenting with builds is key, this is highly recommended. Arcane Trigger is also recommended to those who enjoy light strategy and fun presentation.
