Three Kingdom: The Journey Review: A Clunky Romance

I think it’s safe to say I have a problem saying no to deckbuilders at this point. Pretty much any time I’m watching a trailer and see a deck of cards guiding the actions of my character, I’m hooked. Which can be a problem, since the vast majority of deckbuilders I’ve played don’t live up to my expectations. This brings us to Three Kingdom: The Journey. Developed by Senmu Studio, this deckbuilder focuses on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms period, with China torn between warring kingdoms. In the game itself, those three are facing the Yellow Turbans. It all sounded interesting in theory, but in execution, Three Kingdom: The Journey was unfortunately held back by some annoying issues.

Shakespeare, It Ain’t

Right out of the gate, my not-so-quiet inner editor took issue with the fact that the game is titled Three Kingdom instead of Three Kingdoms. It’s likely that perhaps Senmu Studio doesn’t speak English as a first language. While I can usually forgive poor translation, it’s everywhere in the game. So much so that I actually had issues understanding many of the basic mechanics. Admittedly I figured most of it out just by trying things out, but I am a stickler for clear rules in any game experience. Not only were those hazy at best, but the game was also full of misspellings. Hell, they even refer to the Yellow Turban armies as the Yellow Scarves in the game, just as one last example of how prevalent the language issues are.

Destiny Calls

Despite the aforementioned issues, I did find some aspects of Three Kingdom: The Journey that I appreciated. Once you start, you pick one of three factions to play as – Liu, Cao, or Sun. Though there are apparently some differences between them, such as how Liu generates more energy every turn, many of the nuances of the factions were hard to grasp. More so because depending on the faction, the various unit types, such as Infantry, Ranged, and Cavalry, will have different characteristics. For example, if you pick Liu, your Ranged units can gain Focus and deal progressively more damage. Whereas if you picked Cao, they instead weaken foes with every attack. If this is starting to sound complicated, it very much is. But it’s also not unplayable, far from it.

I was actually really drawn into the basic gameplay loop presented. You pick your faction, then your generals, and set off. At first, each faction only has one general unlocked, but the more you play, the more Resources you accumulate, which can be used to unlock more generals. Then you can bring a few with you and switch between them strategically. I admit, it took me a long while before I realized each general could generate their own unique card during combat, which then has a cooldown period before you can generate it again. These are pretty powerful, and can change the flow of battle. What’s less clear is how each general is supposed to have a passive ability, but it varied whether or not I actually saw them manifest as I played.

Pathfinding 101

You’ll slowly make your way across randomly generated maps, picking various nodes and then usually engaging in battle. Depending on the territory you claim, you may get rewarded occasionally with rare cards and other treasures. But the main thrust of the game is fighting battle after battle, and getting coin and cards for your trouble. You won’t heal between battles, so it pays go to the nodes where you can heal. The first heal is always free, but subsequent healing will cost you some precious moolah.

Brutal Battles

While the standard battles were often a lot of fun, it’s very easy to get surprised by a super challenging battle out of the blue. And yes, I know it’s a rogue-like, but these still felt pretty unfair. I would go from winning several battles in a row to getting felled in one turn by a shockingly powerful attack. While it’s not a complete loss since even losing will accumulate more Resources to unlock features, it’s very grindy and more than a little annoying how unbalanced the game generally is.

One of the more perplexing things about Three Kingdom: The Journey is a total lack of Steam achievements. Though I’m not one of those masochists that platinums games, I have grown accustomed to Steam achievements. They help quietly guide the player and give some nice incentives to keep playing after you roll credits. The lack of them here is a bit unforgivable, even if Senmu Studio is likely a small team. That said, they did confirm that if players want achievements, they can add them later.

Visually, the game walks a fine line between a generic mobile game and a colorful indie. It’s not ugly, but also not really noteworthy. As for the music, it’s pretty tame as well, though I did appreciate what appears to be Chinese voice acting (probably Mandarin) during combat. It added a small layer of authenticity to the proceedings that I appreciated.

Back To The History Books

So once again, I’ve tried another deckbuilder, only to come out disappointed. Three Kingdom: The Journey isn’t a terrible game, and there’s kernels of greatness that could grow into something much better. That will just depend on Senmu Studio putting in the time to fix the translation and tweak the game balance. Until that happens, this is just one of many frustrating deckbuilder experiences.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Available on: PC (reviewed); Publisher: Senmu Studio; Developer: Senmu Studio; Players: 1; Released: April 18, 2023; MSRP: $12.99

Editor’s note: The publisher provided a review copy to Hey Poor Player.