Zoeti Review: Pick a Card, Take Your Chances, and Pray For the Best

My profound and often annoying obsession with roguelike deckbuilders leads me to playing many games that feel familiar. While that can be a good thing when the game is compared to a classic like Slay the Spire, it’s not so great when it emulates a less successful example, such as Criminal Dissidia, which brings us to my latest deckbuilder (but far from my last), called Zoeti. Developed by Dusklight Games and published by Akupara Games, it’s another game that had plenty of potential, with a Poker-based attack system and attractive art. Though I would hardly call it a horrible game, it’s also sadly not the best example of the deckbuilder genre. At least not in its current state.

The Call To Adventure

Lest you have the impression Zoeti is a game I didn’t enjoy, let’s cover some of the positive aspects of the game. First, it has a cool backstory about a world where the noble goddess Zoeti and her counterpart, the goddess of demons named Nesis, wage war. In the aftermath of that battle, we see the creation of empowered humans called Astral Envoys, as well as four mighty demigods. They’re named Batons, Coupes, Epees, and Denieres, and those that worship them live in Arcania. That’s where our story begins, and you play one of three characters that set off on a heroic journey of sorts.

A Trio of Heroes

Your first playable character is the knight, Valentina. Her beautiful golden locks belie her massive strength and stalwart defense. She’s the easiest of the three to master, but each character can be a powerhouse with the right equipment and strategy. Next to unlock is Alves, a sneaky thief or assassin, depending on how you upgrade him. His playstyle is combo based and demands you pay attention to various counters to unleash your full abilities. Lastly is a magician named Nicora, who uses elemental spells to decimate her foes.

Now, you might be wondering how each of these heroes fights. The one thing they have in common is each has various skills, and each one is tied to a Poker hand. You’ll draw a few cards from your deck each turn, and if you can make a hand that corresponds to your skill, you’ll be able to activate it instantly. So hands like Three of a Kind, Straight, and the like are how you attack. It’s also worth noting that if you don’t use cards in your hand, they don’t get discarded at the end of your turn. So it can be a very smart move to hold onto cards if you’re waiting to use your stronger skill the next turn, perhaps waiting while enemies charge up or are casting a spell.

After each battle, you’ll have to pick a new skill to add to your repertoire. To my surprise, this isn’t optional. If you have multiple skills tied to the same Poker hand, you can choose to unequip your current one and put something new in its place. You can also use Soulstone Fragments acquired in battle to meditate at rest points and upgrade your skills, as well as your abilities. Those aren’t the same thing. Abilities are passive bonuses for your hero, such as how many cards you draw per turn, your base damage output, etc. Keep in mind it takes exponentially more Fragments to upgrade subsequent abilities, so it really matters in what order you make your upgrades. It’s also good to remember that you don’t heal after every battle. You can only heal for free at rest points or when you use a potion during battle.

Properly Equipped

Additionally, you’ll come across a good deal of single-use items and equipment during your adventure. Equipment will reward you with helpful bonus effects, such as dealing more damage after being attacked or boosting your shield at the end of your turn. The vast majority of these will also break after a certain amount of uses, meaning you can never rely on them. Most of them are bought with cold hard cash at the primary shop, but you might find a wandering vendor in your travels. In fact, there are lots of random events that you might encounter, some good, many bad. Choosing the right path can make or break your run. Luckily, there’s a very easy to parse map you’ll traverse in Story Mode with clear icons and nodes. I much preferred this to the random wandering all over in Criminal Dissidia.

Besides the Story Mode, there’s also an Adventure Mode you can unlock. It’s by far the more rogue of the two and is far less focused on actual storytelling. Instead, it’s all about the gameplay, for better or worse. But you’ll be spending a good amount of time just playing through the various missions in Story Mode, as each character has several to contend with. You’ll need to finish each of them at least once before you can hope to try your luck in Adventure Mode.

Pretty As a Straight Flush

Visually, I thought Zoeti had a great art style. It has a lush, hand-painted quality that really draws the eyes. This goes double for the cutscenes where characters are interacting, such as the seductive Rabelle or the goofy guide that repeatedly fails to help you. Musically the game opts for medieval adventure music, and it works for the most part. My only complaint in the sound department is an overall lack of audio cues during combat. Not that they’re strictly required in a deckbuilder, but I always like my attacks being punctuated with a pulpy sound effect or two.

Now we come to the point of the review where I have to focus on the negatives. I wish I didn’t have to, but each of these elements is holding the game back from being something truly magical. For one thing, the game didn’t explain how to play. Sure, I knew I needed to use poker hands to activate skills. But when I clicked the skills, nothing happened. I even clicked different foes, and still nothing. I found out later that Zoeti does feature tutorials, but only from the main menu. So the first time you play and get thrown into combat, you might have no idea what to do. Turns out, to activate skills, you need to select the skills and then drag the cards to the center of the screen. Which is actually cool in execution. I just wish the developers had made it more clear.

There are also some minor but irritating glitches I found. Several times the shopkeep offered his wares, speaking both French and Spanish. Another time, when I moved my mouse too far from his wares, the game jumped away from his shop. Also, while it’s good you get a variety of skills you can equip, I wish there was an option to skip them to get gold or perishable items instead. More importantly, the difficulty in Zoeti can jump up dramatically without any warning. These are the main issues holding the game back. All fixable, but until that happens, I can’t score it any higher.

Luck of the Draw

Zoeti is a beautiful game with a steep challenge. While I don’t mind some difficulty, I do find the balance more than a bit skewed against the player. And I say that as a fan of the rogue genre. That said, if you don’t mind the challenge and can put up with some irritating glitches, this is a game that is still worth your time.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5

Available on: PC (reviewed), Switch (coming later); Publisher: Akupara Games; Developer: Dusklight Games; Players: 1; Released: April 20, 2023; MSRP: $19.99

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