Oneiron Expanse: Sharing our Steal mechanic, what do you think?
I bring some honest gameplay video from our pre-alpha development. And some thoughts:
Most rogue like deckbuilders have a static "flow" encoded:
Fight -> Choose a reward between 3 cards -> Repeat
In our game Oneiron Expanse, we’re adding up to that loop as we moved the deckbuilding directly into the combat.
One of the mechanics we introduced for that matter is a "Steal" mechanic: if you last-hit an enemy with a unique Dagger card (there's 1-per-deck), you permanently select and take a card from their deck.
We found that It forces players to think three steps ahead: You aren’t just trying to "overcome the opponent" anymore but hunting for specific resources while trying to stay alive. It’s hard, it’s high-stakes, it's rewarding, it gives you a secondary goal (and we at the studio love it)
It has cascading consequences too, as you might be stealing a card of another archetype (of the 4 available) that your deck might not have. It is difficult to balance but we liked the fact that it opens your deck at any time to add new archetypes and explore combos and synergies beyond the classic predesigned ones.
Now we would love to hear about your opinion. Do you like this approach better than the typical 3 card choice reward, or something to complement it?
Feedback please!