There’s just something so intriguing about card-based games that evoke an emotion of excitement, and so the moment we heard that SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech incorporated these features, we had to jump on board right away. We’ve experienced similar titles like this in the form of Fable Fortune, Clash Royale, and even GWENT, but what makes SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech so distinct from them lies within its rich gameplay and warm visuals. Anyone who is into strategic card games will jump straight into things because the mechanics play a similar role, and with RPG features implemented as well, it only adds a lot more fun to the mix. It’s not unusual to see this TCG/RPG fusion, but we’d love to see more of these types of games because they really stand out, and are a blast to play for long periods of time.

In SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech, you lead an aspiring team of heroes on a journey towards saving their town, uncovering the secrets behind the ancient menace that’s causing all of this harm. As with any card-based game, your objective is to learn how each card works and how they can benefit you in battle. Every enemy you encounter will have their own distinct strengths and weaknesses, with each card delivering a certain amount of damage alongside elemental damage, and so developing a good understanding of their functions is imperative to winning. As you progress through the game, you’ll be able to unlock, discover, and craft new cards which will better assist you in the more challenging battles that lie ahead in the later chapters. SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech allows you to craft your own deck with each character having their own respective cards, and so you’ll need to ensure that your deck is well equipped with spells, physical attacks, along with healing to ensure survival.

Each battle encounter reflects the classic turn-based RPG style where you’ll earn XP for each successful bout, while exploration is conducted on a side-scrolling plane. With a mix of fantasy and steampunk visuals, along with a comedic group of characters, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech is one adventure you don’t want to miss!

As we mentioned before, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech is a TCG turn-based RPG that incorporates fantasy and steampunk themes to create a wonderful visual experience. Everything within the game is hand drawn in stunning detail, and the characters really come to life with very excellent animation. The overall presentation is stellar as well, with in-game tutorials being very easy to read and understand, but also the UI being very organized making it easy to navigate inside and outside of battles. We never experienced any dropped frames during gameplay and that’s a great thing since a lot of the special effects weren’t overbearing, but still attractive to look at. A big plus for us!

One of the finer points about SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech lies in its choice of music, and just how seamless it flows with the gameplay. During very intense battles the music will change into a very high tempo rock solo, where you can really feel every riff and it creates a very impactful experience. We love how the music changes as well depending on the flow of battle, where if you’re losing the music will suddenly feel a little more demanding and once you start your comeback, the music really pumps up again. Maybe that’s just us and perhaps we’re totally crazy, but the music overall really made a huge difference especially during long battles. It’s energetic, heart pumping, and really gets you into the battle so well. A lot of card-based games tend to use a little less power in their music, which we assume is to keep the mind relaxed to allow for more concentration, but we really enjoy music that keeps our energy high and SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech does it beautifully.

Much of the gameplay in SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech revolves around strategic deck building, and knowing how to effectively use chains to deal massive damage. To elaborate more on chains, in SteamWorld Quest: Gilgamech each character can create combos with their cards if the same character’s cards are chosen 3 times. So for example, Armilly is more of the attacker where she relies heavily on dealing physical damage and so, combining her cards together will create a powerful ender which inflicts more damage to the enemy. Galleo is big, tall, and lazy, and while he may hit very hard he’s in fact the healer of the team, so when you chain his cards together your shield card gets a huge buff, and now everyone on the team has a higher physical damage resistance. The cards you can use with the chain combo can always change, and they don’t need to be in any order to successfully deal damage.

You have over 100 cards that you can collect within the game, all of which have their own respective mechanics, so getting used to all of them will take time. Not only that but as with any card game, card cost will be very important because each card you use will determine the outcome of what attacks you can pull off. So another example, in most battles you have up to 3 choices of attacks and each attack will have a cost attached. Some will have nothing which is of course beneficial to you, since you gain an extra cog for using specific buffs, which in turn allow you to use more powerful cards. The strategy here is to try and use cards that help to buff your team, while gaining more cogs to pull off more powerful spells or attacks to close out the battle. During battles, you can swap out cards that you feel aren’t going to help you much or just aren’t cost effective, but you’re limited to only 2 swap outs (with the exception of Copernica’s specific card buff) per turn, so it’s important to be mindful.

The overall flow of the game really depends on how much of an understanding you have with each card, and how adept you are with dealing with enemy pressure. In the end, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech rewards the player with patience and tact, as each battle gets progressively harder and so new strategies need to be formed in order to stay consistent. There are 12 chapters in total so the game isn’t very long in terms of the story, but it makes up in hours during the actual gameplay portion where you’ll need to always be creative on the fly. Dive in and have fun!

If you’re looking for something challenging and different on the Switch, then we definitely recommend SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech. The rise of card-based games on the Switch is a wonderful treat to see, so don’t ignore this one! Be sure to follow us on social media to stay up to date with all things otaku, and of course, to chat with us! Hit us up on Twitch as well, where you can catch us playing our reviewed titles and more!

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