I love a digital card game as much as the next person, but honestly, most of the time I feel that they’re a bit of a letdown in the visuals department. There’s never been one I’ve played where I’ve been satisfied in how it plays and how it looks. But! I am hopeful about the upcoming Appa, a deliciously surreal and vibrant looking narrative-driven card battler about a couple of siblings dealing with the death of their father.
I really don’t think I’ve seen a card game that looks like Appa. It fuses almost classic point-and-click adventure game pixel art animation with more traditional hand-painted methods, and adds in a good bit of the dreamlike, photobash work of Cyriak (remember that stuff? Weird, love it). The card art takes centre stage too, with any effect and move related text found near it, really letting it shine.
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In terms of the game part of the game, it sounds like it’s taking a pretty reactive approach, noting that the combat is “built around simultaneous card selection.” You and the NPC you face off against can react to every single move one another makes, meaning every play is crucial. There are a couple of types of modifiers, one called synergizers that change cards’ properties, the other called afflictions that directly affect you or your opponent.
The game’s trailer nor Steam page goes into much depth regarding the story around grief, but it’s a tough topic to handle, and one that I’m not sure many games have managed to crack yet. Still, I’m rooting for Appa, my rule of thumb when it comes to game design is vibes first and everything else second, and this one certainly at least has the vibes part down, so I’m in. It’s currently due for release early 2027, and you can wishlist it on Steam here.
