One of the subgenres that has really gained some momentum in this generation has been deckbuilding strategy games. Whether with some roguelike flavor thrown in or more straightforward, their turn-based combat mixed with a more open-ended approach to setting yourself up for success is easy to appreciate. More recently a new slightly-different subset of this subgenre has emerged as well, using dice and their own inherent variability to the mix, adding yet another layer of strategic goodness. Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles has embraced this style for its own, working to bring fresh strategic challenges to the table.

In order to set yourself up for success in the game, it is essential that you wrap your head around the management of corruption and purity. Every turn you’ll roll your dice and then work out how best to utilize them. On a general level, purity dice will do damage to your enemies or give you healing, and corruption dice will have the opposite effect. Starting out with the first of the game’s characters you’ll command, your focus will primarily be on keeping things pure, using your skills to reroll or enhance what dice you have to chip away at enemies and keep yourself healthy. As you progress and unlock more characters the strategies become more complex though, with some characters doing just fine with corruption, as long as you’re carefully walking the line with your health. This is where the game’s overall depth can best be appreciated, as your approach and what will bring you success will vary quite a lot depending on the character you’re working with.

On a general level you’ll work through each battle and then be awarded some loot for your troubles. This will take the form of currency, which you can use later, but also new dice which will hopefully help make you more formidable. This is absolutely the layer where some roguelike risk and reward can be most clearly seen, as you’ll often choose between safer dice that won’t hit as hard, and ones where you’ll be hoping for a good roll to do higher damage, but dreading it landing on one of the negative sides. 

This is also where what I’d consider the game’s greatest weakness is more visible. I understand the desire to keep everything in a consistent visual style, and the game’s characters and die faces all look cool, but the faces are also not always easy to tell apart. I appreciate that they are at least somewhat distinct, but the game’s aesthetics feel like they got in the way of clarity. Another shortcoming is that while the different characters absolutely play differently, it feels like a layer of nuance beyond that is either weak or missing when compared to the competition. In particular Dicefolk stands out as being a step or two ahead, and while Astrea likely wins the battle in terms of the game’s art and overall look, if you’re looking for the most in-depth strategy in this space I think it comes up a little short.