Given the vast number of games I’ve played over the last generation, many of them in some way a variation in theme from one another, I have a tendency to give some added leeway to the ones that do things a little differently. As we all have learned well, different doesn’t instantly mean better by any means, but I do at least enjoy being surprised by games that have some flavor that I haven’t tasted before. While perhaps its story is on the generically futuristic cyberpunk train, HeistGeist did manage to delight me by changing things up… though I can’t figure out whether they added RPG elements to a deckbuilder, or if it's the other way around.

I understand the pain of people who have tired of deckbuilders over the last generation, as they did seem to be one of the over-used flavors we saw on the Switch. Typically paired with roguelike strategy elements, they do offer opportunities to allow people to customize their attacks and defenses, opening the door to a variety of potential tactics. In the case of HeistGeist I think it serves the game well though, replacing what can typically be tired and listless turn-based combat that so many games have continued to stick with, often reducing players to simply tapping their buttons repeatedly to attack, periodically heal, or drop something powerful, and zoning out otherwise. In order to add an extra element to occupy your potential strategies, the game has also introduced a sort of combo system with A, B, and C cards that can get some added oomph when used in sequence. I found that this really helped to drive my planning and strategies for both deckbuilding and taking risks with cards that would let me redraw, helping the combat feel fresh. Throw in some flavor with pretty carefully-implemented hacking, working to disable some systems without necessarily damaging them too much, and you’ll really need to keep an eye on things.

While I found that the story and these systems were able to start pretty strong and get me on board, I’ll admit that the further I got, my interest ended up waning a bit. While I wouldn’t solely blame the story which tended to feel a bit too familiar, though the voice acting is reasonably good, I’d absolutely say that there have been better stories in the sci-fi lane from other titles. I’d also point out that while the combat systems and deckbuilding felt pretty cool when I first encountered them, they didn’t manage to continue to drive my interest without having cards that were real game changers or would open the door to radically-different tactics. It was more a feeling of variations on a theme instead. None of this is to say that the game doesn’t do a great job of knowing what it wants to do and getting it out there, I just wish that it had better staying power to keep that momentum going throughout.