I’m trying to cover more new games with greater frequency, and that means playing demos. Sometimes that means a smooth experience, but other times that means encountering games that are still a little rough around the edges.
I wrapped up my first session with Cascadou via a UI bug and a forced exit, however, up until that moment, I could feel the dopamine receptors firing hard in my brain. I was really getting into it.
Update: I’ve been talking to the game’s developer, and they have already fixed the bug that I experienced.
What is Cascadou?
If you’re familiar with poker and Balatro, then you’re already well on your way to knowing how to get started in Cascadou. This deckbuilder by Mattis Folkestad is about building poker hands, making clever moves, finding combos, and then triggering big scores. In the simplest sense, it sounds a lot like Balatro, however, the execution is very different.
In Cascadou you must arrange a screen full of cards across multiple lines, positioning them to create the most effective combinations possible. Working with a limited pool of moves, you must swap cards around and try and build straights, full houses, and other powerful poker hands, all linked by connected cards either horizontally or vertically.
Once arranged you can trigger the cards and see how your score stacks up against the target for that level. Beat the target, and you advance to the next destination on your journey, which is either another set of cards to rearrange or a shop to spend your coins in.
It’s in the shop where things get even more interesting. You can buy stickers that you affix to your cards, and then when they appear in-game, you get a variety of benefits. That could mean point bonuses for certain hands, or cards nearby to the stickered ones might behave differently. There are loads of little decisions to make as you build out your deck, and I look forward to exploring this aspect of the game.
Apart from the buggy menu I encountered, I was also quietly impressed by the presentation. The whole thing feels intentionally gentle, but the graphics are still nice and crisp and everything is very easy parse.
Best of all, in my opinion, there appears to be tons of depth in the sticker system, and when fused with the relaxing card positioning element, it has a puzzle-like quality that got my brain buzzing along nicely.
Forgetting about the early teething issues, I’ve really enjoyed my first go at Cascadou and it has gone straight on my wishlist ahead of its launch next year. In my opinion, this is one to watch.
