I’ve just finished my latest attempt at the new demo playtest for Sparrow Warfare, a Mahjong-inspired roguelike deckbuilder that landed in my inbox earlier this week.
In fact, the playtest is now open to everyone on PC (Mac, Win), so head on over to the game’s new Steam page and sign up if you’d like to try it for yourself.
What you’ll find there, perched and waiting, is a fun little deckbuilder with Mahjong-like tiles that’s all about building combos to take down mega aggressive birds and their handlers.
There’s a tutorial mode with pop-ups in the top-right of the screen, which I kept forgetting to read properly. Thus, it took me a couple of attempts to work out what was happening, but after that I was able to post a respectable score!
In fact, I’m second at the time of writing, but I’m sure it won’t last long!
A deck of tiles
Sparrow Warfare’s most interesting feature is the extra tiles that you unlock once you’ve defeated a bird. Liberate a fellow feathered friend from their controller and they’ll lend you a tile for future use, and so you can expand your deck with new tactical options.
You’ve got to play tiles in sequence or to match suit. Over a series of rounds you must mix defensive moves with more attacking plays (instant and burn damage over time) to take down opposing birds before they can hit you first.
The extra tiles that you unlock can be played with other themed tiles, completing sequences or adding extra actions, such as drawing new tiles or converting the damage type.
There is quite a bit to consider and I only completed a couple of stages before the third boss got me. Each new enemy added a wrinkle, and by the end I was contending with fire damage, multipliers, and even my own impulsivity, although that last one’s on me…
It’s really early days, but my first impression of Sparrow Warfare is a positive one. The playtest is out now and available on Steam until October 8, and there’s absolutely no reason whatsoever why you can’t beat my meagre high score – so get to it!
