Off the AppStore: Crafty card action in CardCraft

• A roguelite journey taken one card at a time
• Use cards to summon various heroes to slay the monster of the week
• Combine card pieces to craft the strongest cards

Welcome to Off The AppStore, a weekly feature with a twist. Namely, that while these - as with all the games we cover here - are games that you can play on your phone, they're ones that operate outside of the realms of the big two ways to play: The Google Play Store and the Apple AppStore.

That means that there might be a bit of work required in downloading alternative AppStores or APKs, or that the games can simply be played in your phone browser. We'll make sure to detail that for each game though. Anyway, read on to find a new game or experience to play Off The AppStore.

Sources state that we've had card games possibly as early as the 9th century (thank you, China), and since then, we as a species have run away with the concept. If you can think of a thing, there's a chance that there's a card of it or even an entire game surrounding it. Unfortunately, physical card games can be expensive and require significant space. Who can fit tons of small and thin slices of paper somewhere? Fortunately, the digital artists came to our rescue by creating numerous card games for our mobile devices, both translations and original creations. 4Cats came together to give us CardCraft to see what we can put together.

You're on a long road to slay a series of monsters that are dominating the land, and you have the powers of a mystical card player. You have a series of cards that contain the spirits of mighty warriors that can be called to the field as long as they're whole. You only have enough space for one warrior at a time, which is why you have to make the most of that one slot. The warrior itself is just one piece of the literal puzzle. You still need to craft the card with the stats you believe will make it most effective.

Several corners of the warrior cards have been torn, and they can't be summoned in an incomplete state, obviously. You can make them whole by giving them the three stats that they need to enter the battle: Attack, Health, and Speed. Of course, it's not only their health that you need to worry about, because your own health as a participant is displayed clearly at the top. Without warriors to protect yourself, the monster will attack you directly, and remember, each warrior needs time to recover after being summoned or defeated.

Combined with the branching paths you can follow at will, CardCraft is a solid 2D roguelike adventure about making the strongest cards that you can as the battle rages on. You'll receive more card pieces with each victory to further strengthen your deck. There will also be plenty of chances to grab treasure along the road that will give you and your warriors passive effects, which can be precisely what you need to reach the end of the road. Here's your chance to craft a winning hand.

Cardcraft is available to download and play from its itch.io page!