Nowhere Prophet

A post-apocalyptic deck-builder that looks on the bright side

PC, Switch

Hope is in short supply in any postapocalyptic scenario, but Nowhere Prophet is no ordinary post-apocalypse. Martin Nerurkar’s enterprising deck-builder adds a dash of optimism and a splash of colour to the genre. As its creator points out, it’s less The Road and more Mad Max: Fury Road, which he (correctly) identifies as “one of the best movies of the past decade”. But its distinctive look is rooted more in his own half-Indian heritage: the bright robes sported by the characters are inspired by the festival Holi. For once, browns and greys are scarce.

The game begins with the discovery of a dying machine, which speaks of a crypt somewhere out in the wilderness that will offer refuge and knowledge to those who reach it. Watching on, a gathering of dumbstruck locals decides you must be some kind of prophet, and joins you on your travels. “I was always interested in a narrative where you take care of a group,” Nerurkar explains. “I didn’t just want you to be this badass lone warrior going through the wasteland.”

As your convoy advances, you choose between nodes on a simple map: trickier terrain tends to yield better rewards, but costs you more food and hope (your two most important resources, along with batteries, the main currency) and the risk is naturally higher. You trigger random events whose outcomes are determined by invisible dice rolls and your own abilities: will you fight a group of brutal slavers or give up one of your own in exchange for safe passage? Elsewhere, you explore silos and ransack warehouses, while trading supplies and luxury goods at markets, and potentially recruiting more followers. The feeling of responsibility, and the emotional weight that carries, is reminiscent of The Banner Saga – even if this world isn’t quite so relentlessly bleak.

Those followers then become cards in the game’s intricate tactical battles. Each side has a 3x3 grid on which they can place their units, with actions limited by an energy gauge that increases after each turn, creating a sense of escalating possibility and peril. Only the first unit in a row can attack, which lets you place healers and the like safely behind your front line – though any card you play is immediately vulnerable, since it can’t act until the following turn. Meanwhile, a second deck for leader actions gives you the chance to buff your troops or attack the enemy leader directly. Reduce their health to zero and it’s all over; a fortuitous draw might just mean you finish a fight without having to risk any of your people.

There are other variables to consider, such as environmental cover, but one mechanic which has a significant impact on battle strategies is the way wounds are handled. As in Fire Emblem, having a name attached to a unit subtly discourages cavalier tactics, even if you never quite get as close to any individual followers. But Nerurkar’s approach to injuries and death is less exacting than Intelligent Systems’. A unit can have its health reduced to zero, but that’s not the end; play them in a subsequent battle without healing at a camp, however, and you can lose them forever. Yet when wounded they become cheaper to play, potentially letting you risk powerful attackers to finish off an enemy quickly. “In an early iteration, people could take four wounds and there were no penalties,” he says. “And it meant you didn’t really care. Then I had a version where being wounded was worse: they’d only deal one damage at the same energy cost. So you’d just want to take them out because they were inefficient. Now, interactions with the wounded follower are a lot more valuable for the player.”

As Nerurkar approaches the terminus of his own long journey, he seems satisfied at where he’s ended up. There’s still tweaking to be done, not least with the difficulty – with ten convoys to unlock, that’s an awful lot of cards to balance – but otherwise the beta feedback he’s focusing on most intently is bug fixes. “I’ve been developing it for a long time and testing it for a long time. It’s been at a lot of conferences, I have a lot of good feedback already in the game. I think it’s in a really nice place.” We wouldn’t disagree.

Random events’ outcomes are determined by dice rolls and your own abilities

Your choices affect the kind of leader you become. Engage in spiritual matters to gain Believer points; following an intellectual path could make you a Scholar. You’ll never become an Altruist if you sell anyone to slavers

Developer Sharkbomb Studios Publisher No More Robots Format PC, Switch Origin Germany Release Summer (PC), 2020 (Switch)

TOP Crossed swords denote well-defended areas, but potentially lucrative spoils. New routes that aren’t immediately visible can open up once you travel further down a path; you’re not forced to follow it to the end, but it’ll cost you food and hope to backtrack.

ABOVE LEFT Buying new weapons and gear adds new cards to your leader deck.

LEFT Three spikes on a unit’s icon means it can attack, though Nerurkar suggests he’s still refining the UI to make that clearer. Followers can attack leaders directly, but if an opposing unit uses Taunt, you’re forced to target them

ABOVE You can heal yourself and your followers at camp sites, though once you’ve done so you can’t keep returning for a top-up.