“They look like little plastic discs”
Making a token effort in TRIALS OF FIRE
Videogames have always been hugely influenced by tabletop games—but some certainly wear that influence a lot more on their sleeve than others.
Trials of Fire is a roguelike that combines about as many mechanics inspired by tabletop games as you possibly could. Turn-based combat over a hex-grid, like a board game; character actions dictated by the drawing of cards from a deck, as in a CCG; leveling up, loot, and narrative events that trace their origins back to pen-and-paper role playing.
It all comes together wonderfully. Despite combining so many wellworn ideas, its fights feel like a refreshingly different take on turn-based strategy. Clever twists— like having to burn cards to gain the ‘willpower’ you need to fuel other cards,—make all the difference. It feels like a platter of established concepts given an exciting new flavor by some inventive seasonings.
But my favorite thing about Trials ofFire is that it’s not just inspired by its cardboard-and-paper predecessors in mechanics, but in its visuals too. As a modest budget game from a relatively small team, it was never going to be a graphical powerhouse. But where other teams might have gone for something like a retro pixel-art look or basic 3D models, Trials of Fire instead leans into its roots by representing all characters with counters.
COUNTER ATTACK
They look like little plastic discs with some art of the hero or monster printed on top. As you move them around, they clack pleasantly onto the field. Sparking spell effects erupt incongruously out of them to blast towards enemies and slide them around the field. When hit by an attack, they jump and clatter about like someone’s got upset at board game night and slammed the table.
In motion it’s a really striking and very endearing look, and one I would never have thought I’d find so impressive. I’ve talked in previous issues about looking for a sense of physicality—there’s a satisfaction to picking up and placing a tangible object in a board game that videogames aren’t often interested in recreating. When a rare example can capture a little of that magic, I can’t help but be charmed.