As some of you may know, Card-en-Ciel is an upcoming game from Inti Creates, the developers of the Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX series—and yes, even Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge. Card-en-Ciel will release October 24, 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. A public demo will be available on September 4 on Steam and September 5 on Nintendo Switch.
Card-en-Ciel caught our attention for its Mega Man Battle Network-like appearance and similarly-inspired gameplay. Inti Creates gave us an early hands-on look at an extended demo on Steam. It goes deeper into the game mechanics than the in-person booth demos had in the past. So, let’s get right into the impressions.
Story
The game begins by introducing you to the main character, Neon, a sort of cyber-detective that goes around solving problems in the digital game worlds. You meet a girl who requests your help with a dangerous creature known as a MOD, or Mad Obstructive Data. Apparently this Charizard-like creature leaked into a game it’s not meant to be in and you have to defeat it with a specially-crafted deck to calm it down.
You’re introduced to these game worlds that exist within the game, analogous to games within our own real-world. MODs have been leaking into game worlds, causing an imbalance and creating dungeons.
Afterwards, you’re sent to go solve the next problem in the Yggdrasil Records IX dungeon. There’s even a Jack-In kind of sequence. This seems to be a game area inspired in part by the real-life Mana series, featuring mentions of a great tree and magic and song. While some games mentioned are fictional, others are based on actual Inti Creates franchises like Gunvolt.
Battle Gameplay
Compared to Battle Network, this plays more like a card game. So if you’ve played other card-based games that have released recently, this should feel somewhat familiar. A notable difference, however, is the action takes place on the field, where you and your enemy’s position actively matters!
When the game was first revealed, we all saw the familiar battlefield and card-based gameplay, so let’s look at some key differences between the games.
At the start of a battle, you get a hand of 5 cards. Cards have an action cost and a movement. Cards have a unique effect described on the card, which costs the indicated point amount to use. Generally, the higher-cost 3-point cards are stronger, but riskier to use.
Cards can also be sacrificed for movement, indicated by the direction on the movement marker below the point cost. Movement does not cost you a point. It should be noted you don’t have free movement in this game as you do in Battle Network. It’s up to you to decide which cards to use for movement to evade attacks, or to attack with.
Each turn starts you with 3 actions and cards can cost anywhere from 0-3. Enemies have a counter for how many actions it will take for them to attack, so you’ll have to plan how to move to get out of the way of their attack and still land damage with your cards. When your actions reach 0, you may end your turn. Then you will draw more cards at the start of the next turn.
As you progress through the tutorial, more of the battle system is revealed to you, so there are plenty of chances to get familiar with how the different cards work.
After a battle is won, you get to a results screen where you can choose the card you want to keep from a random set of 3 cards. You can even re-roll for different cards! Though it starts capped at one.
Outside of Battle Gameplay
In a dungeon, you’re met with a familiar top-down isometric view. Here, you can explore the dungeon floor and encounter enemies directly on the field. Unlike in Battle Network, Card-en-Ciel does not have random encounters. Instead, certain “rooms” in a dungeon floor will have roaming enemies which may chase you, and others will have an enemy waiting for you to interact with. You can also find treasure chests you can open to obtain special cards.
Later on, clearing the enemies in a particular room will grant you an HP boost or other bonuses. Unlike in the first Battle Network game, HP is carried over between battles, so if you take a lot of damage in one battle, you’ll stay with that amount unless you recover it at some point. Some of these will even play more of a tactical role, like setting a card to grant a boost in battle to nearby rooms. Somewhat Liberation Mission-esque, I felt.
Other Card Types
As in Battle Network, there are other card types you’ll encounter. During the tutorial, you’re introduced to Muses, which are special types of cards which provide powerful, passive effects in battle when certain conditions are met. The first Muse you get, for example, requires you to use 3 cards which cost 0 to use. For doing so, you’ll get more 0-cost cards, which allows you to deal lots of damage quickly in one turn. Unlike the normal cards you get, these don’t need to be played in battle. This could loosely be compared to the Party Battle system from Battle Network 5 DS, where your ally support passively helps you during battle.
There are also Action cards, denoted with a yellow border. These feel somewhat close to Battle Network’s Navi chips, in that they’re fairly rare and you’ll probably have a few in your deck at once. These cards have different effects depending on when they’re used. If the enemy’s time counter is at 1 and the attack is within range, you’ll enter an Action Phase and deal a lot of damage. Otherwise, it will be used as a normal card.
Another card type is the Rush card. These are temporary, 0-cost cards that appear in your hand during your turn. They are usually created by the effects of certain cards. These tend to be weak attacks, but useful when used in succession since they are basically free to use. They very much feel like how the counter mechanic works in the Mega Man Star Force series, where countering rewards you with a chip from your folder to use during that turn.
There are also cards with bad effects which can end up in your hand, such as virus cards. These may have a penalty for using them and may end up in your hand due to an effect caused by an enemy.
The next concept introduced is Break. Certain cards will destroy an enemy’s attack power for that turn. This becomes necessary as you encounter situations where you can’t dodge a certain oncoming attack. Additionally, breaking an enemy’s attack power to 0 will also cause it to enter a staggered state, where it will not be able to attack and your attacks will deal more damage to it as well. Whether a card causes Break will be noted in its description. Break is not damage, so there are situations where you will only deplete an enemy’s attack power, but deal no damage. A non-damaging, attacking-like chip is almost unheard of in Battle Network. Rush cards also tend to carry the Break property, so they’re a great way to cut down an enemy’s attack.
Battling the Boss
Everything you’ve learned prepares you to take on the dungeon boss. There, you must utilize the effect of the Muse effects you’ve obtained, break the enemy’s attack power, and deal as much damage as you can while avoiding the attacks you can.
At the end of a dungeon, you are also rated for how well you did according to various criteria, as those familiar with the Mega Man Zero series would know. The total number of turns you took in all battles matter, for example. Additionally, you’ll earn tokens which you can use on plug-ins to permanently power yourself up. You can increase the number of re-rolls you get at the end of battles, the max HP, and increase the card rarity rate.
In terms of deck management, I didn’t get to explore this part much as in the tutorial, cards are upgraded for you automatically as concepts are introduced to you. As part of the tutorial, they show you how to use a card for a super-strong attack, akin to a Program Advance, though this fractures the card, rendering it unusable afterwards. A very risky play.
Afterwards, you return to a main menu where you can attempt another dungeon, enhance yourself, check your cards and deck, and more. You can also attempt an additional, more difficult dungeon. I encountered this cat enemy I couldn’t damage, which is also when I realized I couldn’t figure out how to run from battles and had to quit out of the whole dungeon as a result. Running is unlocked by facing the boss of the first floor of this dungeon, curiously. This seems like something that should have been unlocked from the start.
Closing Thoughts
The game offers quite a bit of depth in gameplay as you get farther in. It’s kind of like a strategy or a puzzle to figure out what your best move in a given turn is, but once you master it, it is a satisfying feeling to be able to quickly play cards and defeat enemies. Once you really understand how the mechanics work, that is.
Another thing is that there really is a lot of chatter during normal gameplay. I considered turning off voices after a bit once you hear the same quips at the start of a battle from your cards, but the greetings when obtaining them can be charming.
All things considered, it looks like the game has a fun loop going for it. It’s satisfying looking for the best way to crush an enemy’s attack stat or win with powerful cards. At times, it feels like a lot is going on, making it kind of complicated to follow along with the battles. But through enough trial and error I’ve figured things out well enough in the demo, and the game will surely throw more at the player to figure out. It’s also interesting to look forward to the game properties—existing or not—that will be represented in this game.
Card-en-Ciel will release worldwide October 24, 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. A public demo will be out soon and your progress will carry over to the full game once it releases.