14 DAY TRIAL // I wasn’t prepared for so much armor action. My own band tends to absorb enemy attacks using card-powered barriers but the demons I am facing prefer to stack up on armor. I don’t have the corrosion cards I need to take those down, so I need to waste attacks that should land on demon flesh. At least have plenty of defensive cards and a singer with vampire abilities to lean on.
Power Chord is developed and published by Big Blue Bubble. I played a demo of it on the PC using Steam. The title delivers card-driven battles with a rogue-lite structure that incorporates metal and supernatural themes.
The story premise is chaotic and fun: a demon invasion was stopped by a legendary warrior that used a magical guitar to heal a crack between worlds. Now the player has to lead his own band of supernaturally gifted musicians in a fight against demons who want to reclaim the same artifact to open a portal between dimensions.
The card combat is solid and uses the theme well. The drummer is focused on defense, my lead guitar launches potentially very powerful attack riffs, the lead is a mix between a healer and a vampire, and the bass can strike an entire enemy band at the same time.
The action asks players to carefully consider options, decide who can take hits, and prioritize which enemy is the bigger threat. Between band battles, the game also delivers healing stops, chances to upgrade cards, and other events.
Power Chord has a solid visual style, mixing an obvious love for metal with the supernatural elements that make it work as a card game. It is always easy to take a look at the characters and cards to see exactly what’s happening and why. The demon opponents have a lot of personality. The soundtrack is decent enough but given the heavy metal theme, I wanted to hear more music when cards are played and when attacks land.
Conclusion
The structure of moving from node to node towards a final challenge is the one part of the game that feels undercooked. I understand that it’s expected from titles working inside the card rogue space but I want to see a twist, an innovation that spices it up. Power Chord has a lot of potential, and I will certainly play the full version when it launches.
Preview code provided by the publisher.
