Game Review: Scrolls

Scrolls © 2012 Mojang AB

So this is just an initial review of Scrolls, not my conclusion.  The game is still very fresh, and it's only on week 3 of its open beta, so I give it some breathing room on the things that I mention here.  This review is meant to be subjective and entertaining so take it for what it is, and we'll all have fun.

As a whole

Scrolls features a very unique twist on digital Trading Card Games.  Unlike Magic the Gathering or games of the same clothe, Scrolls features a more... interactive style of gameplay.  A match consists of two sides of Idols.  These idols represent your health, or life points depending on what games you're familiar with.  To win a match you must destroy 3 of these idols; there are 5 total so you don't need to destroy all of them.  

So here's where the game really tosses up that curve ball.  You play Creatures, and Structures on a board that's composed of honeycomb cells.  You can move Creatures from cell to cell each turn, and in some cases Structures can be moved as well.  It's kind of like Chess in a sense; if that helps your mind comprehend what I'm telling you.  Yes, the game is very much a TCG, but this is a hybrid of sorts.  Take a table top game and Magic the Gathering, play some Sade and watch them go at it like bunnies on Easter, and you get Scrolls. The game play is actually very refreshing in that I personally have never seen it before.  

The scrolls (or cards) are very much your average TCG card.  They have types, sub-types, abilities and rarities (no reinventing the wheel allowed).  In Scrolls, the rarity of a scroll is not represented by symbols, or color coded letters.  Instead, the rarity is determined by how weathered and old the scroll looks.  You know like your diploma vs the Dead Sea Scrolls kind of thing.  One is pretty common, the other is one of a kind (yeah you're not that special Mr. high-school grad, welcome to mediocrity).  The abilities are interesting enough.  You have active abilities and passive, as well as some other static traits like Relentless, which allows your attacking unit to continue his attack after killing a Structure or Creature.  It's a great way to bulldoze your way through some chump blocks and straight to the idols.  

Scrolls uses three different resource types: Growth, Energy, and Order.  I won't tell you exactly what each is good at, because that's half the fun of playing the game :).  You can intermingle these resource types together for more creative deck builds.  The resources are accrued through sacrificing cards, this differs from your Magic the Gathering type games, because there are no "resource cards" like land.  Any card can be used as a resource, it reminds me most of a game called Shadow Era, which uses a very similar system.  In addition to this system, there is another sacrificial feature built in which allows you to sacrifice scrolls for more scrolls.  It's a draw engine for anyone to use.  I love the idea because I feel like you're not going to be able to TKO someone in 1 turn with some crazy draw engine scheme.  Plus if you sacrifice for scrolls you can't sacrifice for resources that turn and that could mean win or lose for you, no pressure.

There are different scroll types in the game as well.  You have: Creatures, Structures, Enchantments, and Spells.  I suspect most of you know what a spell and what a creature is, but the other two could be new to you.  At it's best structures become an artillery strike fit for G. W'ya. Bush.  At their worst, they're chump blockers for your true threats.  Very handy, even if your deck doesn't really use them for any other purpose then just soaking up some damage.  Enchantments are very similar to those in MTG.  They are for the most part permanent affects that can be attached to creatures or structures.  Not all of them are permanent some will end after X amount of turns, but you get the idea.  They basically give added bonuses to your forces, or debuff your enemies.

You'll notice after a match or two that Scrolls is not the type of game that is easily mastered.  If you're new to the game you might end up losing a lot in the beginning, but fear not you'll get the hang of it (just make sure you're ready for the initial, "WTF is happening!?" as you get repeatedly pummeled into oblivion by some iron giant).  Some may not like the level of difficulty Scrolls brings, but I find it quite nice.  Too many games are spoon feeding their players success and it's creating a generation of entitled gamers.  That's just my opinion though, so don't go ranting to Reddit people, put the pitch forks away it will all be okay... Hey! Yeah I see you with the noose, you better cut that right the hell down buddy.

The music in Scrolls is pleasant enough.  It's relaxing, and has an epic feel to it initially.  It does get a little repetitive but we'll live with it.  It's probably unrealistic to expect a full on album in the early stages of it's life anyway.  The sound affects that accompany attack animations, or ability animations aren't necessarily awesome, but anything is better than nothing.  They're not bad, but they're not the best either.  The interface sounds are pretty standard, when you click a button there's a little clicky sound.  Let's all golf clap for the sound guys.

The graphics are okay, maybe not my preferred style but that doesn't mean they're not good.  Scrolls uses 2D watercolor effects for it's graphics, and while they are a little simple for my taste I think it fits well for a game of this style.  The game is not meant to be complex by any means and so the art direction mirrors this mantra perfectly.

Scrolls interface is also very basic and easy to use.  At times I wish certain things had some sort of tooltip, or description.  I really wish I knew what that bloody scroll in the top right corner with a 0 next to it meant!  It's been taunting me since I got into the game, and I've yet to figure it out on my own.  Nonetheless, the interface is clean and the transition effects from screen to screen are smooth most... of the time.  Again, it's beta so small glitches here and there are expected.  One of my favorite parts of their interface is actually rather insignificant, but the smallest things can have the biggest impact.  I really enjoy the clock they have.  It's just your ordinary clock, but it shows my local time and some games don't even offer a clock and when they do a lot of the time it's a meaningless server time, and I'm certainly not playing these games to have to bother myself with time conversions and the like, pfft to that I say.

Lastly, the game is convenient in the way that you can pretty much get any scrolls through in game currency.  It does offer some options to pay real money for certain items, but everything can be bought with gold.  Also, every week you will be able to directly purchase a set of random scrolls.  This is particularly nice if you've been needing a certain scroll, no one wants to trade, and your luck with the booster pack is about as good as my luck with the lottery (0 for... well a lot).  The game does have a tournament feature that's not quite implemented yet, but it's been said that you may be able to earn some handy dandy scrolls through that as well.

Overall, my initial impression of Scrolls is good.  There's still lots of work to be done, but they have a solid foundation set for it.  Because the game is still in beta I will withhold my official score of the game after it's release is finalized, so stay tuned!

Also, the game is available to purchase during its open beta phase.  It will be $20 throughout beta, and that gives you access to all future updates as a full version of the game becomes available.

The good

• Easy to use interface
• Fun and interesting scroll types, as well as scroll abilities
• Multiple resource types allows for mix and matching in decks; opening up new avenues for strategy
• Pleasant music and at least somewhat entertaining animation sounds
• Most everything can be attained without spending real money
• Inventive gameplay that uses turn based tactics

The bad

• Social system lacks major features like friends lists, ignore lists, and private messaging.  This is mostly due to the fact that it's still in beta.
• There seems to be a bug where the sound just dies for no apparent reason, also a  gimme since this is beta.
• Whether it's beta or not, the tutorials are not very good.
• There's very little direction on how to use different interfaces.  I'm sure over time these will be added in.
• Music gets repetitive somewhat fast, but despite this the music is still good quality and enjoyable 90% of the time
• No story line right now.  This is probably something down the road that will be improved upon.