Game Source Studio has unveiled the first trailer for its deckbuilding adventure inspired by Japanese mythology, Mahokenshi.
Set in its world of the Celestial Islands, Mahokenshi puts you in control of a samurai mage serving one of four houses. While each of the houses offers its own tactical options, bestowed upon them by various creatures from Japanese mythology, the goal is the same: fend off the corruption threatening the island with a combination of melee swordplay and spell-slinging magic.
The trailer showcases some of the flavour of the world, including mythological creatures, such as Oni and Kappa, as well as the houses Ruby, Topaz, Sapphire, and Jade, one of which you can choose from to determine a playstyle (Sapphire is defense-focused, Topaz is "cunning", Ruby is aggressive, and Jade is sneaky and secretive). We also get a look at how the actual deckbuilding gameplay will work. As your samurai explores a hex-grid-based world, they can pick up new abilities in the form of cards - "over 300" according to Game Source - and use them to do battle with the malevolent forces plaguing the islands.
There is some interesting pedigree behind Mahokenshi. Although this is Game Source's first original game (having supported on titles like Horizon: Zero Dawn Complete Edition, Assassin's Creed Liberation Remastered, and Marvel's Avengers), leading the project is board game designer David Cicurel, best known for designing the Chronicles of Crime series. His influence on the project is obvious, from its card-based UI to hexagonal world, it feels like this could have easily been an adaptation of a board game we never had. According to Cicurel, this virtual board game design is intentional, saying his goal is to find "innovative ways for mixing board games and video games."
From what we have seen so far of Mahokenshi, it looks like it will have a smattering of influence from deckbuilding fan-favourite, Slay the Spire. While not a full roguelike, Mahokenshi does provide various choose-your-outcome events that can affect the progression of your character, as well as encouragement to replay the game multiple times with the same character, by allowing you to unlock new abilities on subsequent playthroughs.
Mahokenshi is set to launch on Steam early access in "early 2022". No other platforms have been confirmed.