Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-09-24 10:52 (JST)
Translated by. Ryuki Ishii

Square Enix announced the release date of Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars. It will come out digitally on October 28 for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam). A free demo, which is a prologue episode of the game, is currently available on PS4/Nintendo Switch. The Steam version of the demo will arrive shortly after on September 24.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a “spellbinding card-based RPG told entirely through the medium of cards.” The game is set in a world of swords and sorcery, and it is “presented in the manner of a tabletop RPG and playing out through narration from the gamesmaster.”

In a distant time, a dragon suddenly appeared to terrorize the human world. The kingdom fought with all its might and managed to repel the dragon’s attack. Many years later, news of the dragon’s reawakening shocked the kingdom once again, and the queen gathered her trusty adventurers. The protagonist, a reckless bounty hunter who hopes to secure an immense reward for slaying the dragon; Mar, a quiet beast very attached to the protagonist; Melanie, a black witch with a grudge against the Dragon. The strange trio set out to defeat the dragon and travel through a world where wonders still remain.

The demo version is a prequel to the main story. You’ll play as three members of the Ivory Order who were requested by the queen to solve a case of theft. In this game, everything from characters, items to available choices is represented by cards. Guided by the voice of the Game Master (voiced in English by Todd Haberkorn), the player moves the character cards in order to progress through maps. You’ll talk to NPCs, visit shops, and explore the world all through the medium of cards.

Each character’s attack/defense stats are written in the lower left/right corner of the card. The battles are turn-based, and you’ll use skills, weapons, and items to fight the monsters. When your turn comes up, you can consume resources called gems to take action. By winning the battle, you’ll gain experience points and currency. Level up your characters and buy new weapons to get ready for tougher fights.

With the narration from the Game Master and the dice roll feature involved, this game is reminiscent of TRPGs. On the other hand, although the game has a unique twist of representing everything by cards, you’ll still fight monsters and explore maps like an ordinary RPG. I hope the narrative and the combat system will be intriguing enough to go beyond a typical RPG experience in the final product.

The project is headed by the creative director Yoko Taro, with Yosuke Saito being the executive producer. The game is being developed by Alim, the studio behind Brave Frontier and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Keiichi Okabe is involved as the music director and Kimihiko Fujisaka as the character designer. Fujisaka previously worked on the character design of the Drakengard series.

Pre-order bonuses include Golden Dragon Pattern “which swaps the reverse card design to an original design by Kimihiko Fujisaka” and Traditional Avatar which allows players to “change the design of the game piece on the field into a traditional craftwork.”

There will also be a special bundle set “which includes the game, the Pixel Art Set DLC, and seven more DLC themed after NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…” with the seven DLCs being Dress of the Bereft, Emil’s Pattern, Emil Avatar, Emil Dice, Grimoire Weiss Board, Library Desk, and Devola’s Mask.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is set to launch on October 28 for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam).

Keiichi Yokoyama

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