Liberté Review – Misses its Deck

The current gaming trend revolves around deck-building games of all kinds and with the launch of Liberté we have yet another one, but does it stand out? It’s an industry that has exploded with popularity over the years, and for a good reason. These games offer exciting new twists to beloved genres, and they can vary wildly in terms of mechanics, dynamics, and storylines. Liberté is one such game that doesn’t quite do anything revolutionary.

Liberté is a game developed by Superstatic and published by Anshar Publishing. The game occurs in a dystopian world where strange plants influence people. As the player, you take on Rene’s role in helping the rebels fight against the Crown.

It’s Time to Join the revolution.

Liberté begins with you as an anonymous soldier who appears to be suffering from memory loss. A strange voice beckons to you. The player discovers a tree woman nearby who refers to you as “Petal.” She is a peculiar combination of plant life. She urges you to go out and locate her a location to burrow and plant in the city.

You continue until the strange flesh plant is buried deep underground. Connecting itself to the city’s depths. You, too, have a connection to Lady Bliss and effectively become a vessel of hers, a separate faction needing to gain the trust of others. The player takes on a story mission and selects from one of the city’s four factions to start the game in this location. The church has divine magic, and the royal family have general soldiers (possibly the easiest to fight). The rebels have basic guns and weapons, while the tribe use nature magic and birds.

While you progress through the game, you will acquire new cards and eventually start to build your deck. You can choose which cards to add to your deck and tailor your playing style accordingly. The cards you collect will determine your abilities and support. You have a certain amount of “mana”; burning cards, obtaining potions or spending money is the only way to replenish said mana. While you can create your own deck, the game gives you the option of selecting a deck which is the best choice for quite a while, as it will have many cards you don’t yet have.

In between encounters, you can upgrade your deck with new cards purchased from merchants or unlocked when defeating enemies. The major problem with this card mechanic is that you don’t get to stack heals, so in the middle of a fight, if you use your heal card and have another, it won’t pause for you to select it. The menu takes up the entire screen, so it’s usually better to try and win the fight than risk bringing up the screen being unable to see.

Did you get the point? (of my sword)

Liberté also features an extensive list of enemy types ranging from snipers and soldiers of the Crown to magic users of The Tribe. However, these get repetitive, and you will likely fight the same boss several times, even when you progress. Pay attention to your enemies’ strengths and weaknesses, as different enemy types require different strategies to defeat. The fighting feels incredibly clunky and not very responsive, sometimes you have access to a stun mechanic, but then the enemies don’t actually get stunned.

There is an enemy called “maggots”, which are adult flies that chase you around, and you have to avoid them, as there is no way to attack them. This becomes incredibly tedious when you get the curse that means enemies turn into this as they die, and then you have several of them, and you are just running around the map.

The game incorporates a permadeath system, meaning that you must start the game from the beginning if you die during an encounter. Although it may seem frustrating, this feature is a hallmark of roguelike games that add an element of risk and reward to the gameplay. Though for Liberté, there isn’t any point to this other than being able to start over with a very slight buff or change your skin to a different character. Though a skin change is just that, it doesn’t affect the story in any way; you are always seen as playing the main character of “Rene”. While progressing, your most brutal enemy is likely to be when you come across statues of Lady Bliss.

You can run up to this statue and choose to “Fight the curse”, which will then have you enter a domain of hardy enemies from many backgrounds and then a boss to battle. It is stated that you have the chance to gain some of the power from the demon you defeat; nevertheless, while playing on the story mode option, it was seen that after several times of doing this, losing much health, it was pointless. Nothing was gained even when you won; it felt like a loss.

Your other option is to gain another curse and defeat the followers running around the statue as they turn into demons. However, these are not too hard to beat. It was discovered that you could walk past this statue, thus not getting any curses or having an unnecessary fight.

Oo la la, the sights and sounds.

Liberté appears to be very attractive from its painting-like aesthetic. Being able to distinguish each main character with their art is wonderful. Nevertheless, when you get into the game properly, problems begin to show. There are parts of the map that are left completely blank.

You go through the identical French streets over and over, occasionally coming across a dungeon area and the café, but those areas are to speak with someone. Otherwise, even during the same run, you will see the same scenery multiple times. Sound-wise, the music is also incredibly repetitive; you are left with an excellent little piano sound when you enter “Flea’s antique market”.

Otherwise, it’s general atmospheric sounds, bells tolling, people mingling, and the sounds of a horse and carriage (though you never actually see a horse at any point in the game). The other disappointment is that the game starts being heavily voice-acted, and then as you continue, it all goes away.

Overall, Liberté does not stand out in the deck-building and roguelike genre. The game’s mix of strategy and card games is not done correctly. The fighting mechanics are too buggy, and the card system is unique and has promise, but it’s too erratic without being able to pause to change cards.

The narrative is initially captivating, but soon you’ll find yourself picking from the same choices but somehow having a different story aligned. It is not a decent game in its present condition. It could become an excellent or even fantastic game when the Superstatic team adds more material, develops some of their concepts, and further polishes what is now there.

Liberté Trailer

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