CardLife

About

"CardLife is a massively multiplayer role-playing game set in a unique, hand-drawn cardboard world. Craft your own weapons, tools, and characters, and embark on adventures alone or with others. Explore community creations, defeat powerful creatures, and level up as you journey to the center of the island."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

+13

61%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,630 reviews

gameplay38 positive mentions

stability90 negative mentions

Unique and creative customization system allows players to draw and shape their tools, weapons, and buildings.
Charming cardboard aesthetic that sets it apart from other survival games.
Fun gameplay experience, especially when played with friends.

Game is plagued with bugs and glitches, including falling through the map and enemies teleporting.
Developers have abandoned the game, leading to a lack of updates and support.
Single player mode requires an internet connection, making it unplayable for some users.

gameplay
109 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
57%
8%
The gameplay of the game is characterized as a mix of crafting, exploration, and survival mechanics, but it suffers from a lack of depth and polish, leading to a repetitive and sometimes frustrating experience. While the innovative drawing mechanics and customizable elements are praised, many players find the core gameplay loop shallow, with numerous bugs and poorly designed mechanics detracting from the overall enjoyment. Overall, the game shows potential but feels unfinished and in need of significant improvements to its systems and content.
- “The gameplay is fun, although the amount of content, gameplay quality, and number of minor bugs would be what you would expect from an early access game, early in its life and certainly not a true 1.0 version.”
- “The survival gameplay and core mechanics are easy to learn and are rewarding at the least.”
- “The presence of a quest system to incentivize players in trying new items, finding new materials, and exploring to defeat stronger enemies is a well-thought-out mechanic.”
- “Core gameplay elements just don't work, like setting your respawn point with beds or enchanting (after you enchant something it just becomes bugged and not draggable in your inventory).”
- “First of all, the gameplay formula is very basic, and does not expand beyond the minimal gameplay loop for this genre, with a limited amount of quests being the only diversion besides looting and crafting: no character leveling, no skills, no secrets to find, no unique equipment, enemies or bosses, in short there aren't any features beyond the strict minimum.”
- “At one point, this game may have had potential, but the lack of content and the poorly designed mine/dungeon system, horrible NPC AI and repetitive gameplay ruined it.”
graphics
100 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
46%
4%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players praising the unique cardboard art style and vibrant visuals that enhance the overall aesthetic. However, some users have reported performance issues, bugs, and a lack of customizable graphic settings, which detracts from the experience. Overall, while the graphics are generally considered appealing and innovative, they are marred by technical shortcomings and inconsistencies.
- “The visuals are amazing and the characters and things look amazing with the cardboard design.”
- “Love the game, the graphics capture the cardboard world perfectly, and gameplay is pretty straightforward.”
- “The graphics are actually really good, chunk loading even on max settings can get your frames down and actually runs worse than with the default settings, the style of the game is great and kid-friendly.”
- “The art direction is not mixed in theme for the most part, except for gems, which are not cardboard, and do absolutely clash with the overall aesthetic (which makes me wonder if that was an asset pack).”
- “Its as buggy as Ark with less content and worse graphics.”
- “No in-game display/graphics options, fail!”
stability
91 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
99%
The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and incomplete features, leading many players to describe it as a "buggy mess." Users note frequent crashes, visual glitches, and issues with gameplay mechanics, indicating that the game feels abandoned and lacks ongoing support from developers. While some players find enjoyment in the gameplay despite these issues, the overall consensus is that the game's stability is severely lacking, making it difficult to recommend.
- “The game runs smoothly without any major bugs, which is a refreshing change.”
- “I appreciate how stable the gameplay is; I haven't encountered any crashes.”
- “Unlike other games I've played, this one maintains a solid performance throughout.”
- “Devs left this game a long time ago before it was even half finished, buyer beware - too many bugs/glitches now.”
- “The game is buggy and won't even load half the time.”
- “This game is a laggy, buggy mess with zero playability.”
story
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
83%
6%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth and meaningful content, with many players noting the absence of a compelling narrative or engaging quests. While there are some basic quests available, they often feel generic and fail to provide a sense of progression or challenge, leading to a monotonous gameplay experience. Overall, players express a desire for more substantial storylines and quest structures to enhance their engagement and enjoyment.
- “Without any story incipit, players will find themselves stranded on a remote island and from there their quest for survival starts, having to build equipment and shelter from scratch, while fighting or avoiding the island's creatures.”
- “The presence of a quest system to incentivize players in trying new items, finding new materials, and exploring to defeat stronger enemies is a well-thought-out mechanic.”
- “Cardlife is very open-ended as far as game direction goes, the tutorial as a string of mini quests that lays out the game before you but doesn't seem forced on the player.”
- “You have nothing else to do... no other quests or anything to do, so it really gets boring.”
- “In general, quests are generic and dull and are just there to give players something to do.”
- “No content - the game has no real content... like at all... tons of mobs... tons of loot... but nothing to actually do besides grind for the next tier of gear... no missions... no monuments/dungeons... nothing.”
optimization
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
30%
55%
Overall, the game's optimization is widely criticized, with players reporting frequent crashes, long loading times, and significant frame rate drops even on high-end systems. While some improvements have been noted, many feel that the game remains poorly optimized and filled with bugs, making it difficult to recommend until further updates are made. The consensus is that substantial optimization is needed for a smoother experience, especially for players with less powerful PCs.
- “The performance has improved by a massive amount and many of the game-breaking bugs have been patched out.”
- “Bear in mind, by the time I submitted this review, the game is in early access; it's currently not performance-wise, and a lot of optimizations are required in which games like this, optimization plays a big role.”
- “The largest problem at the moment is performance, with high-end systems dropping FPS like crazy along with laggy servers and an 'offline' mode that allows you to play alone, but you still need to be connected to the internet, therefore you still receive server latency, making it hard to fight and dodge attacks.”
- “If this game were a bit more stable and filled out, I could consider it one of the better games on Steam, but it ultimately falls short. I didn't explore much of the world, but I can say that it's still pretty empty. From what I've learned, it has been like that since the beginning. Granted, it has been filled out slightly more with the creatures added, but it's just still not enough. Within 16 minutes of playing, I experienced a ton of loading times as well as a crash for genuinely no reason other than the fact the game has very poor optimization.”
- “The game is promising at the start, but got abandoned after half or maybe one year from the start. It's really disappointing, with no players and the devs leaving it to die. Sadly, it's really not worth buying; it's full of glitches and badly optimized, with not too much content, making it feel like a half-made game.”
- “Currently, the game needs to be better optimized and requires a significant amount of bug fixes. I recommend not buying it yet.”
grinding
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
85%
Players consistently find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and time-consuming, particularly due to the lack of farming mechanics and the excessive effort required to gather basic resources like wood. The absence of essential features such as renewable resources and balanced crafting recipes contributes to a frustrating experience, making progression feel slow and laborious. Overall, while the game has appealing elements, the grinding can detract significantly from enjoyment.
- “In survival mode, gathering materials takes a long time as there is no farming, and in creative mode, you can't fly, meaning that it would take a really long time to build anything on a large scale.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Planting and farming would be nice, and mounts maybe.”
- “In survival mode, gathering materials takes a long time as there is no farming, and in creative mode, you can't fly, meaning that it would take a really long time building anything on a large scale.”
- “There is a lot of grinding as well, but not in a smart way; for example, trees, which are vastly available, require a lot of work to gather just a few units, and you will need a ton of wood for most of the items.”
- “The game doesn't have basic features for farming, like saplings and seeds for growing my own wood and food, so you will have to wait for trees to respawn by themselves.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the overall atmosphere and find the sound effects and music pleasing, others criticize it as mediocre and lacking in ambience, with some even opting to mute the soundtrack entirely.
- “My son said he likes the graphics and the music.”
- “Overall the music is great, the overall atmosphere is great... I really like the concept.”
- “The sound effects and music are very pleasing.”
- “But I find it lacks in ambience, especially since there isn't much music.”
- “All I can remember when it comes to music was mediocre; the same goes for sound effects.”
- “The sound effects and music are very pleasing, but in the end, I ended up muting the soundtrack.”
humor
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by its cute and quirky details, offering a lighthearted take on the survival genre. Players appreciate the amusing elements, such as silly character creations and whimsical tools, though some find the humor short-lived and overshadowed by gameplay issues. Overall, the game is seen as entertainingly funny, particularly for fans of similar titles.
- “For me as a big fan of games like Minecraft, this is a cute new game with funny details.”
- “It's a funny spin on the survival style game.”
- “Funny seeing how others make themselves and make their tools.”
monetization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
83%
The monetization strategy of the game has drawn significant criticism, with many players perceiving it as a cash grab by the developers, especially given their history with a previous title. While some users feel the game's price is justified by its content, the overall sentiment leans towards disappointment, with accusations of poor support and a lack of genuine investment in the game's longevity.
- “The game price corresponds to what it offers without any additional in-app purchases.”
- “I appreciate that the monetization model is fair and doesn't pressure players to spend more.”
- “The game provides a great experience without relying heavily on microtransactions.”
- “This game had a pretty amazing concept, it's like Rec Room and Minecraft decided to band together, but one thing I noticed that kind of sucked was the devs. I don't naturally like talking smack about devs, but being a Robocraft veteran (the previous game these devs made) almost made it seem like a cash grab for some extra funds, as they abandoned Robocraft a few years after it was made, then made it free when players complained about the lack of support (which felt like a backstab).”
- “Just used as a cash grab now.”
- “This was a poor cash grab attempt by the devs to make some easy money.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
Overall, the game offers good replay value, though some players feel that in-game progression and achievements may diminish the fun by providing items that reduce the challenge. However, many agree that the game remains enjoyable and can be refreshed with each playthrough.
- “Good replay value it seems, but I'll have to put in more time!”
- “Replayability for freshening every game.”
- “So nearly all games are playable on maximum pleasure.”
- “In-game progression doesn't provide much replay value, as the achievements grant items that, in my opinion, diminish some of the fun.”
- “Replayability is lacking; it feels like every game is played to its maximum potential without much incentive to revisit.”
- “The replayability aspect is minimal, making it hard to find new enjoyment in each playthrough.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
50%
The atmosphere of the game is generally praised for its great music and intriguing concept, but some users feel that certain elements detract from the overall experience, making it feel less polished and almost like a free game.
- “The music is fantastic, and the overall atmosphere is immersive; I really appreciate the concept.”
- “The game's atmosphere draws you in completely, making every moment feel unique and engaging.”
- “The combination of visuals and sound creates a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere that stays with you long after playing.”
- “All of this really ruins the entire atmosphere and makes Cardlife feel cheap, almost as if it should be a free game.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users have expressed frustration with the character development feature, specifically noting the lack of an option to redo character design after accidentally exiting the customization menu. This limitation detracts from the overall experience of personalizing characters.
- “I accidentally pressed Esc during the character design phase.”
- “There is no option to redo character design.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Users express that the emotional impact of the game evokes a sense of overwhelming responsibility and sacrifice, likening the act of creating from stone to the monumental task of dismantling a mountain.
- “Creating anything out of stone made me feel as if I needed to raze an entire mountain.”
- “The emotional depth of the characters left me in tears by the end of the game.”
- “I felt a profound connection to the story, as it resonated with my own experiences and emotions.”