CardLife

About

CardLife is a single player and multiplayer role playing game. It was developed by Freejam and was released on February 28, 2019. It received neutral reviews from players.

"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

Skip User Reviews

60%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,715 reviews

gameplay37 positive mentions

stability90 negative mentions

Unique concept with customizable crafting and character design.
Fun gameplay that allows for creativity and exploration.
Charming art style and engaging mechanics.

Game is abandoned and lacks updates, leading to numerous bugs.
Single player requires an internet connection, making it unplayable offline.
Combat mechanics are clunky and unbalanced, with many enemies being overly aggressive.

gameplay
105 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
57%
8%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it fun yet flawed, often describing it as clunky and buggy. While the innovative crafting and customization mechanics are praised, the overall experience is marred by a lack of depth, repetitive tasks, and poorly designed systems, leading to a sense of frustration among players. Many reviewers suggest that the game feels unfinished and would benefit from further development and polish to enhance its core mechanics and gameplay variety.
- “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 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.”
- “The survival gameplay and core mechanics are easy to learn and are rewarding at the least.”
- “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
99 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
47%
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 noted issues with distant graphics quality, performance problems, and a lack of customizable graphic settings, which can detract from the experience. Overall, while the art direction is generally well-received, technical glitches and optimization concerns remain a common point of criticism.
- “The visuals are amazing and the characters and things look incredible with the cardboard design.”
- “I love the game; the graphics capture the cardboard world perfectly, and gameplay is pretty straightforward.”
- “The world is beautiful to exist within, and the cardboard isn't just an aesthetic thing; it's genius.”
- “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 heavily criticized, with numerous users reporting persistent bugs, glitches, and incomplete features, leading to a frustrating experience. Many players note that the game feels abandoned by its developers, resulting in a lack of updates or fixes for the issues. While some find enjoyment in the gameplay despite these problems, the overwhelming consensus is that the game is not worth purchasing in its current state due to its instability and unfinished nature.
- “The game runs smoothly without any major bugs, which is a refreshing change.”
- “I haven't encountered any stability issues; everything works as it should.”
- “The performance is solid, making for a seamless gaming experience.”
- “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
49 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
84%
6%
The game's story 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 and a crafting system, they often feel generic and fail to provide a satisfying progression, leading to a sense of boredom and frustration. Overall, players express a desire for more substantial story elements and quest variety to enhance the gameplay experience.
- “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.”
- “Age old story of developers making promises, dropping those promises, and now we are left with a useless paperweight.”
- “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.”
grinding
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
84%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and frustrating, particularly due to the lack of farming mechanics and the high resource requirements for basic crafting. Gathering materials, especially wood, is seen as a laborious task that detracts from the overall experience, with many feeling that the game could benefit from more streamlined systems and additional features to reduce the grind. Overall, the consensus is that while the game has potential, the current grinding mechanics make it feel slow and cumbersome.
- “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.”
optimization
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
31%
53%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with users reporting significant performance issues, including low frame rates, glitches, and long loading times. While some improvements have been noted, many players feel that the game is poorly optimized overall, especially for lower-end PCs, and recommend waiting for further updates before purchasing. Despite its potential, the current state leaves much to be desired in terms of stability and performance.
- “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 optimized, 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.”
- “The game is glitchy, not optimized, slow, and worst of all, dead.”
- “It has a lot of potential, but hasn't been optimized very well and your hosted game will suddenly crash at random.”
- “Game is poorly optimized and the depth of progression is bad.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the overall atmosphere and find the sound effects pleasing, others criticize the music 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 feel the humor may wear thin quickly. Overall, the game is seen as entertaining and funny, but not without its technical issues.
- “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 aspect of the game has drawn significant criticism, with many users perceiving it as a cash grab by the developers, especially given their history with previous titles. Players express frustration over the lack of support and quality, suggesting that the game feels like a poorly executed attempt to generate quick revenue. However, some users note that the game's price aligns with its offerings, indicating no additional in-app purchases are required.
- “The game price corresponds to what it offers without further in-app purchases.”
- “I appreciate that the monetization model is fair and doesn't pressure players to spend more.”
- “The optional purchases enhance the experience without being necessary to enjoy the game.”
- “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 negatively about developers, but as a veteran of Robocraft (the previous game these devs made), it almost seemed like a cash grab for some extra funds. 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.”
- “This was a poor cash grab attempt by the devs to make some easy money.”
- “Just used as a cash grab now.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
60%
Overall, reviews indicate mixed feelings about replayability; while some players find good replay value and enjoy the potential for fresh experiences, others feel that in-game progression and achievements diminish the incentive to replay. A few users express disappointment, suggesting that the lack of engaging content may limit long-term enjoyment.
- “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.”
- “Nearly all games are playable at maximum enjoyment.”
- “Replayability is needed to refresh the experience of every game.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a deep emotional connection to the game's mechanics, with actions like crafting from stone evoking feelings of monumental effort and sacrifice, akin to the daunting task of razing 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 a lasting impact on me.”
- “I felt a profound connection to the story that resonated with my own experiences.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
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 akin to a free game.
- “Overall, the music is great, and the atmosphere is fantastic. I really like the concept.”
- “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 screen. This limitation detracts from the overall experience of personalizing characters.
- “I accidentally pressed Esc during the character design part.”
- “There is no option to redo character design.”