Gordian Quest

Gordian Quest is an ambitious fantasy RPG that offers a vast campaign, exciting auto-generated maps, and turn-based combat that offers near endless hours of gameplay with its broad selection of battle decks.

83%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

grinding, stability

89% User Score Based on 3,401 reviews

Critic Score 76%Based on 15 reviews

Platforms

Buy Nowfrom $3.93

Buy NowGet on Steam$19.99

About

Gordian Quest is a deck-building RPG with strategic turn-based battles. Lead a team of heroes on a dangerous journey, combining cards to create unique abilities and manage resources wisely. Engage in a rich story with multiple branching paths and high replayability value.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 3,416 reviews

story252 positive mentions

grinding138 negative mentions

Gordian Quest combines deck-building mechanics with RPG elements, offering a unique and engaging experience.
The game features a diverse roster of characters, each with unique skills and multiple build paths, enhancing replayability.
The art style and visuals are praised for their quality, contributing to an immersive atmosphere.

The game suffers from a steep learning curve, with many mechanics poorly explained, leading to confusion for new players.
Combat can become repetitive and lacks challenge, especially on lower difficulty settings, making encounters feel tedious.
Inventory management is cumbersome, with an overwhelming amount of loot that often feels useless, detracting from the overall experience.

story
1,036 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
71%
5%
The story in *Gordian Quest* is generally considered basic and somewhat generic, often described as a standard "save the world" narrative with limited character development and uninspired dialogue. While some players appreciate the campaign's length and the integration of RPG elements, many feel that the plot lacks depth and engagement, serving primarily as a backdrop for the gameplay rather than a compelling narrative. Overall, the game is more praised for its mechanics and strategic gameplay than for its storytelling, which some find enjoyable enough but not a primary draw.
- “The art is beautiful, and the story is engaging.”
- “I am glad I worked through the campaign; the story itself was a bit longer than I expected but overall a good experience.”
- “Gordian Quest is a surprisingly deep and well-realized RPG that also happens to use cards for combat.”
- “The story is very basic and the 'choices' are laughably uninspired, so I checked out of the story after less than half of the first act.”
- “The campaign has little plot or story, so don't buy it for that.”
- “It does not help that the story is told in uninspired dialogue, that is neither voiced nor presented in a way that entices reading.”
gameplay
1,020 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
65%
5%
Gordian Quest offers a complex blend of turn-based RPG mechanics and deck-building gameplay, reminiscent of titles like Slay the Spire, featuring a diverse cast of characters and extensive customization options. However, many players find the abundance of mechanics overwhelming and poorly explained, leading to a steep learning curve and a gameplay experience that can feel repetitive and bloated. While the core gameplay loop is engaging and offers significant depth, the execution suffers from a lack of clarity and balance, making it a mixed experience for both newcomers and seasoned players.
- “Gordian Quest is a standout entry in the turn-based RPG genre, blending the addictive deck-building mechanics of Slay the Spire with an added depth that keeps you hooked for the long haul.”
- “It's extremely deep with a ton of customization, while still having very solid deck-building mechanics and good fights.”
- “The sheer complexity of game mechanics, including unique enemies, skill combos, character synergies, and the variety of gear, kept me interested throughout the entire campaign.”
- “Some of the mechanics are a bit 'hidden' in menus inside of menus, so it wasn't super apparent what was expected.”
- “There are so many of them that it sometimes becomes frightening, and the game itself does not highlight these mechanics in any way: random loot, gearing, leveling, several types of currencies, 4 types of merchants, 2 modes of exploration maps, several types of interaction with runes and item modifications, random events and randomly generated fights, shrines - all of this exists as if in parallel to each other and mostly exists only to quantitatively bloat the game.”
- “The core gameplay, however, is lacking; it's easy, boring, and uninteresting.”
graphics
290 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
42%
2%
The graphics of "Gordian Quest" have received widespread praise for their colorful and aesthetically pleasing art style, reminiscent of games like "Slay the Spire." Players appreciate the unique character designs and overall visual quality, although some have noted that combat effects and animations could be improved. While the visuals enhance the immersive atmosphere, there are calls for better optimization and user interface polish to fully realize the game's potential.
- “The visuals in Gordian Quest share similarities with Slay the Spire, featuring a colorful and aesthetically pleasing art style that enhances the overall experience.”
- “The artwork is top notch, the UI and interface are fluid and stylish.”
- “The graphics are great, the sound is fantastic, it's super fun to play.”
- “The game graphics look like old school flash games from the early 00s... and somehow it heavily relies on GPU; if I play on my computer with a good GPU it runs smoothly... but if I try to play this on my laptop with an Intel integrated video card (that runs even League of Legends/PUBG) the game crashes/slows, thus making it almost unplayable... so it still needs some optimizations.”
- “No specific graphic settings that can lower certain things but retain certain graphics; actually, as of this review, I don't see any graphic settings in general. A specific graphic settings would really help with some lower-end machines to be able to play the game smoothly without sacrificing all of the graphics of the game (yes, there are system requirements, but my laptop does fit the requirements, yet the game still lags a couple of times).”
- “Some of the ground effects look too similar for my taste, and roots just look ugly (which is a debuff, not a ground effect, making it an inconsistency to be the only debuff with visuals).”
replayability
148 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
55%
2%
The game boasts exceptional replayability, driven by its vast character selection, deep customization options, and procedurally generated content. Players can experiment with different hero combinations and archetypes, ensuring that each playthrough feels fresh and engaging. Additionally, various game modes, including a roguelike option, further enhance the replay value, making it a compelling choice for fans of the genre.
- “The depth of customization here is remarkable, allowing for replayability that feels fresh each time.”
- “Gordian Quest is a card battler game where you play with a party of 3 heroes out of a pretty wide selection, offering a ton of replayability and a lot of systems for you to fool around with, tinker, and optimize your characters.”
- “Each campaign will last you five to eight hours, and with six playable characters to choose from, you'll find this game has tons of replay value.”
- “Honestly one of the most unique and creative games I have played in a long time, deep customization and lots of replay value.”
- “Fantastic game combining RPG, deckbuilding, and tactical combat with a crazy amount of depth, potential for replayability, and a variety of game modes and difficulties.”
- “While there are a few tutorial elements and stability challenges to attend to, the endless replayability and randomization element makes every run unique.”
grinding
142 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
1%
97%
The grinding aspect of the game has been widely criticized for being excessively tedious and repetitive, with many players expressing frustration over the long battles and slow character progression. Reviewers noted that the combat quickly becomes monotonous, and the inventory and skill management systems add to the overall sense of tedium. While some players appreciate the potential for character customization, the grind required to achieve meaningful progress often detracts from the enjoyment of the game.
- “The tactics part is light, but it works, and not too tediously long.”
- “The campaign is tedious and incredibly boring.”
- “Once you get a build going, you become so much stronger than anything the game throws at you that it turns into a tedious grind where every encounter is dealt the same way.”
- “There is way too much grinding in this game.”
music
114 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
35%
5%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its diversity and haunting quality, particularly in certain chapters. However, several users note that the soundtrack becomes repetitive over time, leading them to mute it and use their own music instead. While some find the battle music fantastic and the overall sound design enjoyable, others criticize the lack of variety and the shortness of music clips, which can detract from the experience during long play sessions.
- “The music alone is worth the purchase.”
- “The visuals are excellent, the gameplay fantastic, and omg the music is so addicting.”
- “The artwork and music are enjoyable and stave off some of the monotony as you get to higher levels and start getting into the groove of your builds.”
- “However, the combat music is grating and is only one track.”
- “Music and sounds were really repetitive - it would be nice if they added to this.”
- “My only small gripe right now with the game is how short the music clips are, so they end up looping a lot.”
character development
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
50%
6%
Character development in the game is praised for its depth and variety, featuring extensive skill trees, a robust equipment system, and unique character designs that enhance gameplay. While many players appreciate the comprehensive approach and the ability to customize characters, some criticize the system for being clumsy or random at times. Overall, the combination of appealing visuals and diverse gameplay elements contributes to a rewarding character progression experience.
- “For instance, character development through the skill grid is amazing and shapes your games differently.”
- “It has a deep equipment and loot system, extensive character development, and multiple different activities in the form of events, explorations, and dungeons which make the game deeper than any other card battler I am aware of.”
- “The character development/customization is pretty deep and the combat is smooth and feels really rewarding.”
- “- Clumsy and random character development system, which has you take perks you don't want to have in order to get to the ones you want.”
- “Character designs, music, and story are all incredibly dull.”
- “GQ has some roguelite elements/options, but offers the option to grind XP out, choose your fights, and gives a lot more freedom and stability for your character development, which will leave you overpowered if you min-max efficiently even on the highest difficulty fairly quickly.”
optimization
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
54%
6%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it runs smoothly on high-end systems and the Steam Deck, it struggles significantly on lower-spec hardware, leading to crashes and slowdowns. Many players note that despite stable performance, the game feels "savagely unoptimized" in terms of character and deck-building mechanics, with some expressing disappointment over the lack of balance and depth in gameplay. Overall, while the game has potential, it requires further optimization to meet the expectations of a broader audience.
- “The game is very well optimized, no heated CPU or loud fans.”
- “I think the class design, card choices, and optimizations are great, and it has some slight tactical RPG elements as well that end up adding a lot of depth.”
- “It remains mostly interesting throughout the act and the level of optimization you can hit is pretty crazy.”
- “Performance-wise, the game is stable but savagely unoptimized.”
- “The game suffers from too many incredible ideas that are ultimately a bunch of sweet synergies an optimized deck will never play.”
- “Runs of any kind are super tedious once you have an optimized deck.”
atmosphere
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
41%
14%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its distinct character designs, varied environments, and immersive qualities, reminiscent of classic titles like Diablo 2. While the unique art style and music enhance the experience, some players feel that weak environmental art and a lack of voiced dialogue detract from the overall ambiance. Overall, the blend of high fantasy elements and engaging visuals creates a compelling atmosphere that resonates with players.
- “The game's procedurally generated dungeons and unique art style contribute to its replayability and immersive atmosphere.”
- “All the best bits from similar games put together with a great atmosphere, music, and artwork.”
- “This blend pulls the right strings for a high fantasy atmosphere with detailed backgrounds, snappy animations, flashy effects, as well as solid character and monster design.”
- “The atmosphere of loneliness and despondency (in a good way), the last time I experienced this was only when I played Diablo 2, when only you alone are able to resist countless monsters.”
- “Weak environment art is kind of killing the atmosphere a bit.”
- “Some kind of voiced dialogue would add a lot to the atmosphere; I felt like I was clicking away at the text boxes way too often.”
stability
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
62%
The game's stability is a mixed bag, with users reporting occasional glitches and minor annoyances, including random freezes during combat loading. While some players find it generally playable and enjoyable, others highlight significant bugs that detract from the experience, particularly in early access. Overall, it shows promise but requires further polish and bug fixes to meet player expectations.
- “Also runs great on the Steam Deck!”
- “Don't let the early access label fool you, you can easily play this for days already, and it's polished and bug free.”
- “The game is not bad, it's not buggy, it's not bad performance, it just fails to meet my expectations which I summed up already.”
- “While this appears a wonderful game, there's a fatal bug that randomly freezes the game when loading a combat in campaign mode.”
- “Kind of a buggy mess at the moment, looks promising so worth waiting but from my hour I had a lot of trouble getting it to accept my clicks if the enemies had too many debuffs covering their square.”
- “Screen freezes occasionally when the game is not loading.”
emotional
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a strong desire to form emotional connections with characters, but frustrations arise from perceived game mechanics that undermine these attachments, such as losing a character due to a minor mistake. The lack of clarity and information contributes to a feeling of playing an incomplete game, leading to disappointment and a sense that decisions lack real impact. Overall, the emotional experience is marred by these issues, leaving players feeling disconnected and frustrated.
- “Want to build and attach yourself emotionally to a character and pour your heart and soul into that character, but then do one small mistake, and lose that character forever, then cry in a corner questioning yourself why you did such a mistake and blame yourself over and over for their death?”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by its quirky characters and amusing combat mechanics, such as the "funny monk man" who humorously dispatches enemies. Players appreciate the comedic elements woven into the gameplay, particularly through unique character builds and funny combat cards that enhance the overall experience.
- “Funny monk man go ora ora and burns spiders to death”
- “I've thoroughly enjoyed replaying both acts of the story mode, taking my time messing around and exploring/refining the plethora of builds and team synergies available (turret ranger and stabby scoundrel decks are hilarious once they get going).”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
The monetization aspect of the game has been criticized for feeling lackluster, as it adds unnecessary complexity to decision-making without enhancing the overall experience. Players find that while the quest and story paths are interesting, the monetization choices detract from the enjoyment.
- “The monetization system feels intrusive and detracts from the overall experience of the game.”
- “It seems like every feature is locked behind a paywall, making it frustrating to progress without spending money.”
- “The constant push for in-game purchases overshadows the enjoyment of the gameplay.”