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Nowhere Prophet

Nowhere Prophet is a unique and thoughtful single-player deckbuilding card game set in a fascinating Indofuturistic world. It features compelling convoy management with hints of The Oregon Trail, and a highly innovative 'living card' mechanic.
Nowhere Prophet Game Cover
77%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
grinding, optimization
71% User Score Based on 782 reviews
Critic Score 83%Based on 8 reviews

Platforms

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Nowhere Prophet Game Cover

About

Nowhere Prophet is a single player tactical role playing game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Sharkbomb Studios and was released on July 19, 2019. It received positive reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

Nowhere Prophet is a single-player card game set in a beautifully strange, post-apocalyptic world. Assemble a convoy, engage in tactical combat, and manage resources to survive across procedurally generated maps. With over 300 cards, multiple classes, and an Indian-infused electronica soundtrack, each playthrough brings new challenges and decisions in your search for a new hope among the ruins.

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
Nowhere Prophet screenshot
+5
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71%
Audience ScoreBased on 782 reviews
gameplay97 positive mentions
grinding22 negative mentions
  • Unique and engaging gameplay mechanics that combine deckbuilding with resource management.
  • Beautiful art style and atmospheric soundtrack that enhance the overall experience.
  • Challenging yet rewarding, with a strong sense of progression through unlocking new leaders and convoys.
  • Permadeath of follower cards can lead to frustrating losses and limits deckbuilding options.
  • AI can feel unbalanced, often having perfect counters to player strategies.
  • Runs can be lengthy, and a single bad encounter can ruin hours of progress.
  • gameplay
    310 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of "Nowhere Prophet" is a complex blend of deck-building, tactical combat, and resource management, featuring unique mechanics such as card permadeath and a "wound" system that adds strategic depth but can also lead to frustration. While many players appreciate the engaging core mechanics and the game's artistic presentation, others criticize the steep learning curve, repetitive elements, and balance issues that can detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game offers a challenging and innovative take on the genre, appealing to those who enjoy strategic gameplay but may not be suitable for everyone due to its punishing mechanics.

    • “The gameplay of Nowhere Prophet is a mix between survival management and a roguelike deckbuilder.”
    • “The core gameplay loop of deck-building, resource management, and combat remains engaging throughout, with increasing difficulty keeping players challenged.”
    • “Great game, interesting mechanics, good art, but sometimes a little too far on the frustrating side regarding some of the starting decks, occasional unpredictability and 'there was nothing I could do' from opponents.”
    • “The gameplay, which I had hoped would offer challenging and engaging survival mechanics, instead felt repetitive and tedious.”
    • “Nothing about its mechanics draws you in, and it doesn't foster exciting synergies like the best of the genre.”
    • “The wounded card mechanic often drains your deck of cards faster than it's possible to replace them.”
  • graphics
    127 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising its unique and vibrant art style inspired by Indian culture, which adds a refreshing aesthetic to the genre. While some players find the visuals beautiful and well-integrated with the gameplay, others criticize them as simplistic or lacking in detail, suggesting that the graphics may not meet the expectations of more seasoned gamers. Overall, the art style is often highlighted as a standout feature, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere and storytelling.

    • “The aesthetic of the game world is inspired by Indian culture, something that is very rare in the gaming world and a welcome change to the usual depiction of Western culture.”
    • “The art style is incredible and the gameplay is unique!”
    • “The game has a fantastic aesthetic, and is one of the very few I've seen with a lean on eldritch-technomancy.”
    • “The visuals, while serviceable, didn’t do much to add to the experience.”
    • “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic low-quality vector art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
    • “Considering this is being evaluated as a PC game, having the graphics phoned in like this isn't going to result in a high quality, visually impressive game that PC gamers are used to seeing.”
  • story
    123 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in this deckbuilding game is set in a post-apocalyptic world where players assume the role of a "technopath" navigating through a technologically collapsed landscape. While the narrative is praised for its depth and unique atmosphere, many players find it repetitive and lacking in variety across multiple playthroughs, leading to a sense of boredom with the text prompts. Overall, the game combines engaging storytelling with strategic gameplay, but some players feel that the story could benefit from more dynamic elements and clearer communication of game mechanics.

    • “The story is deep, compelling, and profoundly different from the usual sci-fi dystopia.”
    • “This game has a lot to offer - atmosphere, interesting decisions, story events, deck building, tactical combat.”
    • “The game also has something else, something I was not expecting from a roguelite: a truly wonderful story and world, built through the events and factions you fight, recruit followers from, and bargain with for supplies on your perilous journey to the fabled crypt.”
    • “I feel a distinct lack of agency when playing the game on the hardest difficulty and a lack of challenge when playing the lower difficulty, leading to overall boredom and sluggishness with the repetitive story prompts.”
    • “Many of the story parts are also repeated, making for boring walls of text in an already grinding card game.”
    • “The journey to that goal - reaching a mystical AI satellite that crashed on the earth - was very interesting in the first playthrough, but I didn't feel like anything new gets added to the story in subsequent runs.”
  • music
    77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising its ability to enhance the atmosphere and complement the art style, creating an engaging experience. While some players find the soundtrack captivating and fitting for the game's setting, others describe it as underwhelming or forgettable. Overall, the art and music are frequently highlighted as standout features, contributing significantly to the game's ambiance and immersion.

    • “The synthwave soundtrack has a hypnotizing, timeless effect, and it complements perfectly everything that happens on the screen.”
    • “The art and music are superb, with a flavorful twist that firmly puts them in the world that was built.”
    • “The music feels right in every scenario and the art and transitions are beautiful and flowing.”
    • “I was hoping for a soundtrack that would complement the world and heighten the tension, but instead, it felt underwhelming and forgettable.”
    • “On the contrary, the music (few) and sound effects, even though appropriate to the game world, didn't impress me.”
    • “It's also hurting for options beyond music and SFX volume sliders.”
  • replayability
    58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers a high level of replayability, enhanced by various modes, modifiers, and unlockable content that encourage multiple playthroughs. While some players find the replay value diminishes over time due to repetitive encounters, many appreciate the depth and variability in strategy, making each run feel unique. Overall, it is praised for its engaging mechanics and potential for long-term enjoyment, particularly for fans of deck-building and rogue-like genres.

    • “The game has good replayability, also thanks to a couple of extra modes featuring custom modifiers.”
    • “The intense strategic nature of combat and RPG elements combined with the procedurally generated branching paths and decision-making give this game a real depth of play and a ton of replayability.”
    • “The combat has a lot of tactical depth, and between all the different convoy follower cards, leaders and their abilities, tons of different equipment to find, and map randomness, every run can feel different and the game has very high replayability because of it.”
    • “Only replayable a few times before it gets stale, but I really enjoyed the first fifty or hundred hours; after that, I spent another equal amount of time just exploring the various options.”
    • “The main con is the lack of mechanics that would support replayability - in other games, you have ascension levels and dailies, here you just have three difficulties, some stuff to unlock during initial gameplays, and that's it; achievements are also not very motivating.”
    • “I'm not sure how much replay value it will have over the long term as the bosses and quest hub areas are the same each time, but there are a few new factions and heroes to unlock, so that will give some replayability.”
  • grinding
    23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, often detracting from the enjoyment of gameplay and story. Many reviews highlight that unlocking features and achieving goals requires excessive grinding, which can lead to a frustrating experience. While some appreciate the meta progression system, the general consensus is that the grind feels uninspired and detracts from the game's potential for engaging mechanics and lore.

    • “The resource management is important, but not tedious.”
    • “Grinding in this game feels rewarding and keeps me engaged.”
    • “I love how the grind leads to meaningful progression and enhances my overall experience.”
    • “The gameplay, which I had hoped would offer challenging and engaging survival mechanics, instead felt repetitive and tedious.”
    • “Every fight is a tedious process of picking off the endless stream of enemy units while trying to grind down the actual leaders' HP.”
    • “Its a slow, grinding, difficult game that encourages ending battles ASAP rather than playing your cards and auto-skipping the numerous walls of text, essentially, the game hurts itself by making the player seek to avoid its two main components of combat and learning the lore.”
  • atmosphere
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its stunning art design, immersive music, and rich lore, creating a captivating and stylish experience. Reviewers highlight the seamless integration of these elements with gameplay, enhancing the overall enjoyment and replayability. Despite some criticisms of gameplay mechanics, the atmospheric setting remains a standout feature that draws players in.

    • “Great atmosphere, lore, descriptions of everything, music and art design on top of the mechanics.”
    • “The art is gorgeous, the atmosphere is punk and the gameplay is slick: everything you touch reacts with a very satisfying speed and the matches are fast and intense.”
    • “The game is brilliant: atmospheric, stylish, challenging and highly replayable!”
    • “The atmosphere, the storytelling, the attachment you get to every single one of your cards, things I absolutely adore, and make me want to push through the annoying parts; however, the bad parts of this game just make it hard to enjoy.”
    • “The story, the atmosphere, the music, everything flows well, sound effects are really cool, art style is unique, the battles can be fun, but the game, in my humble opinion, wants to be more than it is.”
    • “However, the core gameplay, the feel/atmosphere, the polish, and seamlessness of the user experience leave much to be desired.”
  • humor
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players appreciate the humor in the game, noting its lightheartedness and comedic elements that enhance the experience. While some comparisons to other games highlight a lack of humor in combat, the overall sentiment is that the game successfully incorporates funny moments and encourages a fun, engaging journey.

    • “It'll sound funny, but this game is a nice kick in the pants that says 'hey, don't get complacent.'”
    • “And easy is just that - laughingly easy.”
    • “I like story, friends to make my journey funny.”
  • optimization
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game's optimization is praised for its solid performance, quick load times, and minimal bugs, contributing to an enjoyable experience. The gentle difficulty curve encourages experimentation, while the aesthetic consistency enhances the gameplay. Players appreciate the blend of tactical and deck-building elements, likening it to other well-regarded titles in the genre.

    • “Performance was superb with really quick load times, a nice art style and setting with fun gameplay.”
    • “Artwork is nice and aesthetically consistent with rock solid performance and few if any bugs so far (have yet to have any issues 30ish hours in.)”
    • “The initially gentle difficulty curve appears to allow experimentation prior to the inevitable need to focus on tighter/smaller builds with optimized synergy.”
    • “I was designing an adventure optimization deck-building tactical-puzzle game I'd love: a thinking artist's hybrid of my favorites (Banner Saga, This War of Mine, Mini Metro, Niche, Neoscavenger, Unreal World, Slay the Spire, Darkest Dungeon, and Battle Brothers when I can stand the gore), but I stopped, because Nowhere Prophet is that game, and without the animated violence.”
  • stability
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users express frustration over the game's stability, highlighting significant bugs that detract from the overall experience, especially considering the price point of $20.

    • “How do people pay 20 bucks for games that are so buggy?”
    • “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable.”
    • “I experienced constant lag and glitches that ruined the experience.”
  • emotional
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players highlight that the game's choices and their consequences significantly enhance the emotional depth of the narrative, making each decision feel impactful. The blend of resource management and tactical gameplay not only engages players strategically but also resonates on an emotional level, as they navigate the challenges faced by their followers.

    • “These choices, along with the consequences they carry, add weight and emotional depth to the narrative.”
    • “When you're not scouring through the intricacies of resources and leading your followers across harsh landscapes, you're tactically weighing every small cost, every attack, in a way that's both strategically and emotionally meaningful.”
  • character development
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development is effectively conveyed through simplistic designs that reflect the characters' personalities and desperation, enhanced by a limited color palette that underscores the oppressive atmosphere and themes of scarcity.

    • “The limited color palette emphasizes the oppressive heat and ever-present threat of scarcity, while character designs manage to convey personality and desperation despite their simplistic appearance.”
  • monetization
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization model is praised for its absence of microtransactions, allowing players to enjoy the game mechanics reminiscent of classic titles like old school Magic: The Gathering without any additional financial barriers.

    • “No microtransactions, just the great game mechanics I remember from old school Magic: The Gathering.”
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83%Critics’ scoreBased on 8 critic reviews
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27h Median play time
82h Average play time
15-100h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 11 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Nowhere Prophet is a tactical role playing game with science fiction theme.

Nowhere Prophet is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac OS, PlayStation 4 and others.

The main story can be completed in around 6 hours. On average players spend around 82 hours playing Nowhere Prophet.

Nowhere Prophet was released on July 19, 2019.

Nowhere Prophet was developed by Sharkbomb Studios.

Nowhere Prophet has received positive reviews from players and positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

Nowhere Prophet is a single player game.

Similar games include Wildfrost, Trials of Fire, Knock on the Coffin Lid, Gordian Quest, Beneath Oresa and others.