Zoeti

About

"Zoeti is a turn-based roguelike where a deck of playing cards is used to create card combos and activate skills in battle. The game takes place in a once peaceful land now overrun by monsters, and you, a Star-Soul hero, must protect devout townsfolk by cracking open the enemy's defenses and bolstering your arsenal of skills and upgrades. Overcome the evil plaguing your land and restore peace in Zoeti."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

59%

Audience ScoreBased on 180 reviews

gameplay16 positive mentions

replayability3 negative mentions

Innovative card mechanics that blend rogue-like elements with poker hands, providing a unique gameplay experience.
Beautiful anime-inspired art style and engaging character designs that enhance the overall aesthetic of the game.
Varied playstyles and multiple unlockable characters keep the gameplay fresh and encourage replayability.

Repetitive dialogue and a lackluster story that can detract from the overall experience; an auto-skip feature would be beneficial.
Cluttered UI and unintuitive controls, especially for controller users, making navigation and combat management frustrating.
Steep difficulty spikes and a punishing restart system can lead to player frustration, particularly for those unfamiliar with the mechanics.

story
123 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
80%
10%
The game's story is generally considered shallow and lacking depth, with many players finding the writing and dialogue to be subpar and repetitive. While some appreciate the potential for interesting character interactions and world-building, the forced progression and roguelike mechanics often detract from the narrative experience, leading to frustration when players must restart after failures. Overall, the story serves more as a backdrop to the gameplay rather than a compelling element, with many opting to skip it entirely.
- “The story aspect is conveyed through a visual novel with a light-hearted atmosphere, tongue-in-cheek humor, and well-drawn characters and pleasant backgrounds.”
- “This game is truly something special; it has many elements that are reminiscent of other deckbuilder roguelikes, but it has charming characters, an interesting story, and worldbuilding.”
- “Each time during a mission, you get to choose several paths, each one with unique encounters and rewards.”
- “The story writing is quite 'meh' and the fact that the nameplates for the characters don't update when you learn their names is a bad decision.”
- “If you lose/die during the story, what with this game being a roguelike, means you have to start the entire story over from scratch and it's aggravating.”
- “The forgettable story holds back the characters from being able to shine, and the cursed UI/UX problems hold back the player from effectively engaging with the game itself.”
gameplay
73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
71%
7%
The gameplay of Zoeti is characterized by its innovative blend of poker mechanics and rogue-like elements, offering a unique card-based combat system that encourages strategic planning and skill selection. While the core mechanics are engaging and provide a satisfying "one more run" loop, some players find the gameplay to be simplistic and repetitive, with a lack of depth in card interactions and unlocks. Overall, the game appeals to fans of deck-building and poker-style mechanics, but may not fully satisfy those seeking a more complex or varied experience.
- “Dive into a fresh take on deck-building with Zoeti, where strategy meets poker-style mechanics.”
- “The game's combat suggests an intriguing depth as you have to make decisions between the different moves with a poker ruleset meeting turn-based card RPG mechanics - a pretty novel approach away from the mana-based combat we’ve seen countless iterations on.”
- “A beautiful game that rides on a well-polished track of game mechanics that I could play for just one more run... forever.”
- “The poker mechanic keeps runs fresh initially, but the lack of variety in unlocks might bore seasoned players.”
- “The gameplay is therefore rather simple and repetitive.”
- “The gameplay however is lacking because it isn't very rewarding in terms of skill/relic synergies.”
graphics
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
50%
9%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising its beautiful anime-inspired art style and vibrant visuals, which enhance the overall experience. However, some users criticize the simplistic 2D art assets and lack of animations, describing them as lacking depth and detail. Overall, while the art style is charming and appealing to many, the graphics quality is seen as inconsistent, with some players feeling it resembles mobile-level visuals.
- “A beautiful anime-inspired art style with vibrant visuals.”
- “The artwork is beautiful and easy on the eyes.”
- “The visuals are very nice and pretty.”
- “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
- “Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the lackluster 2D visuals.”
- “The graphics are mobile phone level drawings with basically no animations; the sound effects are almost non-existent, and other effects don't really exist, either.”
music
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
50%
12%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many praising its charm and ability to complement the anime aesthetic, enhancing the overall experience. However, some players find the soundtrack repetitive and mismatched with the gameplay, noting a lack of variety in tracks, especially during key moments. Overall, while the music contributes positively to the atmosphere, its repetitiveness and occasional disconnect with game events are points of contention.
- “The soundtrack complements the anime aesthetic, with upbeat and dramatic tunes driving the rogue-like pace.”
- “Fun deck builder with a decent story and great music!”
- “The art and character designs are amazing, and the soundtrack fits perfectly with the overall bright atmosphere of the game.”
- “Music is alright, however repetitive.”
- “The dialog and music are not only generic and uninspired, but are completely mismatched with the art style and gameplay.”
- “I only heard 4-5 songs over the course of beating the story.”
character development
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
43%
The character development in the game is highlighted by its impressive art style and character designs, which are both visually appealing and innovative for the genre. While the designs are powerful and engaging, they complement rather than overshadow the gameplay mechanics, with witty dialogue adding an enjoyable layer to the experience. Overall, the characters contribute significantly to the game's atmosphere without detracting from its core mechanics.
- “It has beautiful art, character design, and demonstrates some novel ideas that the genre hasn't seen before.”
- “The art and character designs are amazing, and the soundtrack fits perfectly with the overall bright atmosphere of the game.”
- “Love the character designs, and the dialogue makes me smirk more times than I expected (cheeky, cheeky Rabelle).”
- “The character development feels shallow and lacks depth, making it hard to connect with the characters.”
- “I found the character arcs predictable and uninspired, leaving me wanting more complexity.”
- “Despite the appealing art style, the characters themselves feel one-dimensional and fail to evolve throughout the game.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
Overall, the game's replayability is considered moderate, with users noting that the story and gameplay loop lack uniqueness, leading to a diminished desire to explore the available options. Comparisons to other titles suggest that it may offer less content and replay value, particularly in the early stages of play.
- “🌌 Content & replay value”
- “🎮 Replay value: moderate”
- “The story itself is subpar, the gameplay loop isn't unique, and despite how many options they put in for replayability, I do not at all feel inclined to pursue them.”
- “Zoeti has a different art style and progression mechanisms, and my impression so far (just 2.3 hours played) is it may also be easier and have less content/replayability than PQ.”
- “Replay value: moderate.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's atmosphere is characterized by a light-hearted tone, enhanced by well-drawn characters and pleasant backgrounds. While some users feel the music and sound effects do not contribute significantly, the art and soundtrack align well with the overall bright ambiance, complemented by tongue-in-cheek humor.
- “The story aspect is conveyed through visual novels with a light-hearted atmosphere, tongue-in-cheek humor, well-drawn characters, and pleasant backgrounds.”
- “The art and character designs are amazing, and the soundtrack fits perfectly with the overall bright atmosphere of the game.”
- “The music and sound effects do not add to the atmosphere of the game.”
- “The story aspect is conveyed through visual novels with a light-hearted atmosphere, tongue-in-cheek humor, and well-drawn characters and pleasant backgrounds.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
Overall, users report no significant performance issues, but note that the user interface requires further refinement for improved navigation and overall optimization.
- “The settings and performance options are quite robust, allowing for a tailored gaming experience.”
- “The game could have been optimized better for an even smoother experience.”
- “No major performance issues, but the UI needs polish for smoother navigation.”
- “Could have been optimized better.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game becomes notably tedious by chapter 3, primarily due to cumbersome UI elements that complicate combat. The need to scroll through status effects adds to the frustration, making the overall experience feel messy and unappealing, especially when using a controller.
- “It's a bit too grindy when you get up to chapter 3.”
- “Having to scroll through the status effects box to find out about status effects on a unit is definitely the most awkward aspect, as it makes the combat tedious and unappealing.”
- “These are minor issues on top of the combat being messy, as the previously mentioned issues with the UI and status effects are only exacerbated on controller, making playing the game an even more tedious affair.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game exhibits stability issues, including glitches in the skills UI and typographical errors, suggesting a lack of polish and thorough testing despite being released over a year ago. These problems raise concerns about the overall programming quality and attention to detail.
- “I found some glitches in the skills UI (seems like when selecting the skills, the UI state is not in sync with the skills state or something similar) and there are some typos currently in weird places (like the protagonist's name, 'Valetina', which reads 'Valentina' in the trailer) which shows some lack of polish/testing or probably rushing for release, which is probably bad news for a game released more than one year ago.”
- “I don't know if that's because the programming is buggy or because something is obfuscated.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the emotional aspect of games like Slay the Spire, Monster Train, and Astrea to be engaging, as they present challenges that motivate perseverance rather than frustration, fostering a sense of determination and resilience.
- “Slay the Spire, Monster Train, and Astrea presented challenges but never made me feel like quitting.”