Nowhere Prophet

 PC
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 36 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 36
  3. Negative: 11 out of 36

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. The_Unrest_Cure
    Sep 23, 2020
    4
    Nowhere Prophet sounds like a great game on paper: roguelike card-battling strategy game in an interesting setting filled with tough choices ... but it falls so flat for so much promise. It attempts to channel some parts of games like Slay the Spire but badly misfires: like Slay the Spire you are saddled with cards that cost an increasing amount to remove from your deck. But unlike SlayNowhere Prophet sounds like a great game on paper: roguelike card-battling strategy game in an interesting setting filled with tough choices ... but it falls so flat for so much promise. It attempts to channel some parts of games like Slay the Spire but badly misfires: like Slay the Spire you are saddled with cards that cost an increasing amount to remove from your deck. But unlike Slay the Spire, the amount of cards that you start your deck with is too large to be wieldy and you find the use of some cards so counter-productive that using them is suicide. Why? Because your actual combat cards - your followers - can only die twice in combat before their card is REMOVED from your deck. So you find that the AI opponent specializes in attacking your cards rather than your character ... which is a hideously bad mechanic as the only way to acquire new followers is to spend the SAME CURRENCY you need to hoard to remove leader cards. Want to buy that Legendary card with great stats and wonderful combat buffs? Well, don't play him unless you are certain he won't die. Yes, you can heal your cards, but that mechanic is so rarely encountered in rest camps compared to the number of battles you fight (we did say this was a roguelike, right? So pretty much there are battles and bad things happening everywhere ... even after you beat the boss at the end of each chapter) that you pretty much have an endless churn of combat followers, which dilutes any strategic deck-building you may want to do. The price of combat is so high, so affecting, that it overwhelms the permadeath mechanic and instead just leaves you frustrated at how whimsical and brittle the system is. And that is on the easy difficulty. I'll freely admit I didn't even bother on harder difficulties. I couldn't glean much fun on the easy one, and that after several "lives" and new game starts after dying.
    The gist here is to "level" up and unlock new perks that increase your character's chance of survival, while simultaneously opening up new starting decks ("convoys") and higher powered buffs/de-buffs. And that I can appreciate. But unlike Slay the Spire, where you can learn to beat the bosses with minor modifications to your deck and even starting cards have some use, you will find enemies (particularly bosses) have a depth of cards that you would drool over. Buffs which you cannot acquire are played by your enemies 3 or 4 times ... sometimes in 1 turn. After many hours playing I realized the reason the enemies go after your followers rather than generally attacking you is that there decks are so much better they would wipe the floor with you if they actually played like a human. That level of gimping is simply ridiculous. You aren't meant to win. You are meant to grind. Slay the Spire allows you to craft a deck that is focused. Nowhere Prophet throws random cards at you and then kills a good portion of what you choose under the guise of being a roguelike. In a roguelike you are meant to learn the way to win by struggle. In Nowhere Prophet you only learn to delete the game.    … Expand
  2. Sdric
    Apr 20, 2021
    0
    Nowhere Prophet is a roguelike with nice visuals and solid effort put into dialogue choices, in the process the devs however forgot to think about replay-ability. The game lacks varied starting options, enemy types are few - and due to more or less RNG card acquisition, building dedicated archetype decks doesn't work. Yet, the game is easy enough to play it through in my first everNowhere Prophet is a roguelike with nice visuals and solid effort put into dialogue choices, in the process the devs however forgot to think about replay-ability. The game lacks varied starting options, enemy types are few - and due to more or less RNG card acquisition, building dedicated archetype decks doesn't work. Yet, the game is easy enough to play it through in my first ever attempt. It wasn't a bad experience, but I have no incentive to ever play it again - which makes me feel like this isn't a roguelike, but rather a relatively short adventure game.… Expand
  3. Odogg2210
    Apr 14, 2021
    0
    I desperately wanted to like this game, I saw it was on game pass and since game pass had other good card games like Monster Train and Slay the Spire I was excited. However I was met with a soul-crushingly hard game. And not fair like other difficult games but to the degree that it made the game unfun. For example after every area you complete you are met with a city, these cities are theI desperately wanted to like this game, I saw it was on game pass and since game pass had other good card games like Monster Train and Slay the Spire I was excited. However I was met with a soul-crushingly hard game. And not fair like other difficult games but to the degree that it made the game unfun. For example after every area you complete you are met with a city, these cities are the only places that you can heal and they have a 5 charge healing, and they cost food which you need to travel, and it heals your leader and cards separately. The thought of including a mechanic that deliberately makes you use your legendary cards less is dumb. Also the enemy attacks your followers even when it is smarter not to because they want to do this.… Expand
  4. Vesh--
    Mar 29, 2020
    0
    By far one of the worst games I've ever played. Completely unbalanced and overly hard even on the easiest mode.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Edge Magazine
    Aug 15, 2019
    50
    Defeat in Nowhere Prophet can be creeping, as your resources drain away, or sudden, as you fall victim to an unexpected combination of cards. Either way, it feels like playing against an opponent who overturns the table when they win, leaving you to gather up the spilled cards. It'll be another couple of hours before you have a deck that feels unique, before you escape the mire of enemies and text events you've seen a dozen times. It's enough to make you a sore loser. [Issue#336, p.118]
  2. Meristation
    Aug 9, 2019
    78
    Nowhere Prophet combines two very different genres: TCG and roguelike, to create a hybrid experience that surprises in how organic it feels. The card-based combat has depth and weight, and adds to the game a sense or permanent loss that feels great.
    Read full review
  3. Strategy Gamer
    Aug 6, 2019
    80
    I love the music, the electro-Indian soundtrack is so wonderfully unique and gives the journey such a magnificent texturing. The various factions with their distinctive styles, like the Blue Devils that voluntarily allow themselves to become infected and die young in order to become more powerful. Sharkbomb Studios have done fantastically to create a gameworld that feels unique to the point that I, even more than usual, want more games based on cultures outside the usual UK, US, Japan influence. And while I have harked on the gameplay, I actually really enjoy it up until the inevitable unfair fight that brings me to my old friend, the Game Over screen. It’s much like FTL. Yay, yay, yay, ooh close one, yay, no, what, stop it, bugger off, f*** this game, repeat.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »