Power Chord

Power Chord enters a very crowded genre, where simple competency is no longer enough to guarantee an audience. The title’s mechanics are good and fun and the metal theme is used well. But all its core ideas are safe and there’s no significant innovation in the card battles or the rogue structure. For players who love this type of game, the experience will be fine, as long as they are willing to put in the grinding time required to get the better cards and the extra characters. But I wanted Power Chord to be weirder and more innovative to build on the positive reaction it initially creates.

If you can get past its more grind-y elements, Power Chord can still be a fun deckbuilding roguelike game thanks to its impressive blend of influence that makes great use of its “Battle of the Bands” setup. It’s something for every headbanger to check out, as well as fans of the genre who don’t minds banging their heads against walls as they gradually chip down each tough demon in their path. Not exactly worthy of a Platinum record, but it can still be an enjoyable listen.

For now, I definitely think it is a great niche option for deckbuilding fans that love a challenge, and the strategy involved surely had me biting and coming around to look forward to trying more deck building games in the future.

Power Chord is a perfectly competent but entirely unexceptional roguelike deck builder. Once you take away the rock 'n' roll theme, it's pretty much another Slay the Spire clone that doesn't do enough to differentiate itself from the rest. It looks nice and plays well, but it doesn't stand out. If you've already burned through the other games in the genre and want something new, Power Chord will be the nice snack, but don't expect it to be a long-term engagement.