Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a great JRPG with a very eye-catching visual style. The experience is full of quality, and it is a good introduction to Yoko Taro's creative mind.

If you’re looking for an enjoyable RPG with some novel ideas and strong presentation behind it, Voice of Cards can easily eat up a weekend or two. It’s sweet and doesn’t overstay its welcome, even when I wished it would. While those factors aren’t enough for it to match up against the best-in-class competitors, there are many worse ways to spend a cozy fall evening than curled up with Voice of Cards.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a comfy little game with a nostalgic vibes for an old era of jRPG-genre, unique visuals and great music. Not revolutionary or thought-provoking, but good enough to spend a couple of evenings with, in between other gaming releases.

The strongest aspect of the game, however, is its storytelling, both in the main narrative and the smaller human stories seeded throughout the world. It may feel familiar if you’ve experienced other titles by creative director Yoko Taro : you can expect macabre character stories and moments that recontextualise the game’s events in dramatic ways. If there’s a reason to tolerate the parts that feel sluggish, it’s the story’s shocking third act and hidden endings, which deliver narrative payoff to the mysteries and moral quandaries you’ve encountered up to that point. This is a slow burn in every sense of the word, but offers a lot for those who stick with it. [Issue#8, p.94]

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars may be simple, but it does a fantastic job of delivering a card game RPG hybrid that’s an absolute delight to play. Its aesthetic is second-to-none, its storytelling is excellent (largely due to Haberkorn’s fantastic narration), and its gameplay is deeply satisfying thanks to character development, rewarding exploration and engaging battles. If you’d like an RPG experience that differs from the norm, Square Enix has nailed it once again.

But those who take a chance on Voice of Cards might be surprised. Its tabletop style is endearing and a testament to the idea that gripping adventure transcends the need for cinematic cutscenes. Voice of Cards puts the "game" back in "role-playing game" in fun, compelling, and thoughtful ways that will delight players throughout their time with it.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is like a cozy D&D-session on a dreary Autumn evening. The all-knowing and ever talking narrator takes you on an engaging adventure that unfolds according to the luck of the draw. Your own fantasy, and the immaculate writing from Nier-creator Yoko Taro take care of the rest.

Voice of Cards mixed JRPG's and board games' elements to offer a fun pretty unique experience. It is improvable in and far from perfect, but its originality and world deserve appreciation.

While Voice of Cards does stumble in spots, it shines as a brilliantly told story that successfully replicates the feeling of the best tabletop gaming sessions, with a game master whose engaging voice carries much of the emotion and tension required to make the setup work. While it certainly won't be for everyone, Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a beautiful title well worth a look from any roleplaying fan, and an example of how excellent design can breathe life into any game with enough to say about its world and its heroes.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars provides a gratifying experience with a distinct presentation, delightful soundtrack, and remarkable storytelling stellarly utilizing its tabletop context. Even when accounting for its lack of challenge and questionable character focus, it still manages to be a welcoming turn-based RPG any intrigued party can dive into without fear of obstruction.

Yoko Taro's storytelling is laid out on the table in a card-based adventure that'll appeal to tabletop and JRPG fans alike in Voice of Cards.

The great story, wonderful atmosphere and decent soundtrack make for a worthwhile experience, though the limited and unchallenging gameplay keep Voice of Cards from reaching the lofty heights it aims for.

Still, I hesitate to recommend Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars to anyone other than Yoko Taro enthusiasts or players looking for a streamlined introduction to turn-based RPGs. The game is far too short, simple, and easy to maintain your attention for long, and its plot remains unmoving well beyond the point at which you’re likely to lose interest. Nonetheless, its compelling late-game narrative, charming graphical style, and superb score leave me cautiously optimistic about what a sequel can bring to the table. I just hope that the next time this dragon lands, it has learned lessons from its first, flawed foray.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars cloaks a very traditional JRPG in an alluring tabletop veneer. Sure, it doesn't really shake up the genre in any real meaningful way, but the unique presentation and laid back approach to player engagement all combine to make one of the more relaxing and easily accessible JRPG offerings to come along in a good while.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is the sort of game that you'll play when you want a slow-paced and relaxing adventure; for that, it's an excellent experience. However, it can sometimes be bogged down by its gameplay's own indulgent vapidness.

A card RPG with a great presentation and soundtrack; unfortunately the gameplay lacks in depth and, above all, Yoko Taro's special sauce.

The great presentation and music is what really makes the game shine, but the card battles could have done with some more thought.

When you’re climbing up to the fifth floor of a late-game dungeon while fighting battle after battle in a bland-looking environment, it’s tough to stay engaged or excited, even though it’s a relatively short experience overall.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars isn’t truly a card game, but a traditional RPG that uses cards for everything. The aesthetic choice doesn’t effect too much outside of the visuals but does give the title a unique identity. The gameplay of Voice of Cards is among the simplest and most straightforward to be seen in RPGs. It may be too simple, as battles end up feeling more like time -consuming chores due to the high encounter rate and lack of challenge or required strategy. But while the simple gameplay may not offer any challenge to RPG vets, the story and fantastic soundtrack help keep the game an enjoyable experience. The relatively short completion time is an asset in this case, making Voice of Cards a great choice when looking for a relaxing game to spend a weekend playing.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a great wasted opportunity: a triumph of playing cards accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack and a wonderful atmosphere, which however does not have time to breathe and arrives too quickly to the credits , without expanding your own story. An experiment which from the aesthetic point of view is an absolute success but which becomes too repetitive in playful terms and not very interesting in a narrative key.

Voice of Cards is undeniably fun to follow, especially thanks to its frankly successful “board game” aesthetic. However, he fails to fully engage the player in his adventure, the fault of overly simplistic and intrusive fights. This leaves a very nice game, often funny and enjoyable to play, but unfortunately punctuated by moments of trouble.

Thankfully, the game's excellent presentation holds everything together, and at around 12 hours in length, Voice of Cards doesn't quite outstay its welcome. There are multiple endings to unlock as well, but additional playthroughs may be a tall order. Voice of Cards isn't the kind of RPG that you can rush through — its deliberately slow pace is part of the charm — but there is a slightly expanded New Game+ mode for those who fancy taking on the dragon all over again.

We wish Voice of Cards took the time to explore its gameplay ideas a bit more. We also wish there were a few menu options to accelerate battle pace when you know what you’re doing. But as-is? There’s a lot here to love, if you have the right temperament for it.

A traditional turn-based role-player which utilises its tabletop disguise with charm and polish, but isn’t long enough to fully capitalise on its ideas.

The Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is not what I expected and ultimately not what I wanted. I was hoping for a card game but a card game it is not. It's a classic RPG, simply presented solely in the medium of cards. But even taken for what it is, it falls too short of the running time of a good RPG, fails to deliver the challenge or strategy to make itself stand out in that genre, and tarnishes and excellent story with characters that struggle to redeem their faults.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is an entertaining and creative diversion while it lasts. It certainly sets itself apart with relative ease but it does suffer a bit from diminishing returns. It’s by no means lacking in merit and feels like much could be built around its robust framework in the future. But it is an experience limited by its own arbitrary boundaries, like the negligible challenge and the disproportionate amount of time one will needlessly spend in repetitive battles for few worthwhile rewards, particularly once all skills have been learned and levels are maxed out. Still, there are many lovely ideas at work here, and the package in which they’re presented is even lovelier, leaving me eagerly looking forward to further tales of this style that can be told down the road.