Mahokenshi review

A deckbuilder where starting from scratch is surprisingly satisfying

Pity the indie developer entering a saturated genre. While their work might be commendable, success habitually requires refinement, innovation, and a bit of luck. Largely, that’s the situation faced by Game Source Studio’s Mahokenshi, which enters a market where heavy hitters such as Slay The Spire, Inscryption, and Monster Train already reign. But thanks to the inclusion of gorgeous artwork and eye-catching animation, as well as a roguelite sense progression, the deck might just be stacked in Mahokenshi’s favor.

Each run through the game’s Celestial Islands starts by selecting from one of four characters, three of them unlocked through progression. Ayaka’s default deck favors offensive power, while Kaito is covered in armor, which helps resist the accumulation of damage. Meanwhile, Sota’s partial covering signifies an approach that favors crafty devices like traps and poison. Finally, there’s Misaki, who is the game’s resident magic user, with her spells providing some stimulating options.

Play through the tutorial with Ayaka and you’ll tackle your first goblin-infested battlefield; there are 18 that follow. Here, you can move freely across the hex-based map, although some types of terrain will consume more of your starting allotment of four energy points. Each locale is visually pleasing, with snow-sprinkled hills and Sakura-dotted forests, waterways that culminate with waterfalls, as well as backdrops with features like clouds that serenely drift by.

Between turns, you’ll notice several items, stores, and features on the playfield. When your character lands on these, you can select a new card from your deck, discard any unwanted ones, or even upgrade one of your cards with any currency you’re earned. And you’ll definitely need to adjust your inventory of cards; the game underscores this by providing a new set of cards for each mission.

Victory requires a bit of trial and error. If your deck is too big or too small or lacks essential cards, you’ll undoubtedly struggle with scripted events. One reoccurring example of this is Mahokenshi’s timed missions, where you’ll have to complete a task, such as shut down a monster-spawning portal within a specified number of turns. Without a few movement bonuses in your deck, completion of these stages can be maddeningly difficult.

Combat occurs as enemies take notice of your approaching character. Often, Game Source Studio lures you into these confrontations, positioning rewards where you’ll gain the attention of adversaries. While there’s a bit of overlap between Mahokenshi’s playables, you’ll inevitably have to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each character. That’s especially true the longer you linger on a map since foes tend to grow stronger over time. Seeing a horde of demons pillage a succession of villages demonstrated a variability that’s not often exhibited by deckbuilders.

Inevitably, defeat will occur, at the hands of an enemy or a timer that was disregarded. Smartly, Mahokenshi offsets a sense of frustration by providing dividends for every run, doling out experience that will unlock additional cards and perks that can do things like increase your character’s strength when their health is half-depleted. Additionally, you’ll earn crystals that can be used to augment the stats of your starting deck.

Despite the emergence of a day-one patch to help bring some balancing into the game and remove some visual abnormities on the Steam Deck, a few odd design decisions remain. Once you play cards that require you to sacrifice some of your other cards, there’s no backing out of the play, which can be irritating. Another issue is the inability to save your game in the middle of a mission. Undoubtedly, the developers wanted to keep players from save-scumming their way through Mahokenshi. But since it’s a wholly single-player experience, eschewing any kind of duplicitousness seems unnecessary. Finally, there’s the issue of content. While you’ll probably replay maps to grind your characters, extra modes would contribute additional longevity. It would be great to see some additional maps as the existing one grow a bit stale after 20 hours or so of play.

Although the market is teeming with engaging deckbuilders, Mahokenshi is well-suited for beginners. It’s exceedingly approachable, with none of the overly complicated mechanics found in recent efforts like Circus Electrique. But at present, enjoyment is short-lived. After completing the game with one of the four playables, I had little motivation to continue the journey. Until Game Source Studio remedies this, proceed with the kind of carefulness that you’d use within any deckbuilder.

Mahokenshi is played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.