Stormbound

App Store Editors’ Notes

Challenging, but still fun

Stormbound is a very well-made game that mixes board game and deck-building strategies to create a balanced and exciting online strategy game. A wide selection of cards enables a player to build a deck based upon their personal playing styles, and the limit on how many cards can be in you deck forces you to choose wisely. No system is perfect, however. Slight problems in the balancing of the game do exist. Some people complain that the marching system is unfair and that some people use “money decks” to cheat their way to the top. I personally think that Ironclad and Dragon decks need to be a little less powerful. However, the developers are very good about dealing with these issues. “Money decks” are hard to assemble, because nearly all card acquisition is randomized. Frequent card-balancing patches are made. Players are divided into ranks depending on their standings in pvp, so you aren’t likely to face many people that are out of your league (when you do, it’s probably just because someone didn’t play for a long time and hasn’t recovered from the rank reset yet). There are going to be games you lose horribly, but that’s no reason to quit or decide not to download this game. If you lose all the time, revise your deck. Despite what other reviews will tell you, I have found that a well put together deck and a good strategy can win even the toughest of battles.

Good Gameplay, Other things could be better

Im starting off w the positives, the gameplay is fun, engaging, and does have some depth to it (skill-wise). The graphics/graphics styles are great. And there is a snse of progression as you expand your deck. A game definitely worth playing! However, there are a few negatives as well. To start off, progression is slow, and not in a rewarding way but in a, “I'm constantly low on resources” way. The game is pretty pay to win and expensive at that (The collectors edition is 100$! and still does give you every card 😭). On top of that lobbies are pretty empty with bots who are annoyingly bad being in half my low lvl games. Solutions: - Make resources easier to get (but not too easy as to keep the rewarding feeling of getting good cards), reduce the pay to win factor by releasing a collectors edition of the game as a whole separate app that like 5$ not 100$ 💀 - Add a trading system where u can trade cards you don’t want/need for resources or t cards of the same rarity - Make it so you pay for visual changes (i.e the constructs look cooler), not as much actual advantages in play - Lastly make the bots a bit better and add a slightly longer campaign with a basic story to make the campaign feel more well rounded - make it so you don’t need internet to launch the app so u can play offline In conclusion, the game is definitely worth playing, but there is room for improvement (The review is kinda aimed at the devs).

Take some of these Reviews with a Grain of Salt

I’m reading some of these reviews rolling my eyes at some of them so I’ll clear up what i see as misconceptions. I’ve been playing this game off and on for 2+ years and while I do have some gripes I still play. While it’s easy to dish out money for the ultimate deck you 100% DO NOT have to, to get ahead. After a couple months I was able to get into the platinum league and later that year into diamond without spending a single dollar- they give plenty of in game opportunities to obtain gold, rubies etc C’mon y’all, this is literally the devs job, of course they’re going to try and sell you stuff. As far as the game balancing complaints, there’s def annoying parts of the game but devs update the game and tinker with the mechanics trying to figure it out. A lot of these reviews are likely from people who haven’t played for very long or people who’ve been playing for too long and stuck on the “good ol days” mentality. I do have connection issues from time to time that make the game very frustrating but they don’t occur often enough for to be turned off from the game. Like, it happens, get over it. I’ve never written a review before, I’m always too lazy to do so, but I suppose after 2.5 years it’s the least I can do. Thanks for reading

Addicting Gameplay!

This is a simplistic but yet deep, thrilling, and beautiful game. It’s easy to pickup and understand, with a starting deck for you so you don’t feel overwhelmed from the beginning. This game has a culmination of very unique cards from each of the 4 different factions, as well as the neutral faction. You’re allowed to make a deck with neutral cards, and from one specific faction. I love this because it helps to balance out each faction so you can’t have too many great cards. And ugh the art in this game is outstanding! Beautifully designed cards and animations for every unit, and sounds effects. Also different faction stages that have their own sound effects! At times there may seem to be different cards that may be a little over/under powered, but with more playing time you learn and master how to use certain cards and decks which make this game all the better. A couple things that I would like added into this game bluntly would be tournaments that you can set and bid different in game currencies, guilds/clans possibly to help you get some friends and just simply talk about Stormbound, and more ways to earn in game currency. Overall, I highly recommend this game as it is very fun and you can play with friends, and it is constantly being updated with balances and additions to keep the game fresh and fun!

(BROKEN) Broken Earth Drakes

Been playing for 2 years now and I must say this game is my favorite card game of all time. Even better than Magic the Gathering and Clash Royale and I’ve played both for much longer than this one. I appreciate all the balances and updates made to this game it keeps it fresh, appealing, and still fun. But over the past few months I’ve had to deal with a literal beast that I cannot get over and that is the Broken Earth Drakes card introduced sometime last year. The card is placed in a deck that already specializes in board wipes and mana ramp so to put such a cheap destructive creature that has no weaknesses or downsides within the Pact is mind-boggeling. I find it to be extremely overwhelming when dealing with Winter Pact as is, because of the slow monotonous play style that it wields, adding a card that wipes the entire enemy board for little to no mana in this mana heavy deck is pretty frustrating. Partnering it with a dragon-centric deck is pretty much game over for the opponent and I believe more than half of my opposition has already figured that out. I hope you take into consideration my comments on this card and look into better balances for it later on but until then I’ll try my best to work around it. Anyways there’s my two cents thank you for this phenomenal game, keep up the good work.

Fun and Unique Game

This game is really fun. It relies on the strategic movement of units in a way that echoes back to chess, while also adding in a diverse deck building element, and a healthy amount of luck! A lot of players have mentioned the pay to win elements, but in my opinion, the premium options are more balanced than in many other games. In this game, you do have the ability to slowly upgrade your cards without spending anything, and you can still have a lot of fun matches playing this way. I have a friend who has made it all the way to Diamond 1 without ever buying a card, and while he certainly runs into premium decks, a good strategy and high level cards can compete with a poorly managed deck of all epics and legendaries. If you don’t want to spend money, be patient and recognize it might take several splits for you to upgrade your cards enough to actually achieve that new max rank. The games aren’t too long, and the simple emoji system occasionally creates some really funny interactions. The one concern I have is regarding the sometimes unfair matchmaking. While this is likely an inevitability in order to keep wait times as low as possible, it is disheartening matching up against a player that is clearly much weaker or stronger than you, to the point where no strategy can overcome the disparity.

Very fun game, but...

This is a very fun game, quite a bit of variety, very interesting and fun. You can build your own deck with your choice units and the cards usually have abilities that can turn the tide of the battle. However, this game is not balanced. I do realize that at least 1/3 of this game is about luck, luck of what cards you get and luck of the draw while fighting but most games don't make you worry about luck of the player pool. "What do I mean" you may ask. What I mean is this: picture the game as a large pool with all the players swimming in it. Low level players at the shallow end and high level players in the deep end. Most games, you stay in the pool and stick to your area, slowly working up and progressing to differently skilled players. This game however rips you out of the water, carries you a mile up then throws you back into the pool, not caring where you land. What I am trying to say is, I am a beginner, and I can not personally say I have had much luck with cards. I keep running into high level people with 12 health bases compared to my 10 health base(yes, that is quite a difference) with at least a potion of strength that, compared to my add 5 strength adds 8. So, in conclusion, it is a very fun game but improperly balanced. I do recommend you get it because it is free and if anything, play with your friends, just stay with it until the problem is fixed, it is a really fun game which I believe is worth the wait.

Good Concept… Very Disappointing Execution

Stormbound is an amazing card game idea with beautiful designs, but is unfortunately plagued with an incredibly blatant pay-to-win mechanic. I got the opportunity to play Stormbound very early on in its life about 4-5 years ago and found it exactly what I was looking for at the time. The game’s overall immaculate design and well thought through UI in a Turn Based strategy simulator was the perfect presentation to spend HOURS upon HOURS playing with. Everything from early-game mechanics to the community itself is very open to beginners. Unfortunately, the upfront and easy to learn mechanics is just a false sense of security as when you progress through the game’s more pay-to-win mechanics tend to show. As you realize your once favorite decks and play styles die out to other competitors who have PAID to get their hands on unbalanced legendary or epic cards which have the capacity to completely change the tide of a game that could have ended far differently without them. It becomes very obvious that the developers gave very over powered cards to the Swarm and Shadowfen factions as they are the primarily used decks throughout the game. If the developers just balanced the game in comparison to other factions than this game would EASILY become 5/5 stars, but unfortunately it remains at 3 stars solely for its very interesting game design and gorgeous art style.