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Trials Of Fire, tactical deckbuilder, leaves early access on April 9th

Closing the book

Trials Of Fire has the most painfully generic name imaginable, so much so that despite having been presented the game in person and having edited several articles about it, I did not recognise it when I heard today's news.

That's a shame - because by all accounts the tactical deckbuilding roguelite is worth remembering - and the news is that it's leaving early access on April 9th.

Cover image for YouTube videoTRIALS of FIRE Launch Trailer

Trials Of Fire is a fantasy roguelike that takes place within the pages of a fantasy book. You wander across its pages, having choose-your-own adventures, then leap into tactical battles when a rumble breaks out. The tactical combat with your three-person crew of different classes of fighter (eg. archer, sorceress, warrior, etc.) is more the focus than the deckbuilding.

In his early access review back in 2019, Steve Hogarty found Trials Of Fire had a refreshingly desolate tone. The overworld was a "wall to wall miseryfest" filled with "with diseased caravans of emaciated refugees dragging their dying children across the wasteland in search of water, or rat bandits torturing their prisoners to death in abandoned villages, or a friendly wizard who got crushed under a big rock on his birthday." (He means this as a good thing.) He also thought the similar bleakness of the combat made your decisions matter.

I also realise now that Steve too opened his review with a dig at how generic the name Trials Of Fire is. I am not going to re-write the intro to this post, though, because this just means I'm right.

If you can't wait for the full launch next month, Trials Of Fire is available on Steam now for £12.39/$16/€13.29. The store page notes that the price "at full launch will likely be slightly higher than early access."

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Graham Smith avatar

Graham Smith

Deputy Editorial Director

Rock Paper Shotgun's former editor-in-chief and current corporate dad. Also, he continues to write evening news posts for some reason.

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