Wildfrost Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

For our Wildfrost Review, Where the sun has frozen over, and the world has succumbed to the Wildfrost. The town of Snowdwell and its survivors stand as the last bastion against an eternal winter… Build up a deck of powerful card companions and elemental items, as you battle to reach the Sun Temple and banish the frost once and for all!

Wildfrost Review Pros:

  • Decent cartoon graphics.
  • MB download size.
  • Full touchscreen controls support.
  • Blood can be set to normal or rainbow colors and a blood amount slider.
  • Card battler gameplay.
  • Three leaders to choose from each round and it randomized from avatar, to name and any abilities.
  • Each card has a countdown icon that once it hits zero, the card/s will attack.
  • You can rename your leader.
  • Redraw bell – use it to redraw cards at any time, it ends your turn immediately unless you charge it up by getting its counter to zero.
  • Enemies come into the battle via waves and you can see how many plays it is until they appear.
  • Fast snappy interface.
  • Your leader must be on the board for you to play the cards below.
  • Companions can be recruited and placed on the board, put in front of the leader and the enemy usually attacks them first.
  • Inspect cards gives a more in-depth view of a card both friendly and enemy cards.
  • Recall cards so they can heal, more a thing for companions as leaders cannot be recalled.
  • Boss encounters.
  • Leaders and companions will auto-attack once their counter reaches zero.
  • Combo counter bonus.
  • The map has multiple routes and different scenarios from treasure, and battles to claiming journal pages.
  • If a companion gets killed, they actually get injured and if they survive the next battle (lower stats/health) then they get fully healed.
  • Snowdell is the town you are tasked with helping. Unlock new buildings by completing challenges.
  • Daily voyage – a harder game type that randomizes a game every day with random cards and modifiers. You only get one shot a day.
  • Handy quick new run button after defeat.
  • The journal keeps the names of all leaders you have used and any pages collected that give backstories.
  • Charms can be equipped with a card to adjust their stats.
  • At any point, you can rearrange leaders and companions on the board.
  • Devilishly addictive.
  • Wooly Snail is the shop where you can buy cards, charms, and upgrade cards.
  • As you unlock parts of the town, you fall into playing more as it just keeps going and going.
  • The journal keeps tabs on all encountered enemies, charms collected, and companions.

Wildfrost Review Cons:

  • For the first hour or so it feels very similar as you grind to increase the card types you encounter.
  • A lot to take in.
  • Slight learning curve.
  • Difficulty spikes.
  • Cannot rebind controls.
  • The tutorial does miss out on a few key points.
  • Daily quests are daunting more because of the bombardment of new card types and mechanics.
  • A lot to keep track of.

Related Post: Waifu Impact 2 Review (PlayStation 5)

Wildfrost:

Official website

Developer: Gaziter  and Deadpan Games

Publisher: Chucklefish Games

Store Links –

Nintendo

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 7/10
    Sound - 7/10
  • 8/10
    Accessibility - 8/10
  • 9/10
    Length - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Fun Factor - 9/10
8.2/10

Summary

The card battler genre is a crowded space with a lot of big players like Blizzard and indie devs smashing it so I was a bit hesitant about another one. Wildfrost has somehow managed to not only capture the genre perfectly, but it has innovated and mashed mechanics together to make a truly addictive experience. You start a run by picking one of three random leaders and these guys go onto the board and attack automatically after a set amount of turns (shown on the card) whilst all other attacks are done via the cards at the bottom. Over time you can recruit companions who may buff you or aid you in taking out the enemy. The twist is that as you play a card not only does it make your leader attack imminent, but it also means your enemy and their attacks are close by! Having a winter theme throughout Wildfrost does have snowballs that stun an enemy for X amount of turns so you can really mess them up and set up some crazy attack patterns. I just love how much one card can change everything, the number of buffs, abilities, and tandem attacks make it a really strong card battler,  you make your way across a randomly created map and can choose the routes that can take you to fights, bosses, treasure chests and rescue companions. This in itself is a solid package but then they add the town later on top in which the more you play the more you unlock and the more choices and adjustments you get in future runs. Craft cards, get charms to change card stats, get new companions and so much more in the town. With so many bars filling in with progress after a run it’s really hard not to just hot start a new run every time! Wildfrost is a surprise hit and my spare time is grateful that I didn’t get the game on the Switch cos man… Wildfrost is built for card fans by card fans.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!