Zoeti despite its simplicity, is an incredibly charming game that truly shines bright amongst others in the genre.
It’s not that often that you see a game developer release a game with such polish, especially when it’s the studio’s first major release. Zoeti is a deck-building RPG developed by Dusklight CO. LTD. and published by Akupara Games, and despite its relative simplicity is highly addicting.
As mentioned earlier, Zoeti is Dusklight’s first major release; however, they have worked on smaller projects such as Lyrica and Noah’s Bottle. The indie developer is based in Taiwan, and the game is somewhat of a passion project, and you can clearly see this passion in almost every part of the game.
So it makes perfect sense for the publisher of Zoeti would be Akupara Games, who has been the publisher of a few rather impressive indie games such as Rain World and Behind the Frame. However, they’re more notoriously known for tie-in games such as Hooked on You and Loverswatch, both tie-in games for Dead by Daylight and Overwatch, respectively.
The one thing you will probably notice immediately about Zoeti is its story. Upon starting the game, we are introduced to the game’s lore and setting. Zoeti, the celestial goddess that the game gets its title from, has battled endlessly against her dark counterpart Nesis who ruled over demons. Though she was victorious, Zoeti was grievously wounded and used her last bit of strength to create the Astral Envoys who would wage war against the Fiends of Nesis.
The Astral Envoys would then form the four gods. Batons, god of passion and creation. Coupes, god of inspiration and emotions. Epées, goddess of wisdom and conflict, and finally, Deniers, goddess of matter and harvest. These gods also created the world and its setting, Arcania
As for you, oh dear player, you get to play as one of three playable characters who have their own unique traits and gimmicks. Valentina, an honorable knight who is the most balanced out of the three and is the first character you can play as. Alves, a rabbitkin, who plays as a fragile speedster, that works best for players who want to quickly deal combo attacks and get in as many hits as possible. Finally, we have, Nicora, a small yet feisty mage that is somewhat of a class cannon and whose abilities take a while to master.
All three characters play in very different ways from one another, and when you pair this with the four difficulty levels, you will find that what you will experience will change from run to run. However, you won’t immediately unlock all difficulties and characters straight from the get-go. Instead, you unlock them by leveling up after completing a run.
This does stop players from experimenting with playstyles at the beginning of the game, but perhaps that’s for the better as when you eventually do unlock, say Alves, you would by then hopefully know most of the basic mechanics and therefore can finally try something new. This does also incentivise you to keep playing the game as if when Nicora you will need to work for it. This also gives you a sense of accomplishment as you’ve actually put in the effort to get the character rather than purchasing them as DLC.
Zoeti is an incredibly story-focused game. Our protagonist’s main goal is to complete the Trial of the Gods, which means facing off against various types of enemies through the use of cards. Unlike typical deck builders that take more inspiration from card games such as Magic The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh, Zoeti instead takes its inspiration from the humble playing card. Each ability you use is associated with a poker hand, such as Royal Flush, Full House, Straight Flush etc.
This means instead of relying on turns or energy points to use abilities, and you are instead only limited to the number of cards you have left in your hand. However, you shouldn’t try to use all your cards all in one turn, as it’s more beneficial to hold onto leftover cards as they’ll be added to your hand during the next turn, so you should instead choose your cards wisely in order to play them in the most effective order.
At the beginning of each run, you will be given the option of choosing what abilities and equipment you start out with. Oftentimes these will be the same set of abilities as your last run if you choose to play as the same character as your last. meaning that if you die, you can simply try out a different strategy and try again.
As for gaining new abilities, you acquire them usually after defeating enemies or by completing quests. What abilities you get to choose from after defeating enemies are randomized, meaning you’re likely not going to get the same options next run, so you will need to choose wisely.
Your abilities aren’t the only tools in your arsenal and aren’t the types of cards you will encounter on your journey. Besides Ability Cards, you will also encounter Item Cards, and these are divided into two categories, active items that can be immediately whilst in the middle of combat and can only be used once. Then there are Items that provide long-term buffs to combat or provide a passive ability through multiple encounters. These items need to be activated and can seriously change the tide of battle.
In Zoeti after successfully completing a mission and reaping the rewards from doing so, you will return to the safe haven of the town Inn. This resting spot offers you two incredibly vital services Rest and Meditation. Rest is exactly what it says it is; your character rests for a bit and restores a small portion of their health. Meditation, on the other hand, allows you to upgrade your abilities and strengthen them.
Keep in mind you can only upgrade one ability once per resting point, so, as repeated multiple times throughout this review, choose wisely. The Inn isn’t the only resting point you can encounter, during your travels, you can also find campfires. These offer you the same services except that when you rest, you only regain half the amount of health as you would if you slept at the Inn.
Zoeti balances its rather simplistic game mechanics with its story and writing. It focuses heavily on its world-building, but instead of fleshing out major political drama like other RPGs, the game instead focuses its world-building on its characters. Zoeti’s setting is filled with various types and species of characters; the game puts time and effort into making them all feel unique, no matter how small the role that they play.
From a two-faced hamsterkin merchant to a frogkin crime boss that solves most of his problems with his henchman’s fist, each character is unique and incredibly charming and makes the game’s world feel alive, and these characters are more than their designated story role.
So far, Zoeti must seem like an absolute shining star of a game, and it has fantastic writing, a simple yet refreshing combat gameplay, but what could go wrong? Well, you see, yes it has all those wonderful things, but the thing is… it’s not unique to Zoeti. The game is incredibly similar to Slay the Spire, to the point it even mentions it in the Chinese version, and once you notice the similarities, it’s hard to unsee it.
Another thing that brings the game down is also the thing that sadly keeps you hooked. The roguelite elements play an important part in keeping you playing the game as you try to see if you have better luck from run to run. This doesn’t pair well with how story driven the game is, as all the charming characters and encounters lose their charm when you have to go through the same dialogue. Every. Single. Run.
Zoeti is a fun yet simple deck-building game that incorporates both RPG and roguelite mechanics into its gameplay. Sadly due to how these elements conflict with one another, you cannot completely appreciate both. That’s not to mean the game isn’t worth your time, and you should definitely check it out, especially if you want a deck builder that doesn’t faff around and keeps things simple yet enjoyable.
