Image: Question

There are so many card-battlers out there that do little to differentiate themselves from each other. So I sat up and immediately paid attention when the first decision The Killing Stone gave me was asking me if I wanted its full script and voice-acting to be in modern English, or pseudo-Shakespearean 17th-century prose.

You know I picked the latter.

The Killing Stone comes to us from Question, a small indie studio that should be ten times better known. They gave us the likes of bug-fixing cyber adventure The Magic Circle, and the hugely underrated co-op immersive sim The Blackout Club. I'll admit that I got a key for this one long ago, but have been holding off on getting too deep, because - being as narrative-heavy as it is - I wanted to wait until the final release, which just so happens to be out today.

Set in the 17th century, you play as an occultist, rising to the occasion after your teacher, a powerful witch, passes away with debts yet unpaid to a literal devil, if not quite Satan himself. Old One Eye (as he introduces himself) seeks to claim her soul, and then the souls of her family, all through a slightly Hearthstone-esque game of card-battling and demon summoning, mixed in with some Inscryption-style exploration and horror beyond the tabletop.

The main mechanical twist is that everything plays out on a single line, creatures in front of the battle line taking their swings first, unless they're specifically projectile-lobbing ones. You can also summon creatures in 'reserve' alongside your active pieces, which drop into place if the creature beneath dies. Simple enough, but things quickly spiral into deep complexity as story choices have you gaining class-like abilities from the witch's family and their familiars, and further choices change the decks you have to work with.

There's a lot of story here. Sadly, it's not fully voiced, because the characters who DO get full acting (One Eye and your witch mentor) are excellently performed, whichever version of the script you chose. Between card battles, you wander the house and grounds, talking with the family and finding out their history. It's interesting stuff, delving into both historical occultism and clashing (and melding) cultural influences, with the Witch's family being of Nordic and Inuit descent. It's no slouch to look at, with the characters and world having a slightly painterly look to them.

It's exciting stuff, and I really want to play more. It's also excellently polished, with the creatures coming to life on the tabletop you're playing on, but reverting to stiff figurines, tumbling across the table when the game is over. The final launch version adds more side-quest lines, more chances to bargain and bet against the various demons, and the final chapter of the game: Reckoning. It'll be a while until I get that far, but it promises some interesting mechanical twists, including bringing all of the decks built in the main story together for one last gamble.

The Killing Stone is out now for £11/$20 (a rare case of being significantly cheaper in the UK), with further discounts if you've got paranoiac doppelganger-hunting game It Has My Face. From what I've played so far? This one has my recommendation.