Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga Demo

Mixing turn-based strategy, trading cards and space combat may seem like a stretch, but if the elements are blended with care, good things can come out of the experiment. However, the gameplay must be worth the effort, especially since building the desired deck can take a while and you must be able to make full use of it in a variety of different situations.

Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga is one of these experiments and it aims to provide you with quite the unique experience, although it might take a while to get familiar with all the concepts flying around. Thus, the gameplay is turn-based, but you build things and train units using a deck of cards, as you would in a title like Magic: The Gathering. Moreover, the entire thing takes place in space, which means that you have to deal with different planets, colonies and alien races.

The great thing about the game is the fact that it can be played online, against players from all over the world. Due to the fact that all the players must tackle things like politics, technology, research and military strength, not to mention the efficient use of the deck, the matches can be quite tricky and intense, especially since there are multiple ways one can be declared the winner.

There are many scenarios to choose from if you decide to play in singleplayer, as well as a lengthy tutorial to get you started when it comes to the gameplay and using every available tool. Every match can evolve in a manner of different ways, because there are countless variables that decide who ends up on top and who’s the losers, an equation which gets that much more complicated if the number of players grows as well.

From a technical point of view, not a lot of work went into making the game look nice. Even the 2D models and drawings are quite raw and unpolished. In essence, the interface is quite easy to use, but you’d better not skip the tutorial if you want to learn what every button does. Moreover, drag-and-drop is supported as well, which opens the way to many other possibilities.

All things considered, if you are a fan of the trading card or turn-based strategy genres, Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga can be the answer you were looking for. The mechanics are a bit rugged and the graphics could have used a bit more work, but the overall product is worthy of a try.