At first glance, One More Gate looks like a variant of the famous Slay the Spire with a colorful Ankama-Wakfu touch. But the French MMO expert doesn’t just deliver a simple copy, but puts his own playful stamp on the deck-building concept and relies more on RPG elements. Hero Oropo, the only playable character, is constantly leveling up and developing his deck: with 14 cards to start with, you go into four consecutive, procedurally generated scenarios. There you fight against a variety of monsters, get useful skills and items, and also expand your deck. If the trip ends either with a victory over the local boss or your defeat, all the upgrades you have earned are gone. But you collect experience points and resources for the next detour, which now seems a bit more doable thanks to the improved basic deck and higher character level.
In battle, you play offensive, defensive or supportive cards. However, you usually only hit the enemy that is in first place with them: you quickly realize that manipulating the order of enemies is a central element of the game. You should also make sure that your deck and your characteristics complement each other: those who concentrate on tactical elements such as poison will get further than players who use randomly thrown-together cards. In addition to the central story, there are subquests that lure in helpful rewards but are quite challenging – only those who plan well and think tactically have a chance against some of the optional bosses.
