![]() ![]() The flex and flow of the cards is deeply pleasing to your soul. Alone, on the sofa, by a window, perched in front of a mirror like you're supposed to do it, you practice and practice. You find a pack of cards, get them comfortable in your hand, make sense of the weird diagrams again - they seem to have changed now you have actual cards to hold - and then? Then you practice. You look it up in a book, make sense of the weird diagrams, and get it all semi-straight in your head. It won't be for everyone, and for a lot, I can imagine it'd be quite the frustrating experience, but if you can keep a cool head, and study and keep practising, what Card Shark offers is a truly rewarding game where you feel like you're learning about the intricacies of card tricks on top of actually being given the tools to perform them, and from my experience, doing so will leave you with a nefarious and mischievous grin that will stay with you long after you close the game.A game about card games is also a rigorous primer in the intersection of crime and magic. It's not easy to do in any sense, but that's part of the charm, because if it was easy, everyone would do it.Īnd for that reason, I'm quite enthralled by this delightful and unique indie game. don't mess it up.Ĭard Shark isn't a long game, and doesn't have a particularly complex or broad narrative, but what it does have is a core set of mechanics that will make you want to keep playing, to keep scamming, and to keep becoming a more efficient and effective cheater. Hence why you have to think about every action, be fluid in your moves, and most importantly. It's there to describe the target's perception of what is truly happening, meaning anytime you arouse suspicion (perhaps with too hefty a bet in the first place), the bar will fill up further. This bar will only start to fill when you take too long figuring out your next move mid-ruse, or will spike if you screw it up. There's a bar at the bottom of the screen that signifies the target's awareness of the scheme, and if the bar fully fills up, the target will either simply call out your actions and leave, or get a little more heated. This is the case because you can't take time to think over your actions midway through one. ![]() It's really not an easy game at all, and that's both a highlight and an issue at times. It may seem pretty straightforward, but Card Shark doesn't remind you of each move (you can turn on a tips option if necessary), meaning there will be a lot of occasions where you simply press the wrong button, due to a bit of confusion, and screw the whole ruse up. Add to this actual quicktime events where if you press a button too early or late, the trick fails. Using a controller you can flick the analog stick one way to shuffle a deck, and then another way to injog, and so forth. Still, this doesn't change the fact that each technique (of which there are 28 in total) has its own set of mechanics and moves that you need to keep tabs on, whether that's basic injogging (a move that allows you to remember the position of a desired card) or memorising the exact duplicate cards that you are using in a deck, to ensure that when it is shuffled again, the duplicate cards are not dealt out.Īs for how this is handled in-game, Card Shark is a title that is drowning in quicktime events. ![]() ![]() And you'll need a very absorbent memory to survive, as the new tricks come thick and fast, and you'll have to master them quickly, as if you mess up, your targets will either seek reparations or perhaps even simply exact their own form of justice on you.įortunately, this process of mastering techniques isn't as complicated as it would be in real life, and you don't need to worry about having fast fingers, a poker face, and enough skill to masterfully shuffle decks without messing up your trick. From simply learning how to mark cards and switch decks without raising suspicion, all the way to figuring out how to rig a coin flip - it's all here. And of course, without failing your deceptions and becoming broke as a result.īut where Card Shark sets itself apart from a simple conning experience is in the fact that this game puts you through a crash course of card tricks and deceptive efforts. As you can probably guess, the story itself mostly just tasks you with making as much money as possible, without being caught or facing the consequences of being discovered mid-ruse. The entire concept revolves around swindling opponents, and the narrative takes you - a mute young bar worker - on a journey alongside experienced cheater Comte de Saint-Germain. You see, Card Shark is unlike any other game I've played before. ![]()
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