Griftlands Review

Talking shit in style, but like...with cards.

When utilized effectively, juxtaposition is one of the most powerful tools an artist can wield. You could make a compelling argument for Griftlands being a case study in the art of mastering it. Griftland features a world steeped in neon (a compliment to the sharp, focused details of its inhabitants and locales) but everything is caked in what feels like a layer of grime, and every person you meet might be one wrong word away from spilling your blood onto the floor. Then again, you aren’t exactly a saint; you might be swayed into violent action if the price is right, with every move you make illuminated in the glow of that deceptive neon. Every second in the Griftlands might be your last, which is a bummer since every second in the Griftlands is so much fun.

We have seen a surge in both deck building and rogue-like games the last few years. Slay the Spire, Loop Hero, and Dicey Dungeons are just some of the most recent standouts. But where those titles are heavily focused on mechanics (and I have sincerely enjoyed all of them for what it's worth), Griftlands injects a healthy dose of personality into the experience. This isn’t just a game where you load it up, make some decisions based on numbers, and then play until you either reign supreme or fall to the enemy. Griftlands wants you to be patient, strategic, and thoughtful about what you’re doing. It wants your decisions to feel like they matter, pacing the experience around both what you do and say. Whether or not you are strong, agile, or witty enough to make it to the end is a different story entirely. But it’s your story to tell, and I’m here to tell you that it is most certainly worth the effort.

So much to explore. So many ways to die. Or befriend roaming demon dogs?

Every second in the Griftlands might be your last, which is a bummer since every second in the Griftlands is so much fun.

While Griftlands has a standard overworld map, outfitted with merchants and locals, and a handful of options to explore, you spend a good portion of your time beating the living shit out of everything in sight, using a unique deck of combat cards. The cards look right at home here, with a sharp, harsh font married with bright neon colors, all juxtaposed against a gritty, tattered background art. They don’t just feel like an interface for the player to simply interact with, and somehow they feel like they could exist inside the game world itself. If the combat in Griftlands is its steady, beating heart, then the cards are the pulse keeping that heart alive.

Luckily, the game isn’t just good to look at and is equally engaging to play. With your standard deck building systems in place, the game gives you five cards each turn and tasks you with efficiently carrying out your plan with limited resources; because while you have five cards, you only have three actions. Limitation can sometimes breed creativity, and boy can you get creative in the Griftlands. Whether you build into its absurdly satisfying combo system, or go for a more straightforward “make them fucking bleed” approach, your enemies will often wish they had never met you. But don’t rest on your laurels, because the foes in the Griftlands will take a dump on both them and your face if you aren’t careful. Know when to pick a fight, when to back down, and when to look for alternative routes to the finish line. But therein lies the absolute best part of what this game has on offer: its conversation system.

When I say “conversation system” what do you think of? I’m going to guess it is something like “you read what an NPC has to say, then pick an option from a handful of presets”, right? Well take all of that and shove it right up Bethesda’s ass, because Griftlands has no time for it. In this game, you have to earn your right to take someone down with your words. Confrontations that are intellectual rather than physical are played out in their own battle-like sequence, using a unique deck of cards called your “Negotiation Deck”. In this deck you have quite a few ways to approach your opponent’s arguments. Cards range from being diplomatic, hostile, or manipulative, and all serve to whittle down your opponents resolve. Argue with them effectively and they will see things your way and back down, opening up new dialogue options and ways to complete a certain quest or maybe obtain information. But if your opponent has the gift of gab and whittles you down instead, you’re getting thrown to the fishes. So you have to pick your arguments carefully, sizing up your opposition before committing to the (sometimes insurmountable) goal of basically yelling louder than they can. But be careful who you pick a fight with, either with your words or your fist.

I'm sure talking shit to any one of these people is a fine idea. Go ahead. Give a go. I'll be over here watching with my buttered popcorn.

Everything you do in Griftlands has consequences. Sometimes they matter, and sometimes they don’t. But just like you wouldn’t be a huge fan of me if I slapped you in the face because some guy paid me to do it, neither do the inhabitants of this world enjoy it when you happen to punch someone because a guy told you to. Griftlands displays this using Newton's law of action and reaction, and it utilizes it in the most neutral way possible. As an example, a shady gentleman in a bar asked if I would rough someone up because they had wronged him. They had a pretty convincing story and offered money, so I was actually looking forward to the confrontation. After a sound beating, I captured them and brought them back to the gentlemen that hired me. The two began a heated discussion and as I listened, I was basically told that I had committed an assault because someone ate the last slice of pizza nearly two years ago. I laughed out loud because I couldn’t believe what had just happened, but then the game told me the person I assaulted hated the shit out of me. This made sense, but what I didn’t expect was that the bartender at the location where I had fought my pizza hungry perpetrator also hated me for starting shit in his place of establishment. I don’t want to spoil how these changes impacted my experience, but know that both of them did end up mattering. One of them might have cost me my life.

But be careful who you pick a fight with, either with your words or your fist.

Like most video games, things in the Griftlands aren’t always perfect. The game has a fairly bizarre amount of difficulty spikes, which wouldn’t be a huge problem if it didn’t follow the traditional rogue-like model. Having a run end because of some bad luck, or because you picked the wrong fight, is standard fare in these games. But here it just feels worse than normal, mostly because there aren’t enough things in place to help you make an informed decision. Aside from some vague stat windows to help you decide whether or not to argue or

fight, the way those arguments and fights will play out are wholly unknown to you. This is thrilling most of the time, and these battles really give the world a sense of dynamism. Until it works against you. There was one run that had been going strong for close to half an hour, with a negotiation deck that felt unstoppable. I then stumbled upon a guy I thought I could argue with effectively because of that power. But before I knew it I was outmatched at every turn. I had no chance, got demolished, and my run was over. Just like that. This doesn’t happen often, but when it does it can be jarring and off putting, especially when you can’t identify why things happened the way they did. It is worth noting that Griftlands isn’t a very easy game in general, and demands a decent amount of engagement from your brain. You have to think carefully about what cards to take, which ones to avoid, and what your overall goal is with each new card you add in. Like any game you will get better with this in time. Just don’t expect much hand holding, and definitely don’t go in expecting to sweep the floor with everything - unless you play on the Story Mode difficulty setting, which all but trivializes the otherwise challenging, rewarding gameplay. Just be prepared for a challenge, and also be prepared for a lot of bolded keywords.

The game does a bad job at managing what I call the “Jargon Trap”: where the player is inundated with key words, pronouns, lore and backstory all at the beginning of an experience. Some games are good at managing the flow of their jargon, easing players into the experience so they can digest things at a decent pace. Slay the Spire is brilliant at this, with a straightforward introduction while slowly adding in more layers as you go. Griftlands could learn a lot from Slay the Spire in this regard, because it never installed an “off” switch to its jargon delivery method. So many terms, bolded words, mechanics, and everything in between are just dumped over you like a massive bucket of ice water. At first it might feel like you will suffocate before wading through it all effectively, but stick with it; power through, fail a few times, and just try stuff out. You will get there in due time. It’s worth it.

There are so many more things I want to talk about, but I don’t have the time. I didn’t mention augmentations, the various characters and stories you unlock, or the way the overworld map is dynamic based on the time of day, with its options changing based on the things you have done. I didn’t talk about the dog-like creature that I befriended, quested with for about a half an hour, and then accidentally sold for 300 dollars. Or how the first person you meet at the beginning of a run treated me far differently when I tried out a new character. It is rare for a game to be this engaging at all times, which is good for Griftlands because it often asks you to take it seriously. But it also knows how to take a moment to laugh, both at itself and the player, for the absurd things that people do. It’s a world worth exploring, and it just so happens to give you some damn fine tools to do so. Don’t tread lightly, though; the Griftlands are not for the faint of heart.

But they sure are fun to visit.