City Wars: Tokyo Reign review – my new favourite card battler

Last night I got through two whole districts with almost no health, and no prospects. An early boss had whittled me down to almost nothing, so I lurched into the eternal night thinking – four health? This won’t last long. For comparison, I start with 300 health, and that’s rarely enough. But something happened. The City surprised me. I had a sort of unlikely cyberpunk cup run. Two whole districts on four health. I’m still thinking about it.

City Wars: Tokyo Reign reviewPublisher: Mojo BonesDeveloper: Mojo BonesPlatform: Played on SwitchAvailability: Out now on PC and Switch

City Wars: Tokyo Reign is the kind of game that surprises me. It surprises me constantly, with great roguelite runs like last night’s, in which I almost gave up but ended up travelling further than I could have imagined. It surprises me as I see a new wrinkle in its endless unspooling strategies, as I find a new synergy in its cards. It surprised me at the start by filling me with raw enthusiasm for a collectible card game that was also a roguelite – hardly a genre mash-up in short supply. It surprised me that I could take its initially daunting rules and make them my own. City Wars makes CCGs fresh again – it has for me, anyway. I really hope you’ll play it too.

So let’s get the roguelite stuff out of the way. It’s a cyberpunk city filled with alleyways and midnight horrors. You choose a class and then get a randomised loadout of cards from your growing collection, a gun that works as a stats modifier, and a charm that gives you a perk of some kind.

All set? You have to get across town clearing districts and their bosses, picking paths that take you through events – maybe a hacking opportunity, maybe a dice game in a casino – shops of various kinds, treat boxes and combat. Combat’s the biggy here and we’ll spend most of our time on it because it’s brilliant, but it’s important to say the other stuff is great too. I play City Wars because of the fantastic card battles, but I also love the chunky 3D art with its lurid colours, and the neon lights to the map screen with its interesting choices. I love that dice game, even though I’m horrible at it. I love getting my randomised load-out at the start.