Constantine Inspired Deckbuilder MALYS Impressions
If you’re a fan of John Constantine and Deck-Builders, then you’re probably going to love Malys, because about the only thing that it’s missing is Keanu Reeves.
Malys just shadow dropped into early access, but we had some time with it before launch, so let me tell you what it is and why you should consider picking it up now.
Malys is a roguelite deck-builder from Summefall Studios. The team behind Stray Gods and led by David Gaider, who co-founded the studio after almost 18 years at Bioware, where he was the creative director and lead writer on Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
In Malys, you take on the role of Noah, a former priest turned exorcist and demon hunter, which is almost enough right there, but Malys offers more than just a unique premise as the writing is extremely strong, which should be expected from Summerfall and is the biggest factor that separates it from the over saturated genre. Narrative is paramount and before each battle is a prelude that immerses you deeper into the universe with rich exposition. However, this doesn’t mean that gameplay becomes less important because Malys also offers a very unique gameplay experience from going through stages of an exorcism and having to burn cards in your hand to create action points.
As for why you should consider grabbing it now. To begin with, Early Access isn’t going to go on indefinitely. Summerfall is scheduled to reach 1.0 before the end of 2025, so you can enjoy it now and wont have to wait long for the full product which will include more regions, demons, stories, cards, curios, artifacts and most importantly a complete narrative.
Furthermore, the price point is around ten bucks in most regions and is currently more than worth it for the level of quality across the board.
Finally, after a few hours, it’s in a really good place already. Everything about Malys is immersive as it is trying to emulate everything about an exorcism.
We are working on our early access review, but initial impressions after handful of hours are promising, there are flaws all over, but there all appear to be surface level that can all be ironed out over the next few months. What i’m most interested to experience is the adaptive stories that change and shift as you progress.
