Prismata

Incredible game with no hidden information and no RNG (except at the very top skill level, there is some RNG in some sets depending on who goes first/second). Too bad not many people play :(

Fun game, the AI is great and it has good features for learning like being able to roll back turns and sets of puzzles to teach concepts. Also, not really a card game. There's no deck, and both players have the same hand of 'cards' to play from, which is always full. So it's more like a unique board game or something with a card aesthetic. Give it a shot, it's free.

Big starcraft player, and this is absolutely a brilliant way to do turn based strategy. Sunk a lot of time into this game, peaking at around top 50 globally, and I loved every minute of it. It's so deep that I had way more to learn until I could even pretend to be competitive with the best players

Starcraft 2, but focuses on strategy, rather than multitasking and high apm. Chess, but with different pieces every game.
Please don't be fooled by cheap mobile looks, this game took almost a decade of development. And the main game mode, PvP, is entirely free without any advantage for paying or veteran players. If you want to support devs, you may purchase single player campaign (which a lot of negative reviews confused for the main game mode and thought it's behind a paywall), puzzle packs and cosmetics.

Prismata is a beautiful game. It may seem daunting at first, but the more you learn, the more you can see its beauty.

The campaign is helpful as a tutorial for the first 5 missions or so. After that, give the 1v1 a try against some easy bots to figure out what you're aiming for because that's where the beauty is at. The tutorial is puzzley and fun, but not nearly as satisfying as the head to head fights.

Learn what you can from some bots and casual matches, then watch some Msven and Amalloy (Alan Malloy) on Youtube to learn some finer points of strategy and you'll be well on your way. This game has an unlimited skill ceiling. You'll be learning new unit combos and interactions for as long as you play. It's worth your time.

I like card games but hate the payment systems. Prismata developers did their best to make a fun and intelligent game that isn't heavy on the wallet. Money only buys you cosmetics in this game. As other reviewers said, this game is easy to learn and hard to master. I appreciate the developers involvement in game and community. Hope only for the best for the future of Prismata. GG

A truly unique, polished, humorous, and fun little strategy card game. The story is cute and the competitive gameplay is complex and engaging. There really isn't any pay to win. The overall design, options, customization, matchmaking, everything is of the highest degree. Of all the games I've played this is probably the easiest recommendation. One word of warning is it takes a bit of commitment to learn the game... But what good strategy game doesn't?

Since this is going f2p in a few hours, here my review.

I bought Prismata Early Access in spring this year after seeing a video about it and it was worth every cent! I even bought further supporter packs beyond the Early Access price.

Prismata is a neat (complex) strategy game... basically SC2 but turn based and without map.
It has an easy entry through the first campaign (which is free... see pricing model below), which introduces the basic concepts and those are further extended in the combat trainings. After that one can basically start plaing against human players or bot in the core game.
It has a high learning curve though because of the mass of units, but there is already a lot of material out there for those willing to learn and the community is really helpful. If you managed to climb that curve, the game gets really satisfying. Because there is no RNG except who goes first, you either win because you were better, or you lose because you were worse... but most of the time see why and learn from your mistakes (and if not, hop into the replay and analyze the game ;) ). Win-Win basically :)

Since the game is f2p, there is no reason to not at least try it. Beyond the campaign because the core game is quite different from those puzzles (though there are fun), be it against basic bots.


Pricing:
The multiplayer part is completely FREE!
The only thing buyable are skins for your units and some single player stuff (campaigns 2+, puzzle packs).


TLDR:
The game is free and insanely good and fun, though pretty difficult. No reason not to try it if you like to think for a change.

This feels just like an RTS but plays like a card game. Randomized decks makes all matches unique, forcing you to quickly strategize depending on the deck, and adjust your build multiple times per game to counter your opponents strategy.

However there is no good way to learn how to play. The single player content fails miserably at teaching the concepts of the game and consists mostly of endless hours of frustrating trial and error - without teaching you why you keep failing and thus it won't improve your gameplay. Don't bother with it. Turn to youtube and learn from the experts and keep on practicing vs bots until you are allowed to play ranked vs players - where the real fun begins.

The micro transactions are only for cosmetic purposes - and for some more single player content (which, as already established, should be avoided)

This is the first time I've reviewed a game on Steam. This game deserves it. I'm not sure I may play much of it in the future, but that's mostly because I don't game much anymore. Also, don't go by my Steam playtime, I'm playing the web version on Linux instead. All of this aside, this game resolves almost every issue I've had with card games in the digital format, and is the furthest thing from P2W in this realm of games. I've been playing it for 3 hours straight and I don't think any game has captured my attention like this in a LONG time. Sharp and clean, no distracting visuals, helpfully instructive, on top of being the almost-perfect meld of CCG and strategy gaming. I'll probably expand on this review later, but yeah, good stuff.

As someone who can only play StarCraft 2 with ~50APM and failed to defend fast pool everytime, I really love Prismata. A very complex and interesting turn based strategy game. Even as a professional mathematician, I find puzzles and matches in this game deep, hard and very exciting. Different from most of the modern card/turn based strategy games, this game has almost no RNG (except the coinflip in the beginning of each match, and randomized advanced units, which are the same for both side), and all information is open to both side, so calculation and prediction play very very important role here.

The learning curve is somehow steep. More or less like a good RTS game, there are things to memorize: common openings, tricks and trades... But luckliy, there are very good articles about these aspects already: google Prismata library. Once you get over the basics, every game becomes very exciting and unique.

That said, this game is not for everyone. It is for those people who like rigorous strategy and calculation, and hate the gamble effect RNG brings. A very unique game, also well polished. And somehow to my surprise, the in game chat and the community is very friendly, helpful and very warmful towards new players.

Summary: Prismata is turn-based Starcraft meets Magic: the Gathering. It's recommended if you like the resource management and build optimization of Starcraft, but find unit micromanagement frustrating. Also recommended if you like the tactical gameplay of Magic: the Gathering, but dislike the cost of collecting cards and dislike games being determined by which player draws the right cards.

Pros:
- Deep and unique strategic gameplay
- All players on an even playing field
- Every game plays out differently
- Excellent, non-cheating AI with a broad range of difficulties
- Rich support for competitive play
- Very affordable

Cons:
- Small, hardcore playerbase
- Sometimes makes me feel dumb
- Skins only obtainable through a microtransaction slot machine

Prismata is one of those rare genre-innovator games for which it is difficult to make direct comparisions to other games, but which is, in retrospect, surprising that something similar hasn't been done before. The best summary is "Starcraft, the card game."

Over the course of a match, you and your opponent will take turns building units by spending resources in exchange for playing cards to form a tableu of units, selecting some units to attack your opponent, and managing your defenses. However, instead of playing units from a hand of cards, they are built from a card pool which allows all units to be built at any time, provided you have the required resources available. This unit pool of fifteen to twenty-two units is randomly generated at the start of each match from a library of more than one hundred options, changing the optimal strategy each game, and rewarding the player more able to adapt their own strategy to the available choices.

The units themselves are purchased using five different categories of resources. At the start of a match, you start with two engineers, which produce energy, and a handful of drones, which produce gold. (The first player gets six drones, and the second player gets seven.) You can use energy to produce more drones, and use gold to purchase other units and structures. These structures produce additional red, green and blue resources, which are further required to buy more advanced units.

Some units are purely economic, others can attack your opponent, others defend against attacks, and some can do both. Many of the more expensive units have an ability which you can choose to activate once a turn, perhaps spending some resources, perhaps making that unit unavailable to defend, in exchange for some positive effect. The five categories of resources, the wide variety of units with unique effects, and the attacking and defending phases bring to mind Magic: the Gathering as a gameplay comparison. However, unlike Magic, the same units are available to both players during the game, and unlike Magic, there is no need to buy card packs in order to get access to units.

Because the only randomness during the match is the selection of units available, and because the same units are available to both players, the winner of a match is determined only by he who makes the best decisions. This can be very rewarding when you win, but when you lose, there isn't anything to blame but your own poor performance. This isn't Hearthstone, where you can shift the blame to the random number generator. This isn't League of Legends, where you can scapegoat your teammates.

The high learning curve of Prismata and lack of random elements means that acquiring the skills required to succeed against other players can be a frustrating experience. This is particularly the case because the player population is somewhat small, with less than two hundred players online at any given time, and quite hardcore. If you are the sort of player that is easily frustrated by losing, this may not the game for you. However, if you respond to a losing streak by trying to analyze your mistakes and attempt to "git gud", to put it in the parlance of our subculture, then Prismata will be a rewarding.

The game does provide the tools for improving your performance. There is a replay system allow you to review your mistakes and do "what-if" scenarios to see if different decisions would have led to better results. You can also spectate top-level players in-game, making the game itself a rich environment to learn from the best.

Mitigating the initially brutal multiplayer experience is a lengthy set of single-player battle training missions. These missions walk you through available tactics and strategies for effective Prismata play. You can expect to spend twenty hours or more progressing through the single player content. Also available is a very capable AI opponent, with many difficulty settings, which should allow anyone to find the right level of challenge.

Currently, Prismata is available through Steam for $25 USD, and the value for dollar at that price point is very generous. However, be aware that Prismata will, in the future, be a free-to-play game with microtransactions. The full gameplay experience will be available for free. Whales will be on even footing with the completely free-to-play player.

However, skins for your units are acquired through a microtransaction slot machine which seems optimally designed to bilk the potential problem gambler. A trifecta of exploitation makes this so: difficult to estimate probabilities, cognitive biases about loss aversion, and an in-game currency creating psychological distance from real-world dollar value. Of course, these skins are cosmetic only, providing no in-game advantage, so you are free to ignore them entirely. But the process of acquiring skins does feel a little slimey. I'd strongly prefer directly spending money on skins, instead.

If you are interested in Prismata, I would recommend buying in at the asking price on Steam, since it does give you extra single player content, but if you are unwilling to pay the asking price and can't wait for the free-to-play roll out, be aware that sometimes streamers on Twitch have keys to give to new players, and apparently there is a Discord where you can ask for a key and get one. I've also seen the developer give keys to people asking about the game on the Prismata subreddit.

A strategy game made by/for a specific type of gamer. Prismata is very much like an abstract variant of a Starcraft mirror match, but with some key differences.

Pros:

* Decent singleplayer content consisting of a Campaign with a cheesy story that serves to teach the player the basics of Prismata, while also offering optional challenges that a skilled player can choose to take on. There's also a variety of preset Combat Training missions separate from the Campaign, designed to teach specific concepts to make you a better player. Finally, there's also some badges to unlock via achievements, and those achievements are a mix of lifetime milestones (earn X gold, build X units) and challenges (beat a training mission designed around using X unit to win...without actually building that unit!)

* Bot support is well above the norm for a strategy game where both sides have similar starts, with no handicapping. I think its fair to say that the better bots are at the level of at least an Intermediate player, with a wide variety of less skilled variants for the Beginner player to practice on. There's also a Casual matchmaking mode where you can opt-in or opt-out of facing these bots, if you prefer that to a Custom Match.

* I am still far from an experienced player, but as far as I can tell, Prismata is fairly well balanced. In any given match there is likely to be a slightly favored player (often whoever goes second), but due to the uniqueness of each match (a base of 11 units in every game, plus up to 11 more from a random pool of 97+ units), it is difficult to identify the "correct" lines to take. Often Prismata is about who makes the fewest mistakes, because both players are likely to make several over the course of a game.

* While Prismata was funded by kickstarter at one point, a new player is still eligible to buy in at similar/same tiers via Steam Early Access. $25 USD is considered the Engineer tier, for example. Benefits over the eventual F2P version are almost all either cosmetic or bonus singleplayer content and none of it is pay-to-win, though it should be noted that the Golden/Platinum Tickets can be used as pay-to-complicate in the Ranked Ladder. They increase the odds at the start of a match for up to three additional random units to be added to the unit pool (which starts at either 8 or 5 units, whichever you queue for). This isn't an advantage persay, and players can disable that part of the ticket if they wish, but it is a match-influencing effect that F2P players will have limited access to.

* The UI is very functional. There's a hotkey for almost everything, and many (but not all) of those hotkeys can be reassigned.

* Soundtrack. While not extensive in quantity, the quality of the soundtrack is pretty high. I'm less impressed with the sound effects, but that could just be personal preference, as I tend to turn the sound effects slider down in most games.

* Runs on toasters. I don't have a toaster (i7-4770k stock with MSI 1080Ti stock), but I can comfortably run Prismata mirrored on two screens while running a Twitch stream on a third and not run into performance issues.

Cons:

* Lack of playerbase. Typically there are around 70-200 players online at one time, as of the time of this review. The hope is that this will change once Prismata adds a F2P option, but that is month(s) off in the distance and it is yet to be seen if Prismata will grab a F2P audience. I cannot comment on the quality of matchmaking at this time as I am still improving vs bots, but the playerbase appears to be a mix of veterans (who had access for years before Steam Early Access) and new players (who bought in during Steam Early Access). Considering that and considering that not all of the players online are queuing the same ladder if they're queuing a ladder at all, there's likely pockets of mmr where very few players reside.

* Always online. You will need an internet connection, even if you are playing the singleplayer content, playing against a bot, or reviewing a replay. This has been mentioned to the devs (the idea of an Offline Mode), but isn't considered a priority at this time.

* Time controls. This can be a pro or a con depending on the player, but if you are playing on the Casual Ladder, Ranked Ladder, or Event mode, you will be subject to a timer. In Casual that timer cannot be configured and is always 60s, in Ranked you can queue any combination of 90s/60s/45s/30s/20s/12s/6s (quicker time controls are given priority if you queue multiple and anyone else is also queuing that time control in your mmr range), and Event mode varies daily but is typically 12s or 6s. Additionally, you get a timebank that starts at the same value as your time-per-turn, and it increases by 25% of your unspent time-per-turn.

For many players, this isn't an issue. If you use hotkeys, submitting a turn is a matter of seconds. And if you're a quick thinker, many of these options will feel slow to you. 45s is considered the competitive standard (used in standard tournaments), and much of the current userbase queues some combination of 60s/45s/30s. However, if you were considering buying Prismata because you want the joy of resource management without the pain of APM/fast thinking, this may not be the game for you. You do have the option of creating private matches with friends or bots, and those matches can have timers disabled, but any mode involving matchmaking has a timer attached.

* Graphics. Its an indie game, made on an indie budget. This isn't a Blizzard/Electronic Arts/Ubisoft/etc title. The interface is clear at 1080p, though I wouldn't want to run it too much lower than say 720p.

Overall:

Recommended, but only if you are part of Prismata's target audience. This is a strategy game that encourages quick, deep thinking during most parts of a match, and while there is something here to enjoy for all skill levels, the focus is on players who are striving to be the best. If that isn't you, consider waiting until the F2P version comes out, or consider trying the Steam Free Weekend that is speculated to happen sometime during April 2018.
___

Review written Mar/27/18, from the perspective of someone who bought in during Steam Early Access. I purchased the $25 version of Prismata on Steam, and was comped a second copy by the dev when I requested it. This has not influenced my review in any intentional way.

Prismata is a turn-based abstract Starcraft-esque game whereby both players have access to the same (randomized per match) set of units.

Pros
- No Collecting Legendary e-peen/cards: both players in a match always have access to the exact same tools (randomized sets of units).
- 100+ Randomized units means that every match provides a fresh experience and keeps you on your toes.
- No Pay 2 Win: only a generous Pay 2 Cosmetics Quicker system.
- No BS RNG: when you lose it's because you were outplayed by your opponent.
- Prismata allows for replaying and analyzing previous matches which encourages study, learning and eventual mastery of the game.

Cons
- Relatively small but healthy player base (100-200 concurrent players) but it will grow when the game goes F2P.

If you've always wanted to play Starcraft but never had the APM to be a pro or if you've always wanted to play competitive card games but without any Pay2Win mechanics then you'll most likely fall in love with Prismata.

Starcraft without APM, and card game without random. Absolutely amazing experience.
P.S. In-game AI is pretty hard.

This game is the absolute pinnacle of turn-based strategy. It is really a surprise I only heard about this game now, a few days after the release on steam, even though the game has existed for over 3 years I heard. And why you definitely SHOULD buy this game? Here are a few examples of my reasons behind my decision to get Prismata:
- I like chess, I've played HS, Gwent, Duel of Champions, Fire Emblem and loads of other different turn based strategy games, but I have never come across anything like Prismata before. The combination of no RNG(apart from coinflip, which has around the same effect as chess) and very complex game mechanics which need to be perfectly executed or you literally can lose instantly, really creates a very competetive and interesting game environment, where you always feel you can improve gameplaywise after any given game.
- Prismata has been made super-indie, by only a couple of people and because of that has a completely different mindset compared to for example Duel of Champions, which is another game I also loved, although it was shut down by Ubisoft. The developers have clearly emphazised how much it means for them to create a no-p2w environment where you don't have to grind for the cards, or anything, although this is not a card game but a resource management game. Completely opposed to for example the "pay until you are broke" - method which sounds like to be the monetization option for Valve's newest "strategy" game Artifact and many other similar games in 1v1 strategy genre in general.
- The developers have come up with a really clever solution to prevent the game from every getting solved, or repetitive, as the available "card" pool for both players is partly randomized every game. And yes for both players means both players have the same options, in every game, negating most balance issues with cards being overpowered or too weak, as you cannot choose what to take with you ingame.
- The lack of deckbuilding was a weird thought for me at first, but it actually is the perfect solution for any game like this. The reason why card games or other strategy games which involve deck building of some kind get tiresome rather quickly, unless new cards are added very often, which has its own issues with balancing and older cards getting useless and price for new players etc. Although I repeat, this is NOT a card game even though it maybe might seem like one when you take a first look at the UI, I feel that comparisons to popular card games work well with this game, as the strategy is in the end somewhat similar, just without the surprise factor of your opponent having a hand you cannot see. When the options are open to inspection for both players, the mindgames really kick in. And as every game is different and you have to figure out a new strategy for every given game, and also look out for what your opponent is doing, the game will never feel stale!
- Since steam release although the success isn't like HS level, I have had no trouble finding opponents when queueing. Also the AI is really challenging and the single player missions are already so difficult that it feels like they have a lot more content than they actually do, funnily enough. I like the art style of the game even though I have seen many people calling it "cheap" or "mobile like", but tbh I think for such a small development team the art style is more than good enough, and main plus I'd say every unit at least feels unique and distinct, thanks to the artwork.
- Main positive is the mechanics though, but explaining all those in a single review might take a little too long, but I just say that after turn one, literally anything is possible. The units have cool combos and setting up situations where you will end up ahead in the long run is crucial to winning any game, and the key is WHEN to do things or not.

Negatives:
-Price of the game can feel a bit high (around 21€ for me with the first DLC) but it did feel worth it for me after I played a while. The game will likely be free to play some point but I wouldn't wait for it as the founder edition has some cool bonuses, like letting you unlock the various skins and other cosmetics for the units a lot easier. Talk about supporting a great game!
- The skill ceiling is REALLY HIGH, like yeah this game is not for everyone, it can feel overwhelming without any experience about these kind of strategy games, and it will take a while even for more experienced puzzle solvers like me to get the hang of it. But if you feel like you are up for a challenge, you will get it.
- If you require GWENT level of art, then maybe this game is not for you.

The easiest way to describe Prismata is to call it a RTS-themed (think Starcraft) chess. Chess comparison comes from the fact it has 0 RNG of any kind and no hidden info so the game is deterministic i.e. one of the players has a guaranteed win based on the starting positions. But just like Chess, Prismata is incredibly complex where solving it is impossible.

Players start with 6 or 7 Drones that harvest gold (2nd player starts with 1 extra drone to compensate), gold buys you technology structures that produce blue/red/green resources (not official names, but that's the accepted naming convention in the community). Subsequently gold and tech resources buy attackers/defenders and your goal is to kill opponent's units while protecting your fragile drones and attackers. Sounds simple at its core.

The biggest draw to Prismata IMO is the fact that even though it is deterministic, games play out completely differently each time and you aren't required to memorize openings like in a game like Chess. This is achieved by giving players random units each game (There's about 100 units in the random unit pool right now and each game you get 5-11 random ones, 8 being the number for standard 'tournament' mode). "Wait, didn't you say there is no RNG?". Yes and I wasn't lying - even though the units change, they are mirrored for both players! Once the game starts, nothing will depend upon RNG determining the outcome, it's up to your and your ability to come up and execute a superior strategy. A unit may be super good in a particular set of units, but get completely countered in another - figuring out which strategy to choose is a challenging but fun task.

Another cool part is that players don't own the "cards" (units), all the units are available to everyone in competitive PvP mode so there's absolutely 0 gameplay advantage to paying players (they can get some sweet cosmetics though!). This also means that devs have no qualms about balancing units - no one can complain that their cards got nerfed so devs can act swiftly and keep the balance at the top notch state.

If talking about the cons of the game graphics definitely stand out - the art may seem a bit "cheap" and the play screen may seem bland and generic. It obviously has a lot to do with the fact that developing team is small (3-5 people) and don't have a huge budget, but it's also because devs favour functionality and clarity over flashiness. The gamestate in Prismata can get rather complex with nearly 100 units on each side in some cases so unnecessary animations/flashy effects would slow down the game and clutter the screen.

Another downside to a lot of players may be that the game has no comeback mechanics, if you fall behind and your opponent overwhelmed you, you dont have a path to counter him most of the time - the game snowballs. So an early mistake or inefficiency in your build may easily get punished down the line by good players. The upside of this though is that if you see you are clearly behind, there's no need to wait until you "bleed out", you can concede and move on to the next game, trying not to repeat the same mistake again in the future. In some games with uncertainity/hidden info sometimes you know you have only 5% chance to win, but you sort of have to stick around for another 15-20 minutes just in case opponent makes a mistake which can be incredibly frustrating.

The game also has a lot of great features. Replays seems like no brainer in a competitive game, but there's also a super easy way to share replays with other players through a replay code. This coupled with the fact that the game has 0 hidden info means there's no secret strategies to hide, you can very easily find replays of top players and see how they played a certain set. You can also spectate games very easily, like the top players playing on the ladder live. Another amazing feature is the ability to analyze a game - if you think you made a mistake at some point, you can go to that part of the replay and open it in analysis mode to play out the game from both players sides and see whether a different line of play might have changed the outcome.

Overall Prismata is a unique strategy game with very deep and challenging gameplay if you decide to see past the bland exterior and decide to actually try it.

This is my first Steam review, but this game truly embodies the turn-based strategy genre and I really hope both the game and genre succeed. I've played both Heartstone and Gwent, but slowly grew bored due to the lack of strategic depth and RNG. Prismata is the exact opposite and is truly not P2W as there's no deck building or cards necessary to be competitive.

I would describe it is a cross between Dominion and Starcraft. Like Dominion, players are given a random set of cards each game to formulate their game plan. And like Starcraft, players must harvest resources to produce units while advancing their tech. The game is easy to pick up but staggeringly difficult to master and I'm really enjoying being terrible at it. If you enjoy RTS games but without the distractions of APM, robot-like timing, and micro, then this is the game for you.

Lastly, If you're holding out because of the graphics, don't. I almost passed myself, but am so glad I didn't. I quickly became immersed in the game play and strategy, and stopped thinking about it altogether.

This is currently my favorite game that i am terrible at playing! There are no excuses, like rng, to make you believe that you are good. The "tutorials" will even destroy you, if you are as bad as I am. I played 8 hours of Prismata yesterday and did not even realize it! If it weren't for the Sea Thieves Beta I would have played 12! Highly recommended even in its early access state.

Really fun strategy game. Creating and executing your own plan from a pool of unique units is such a satisfying feeling. No RNG is a huge plus. Comes with a bunch of puzzles and a pretty decent campaign so far. The gameplay has an absurb amount of depth but isn't too difficult to figure out at a basic level. Artwork can sometimes be lacking but there's a bunch of cool skins so I'd say it makes up for it. The devs are very active in the community and there's lots of events.