- Abalon is a top-down deckbuilding RPG coming to iOS and Android
- It lets you explore a tabletop-style world, building a deck of abilities
- Fight in turn-based battles with a variety of monsters
When it comes to emulating the tabletop experience, there are many different ways to do it. But few can capture the casual, and sometimes cheesy, nature of a good classic fantasy board game. Something like Heroquest for example. But today's topic, Abalon, is probably the closest I've seen so far.
In this top-down deckbuilder, you have all the standard tropes. An open world exploration, discovering treasure, fighting monsters and all that good stuff. Of course, the reason I make the comparison to Heroquest is precisely because you will use a huge deck of cards to fight your enemies and wield powerful abilities.
Of course, you're not so much playing as part of a team as commanding your group. As a summoner you wield powerful magical spells and command a variety of warriors who you gather to fight for you. Featuring intuitive drag-and-drop controls, Abalon could be your next favorite board game to play.
A fantastic trip
Like I said, I think for roguelikes the deck building mechanic works pretty well if you put yourself in the mindset of something like, say, Heroquest. It's simple, accessible and means you can have depth and complexity without necessarily needing a lot of rules and mechanics to make things work. You'll be able to try Abalon and see how well it does when it releases in early November!
Speaking of tabletop RPGs, why not cast your mind back to 2018 and check out one of our most fascinating articles on some of the best RPG systems we've been wanting to see turned into games?
Or, if you want something more up to date, check out our list of the 25 best RPG games for Android!