To keep things interesting, there’s an awareness gauge at the bottom of the screen representing your opponent’s suspicion that you’re colluding with your friend at the table, and if it fills up all the way, you’ll be either tossed out or killed. This pace also keeps the game feeling fresh over time, as you’re rarely going longer than 10 or 15 minutes before things shift to a new minigame that has different demands and reinvents things all over again.Įach level ultimately comes down to you playing several rounds until your opponent is either broke or can’t meet the minimum bet. This adds a nice difficulty curve to the experience just when you feel like you’ve mastered the latest trick, it gets tossed and you have to learn a new one. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Īs the game continues, there are increasingly more difficult minigames to complete, requiring more steps and more specific information to keep in your memory. Splitting your attention between the cards and the amount of wine in the glass is surprisingly difficult, and we often found ourselves second-guessing whether we actually saw what we thought we did in the opponent’s hand. You have about three seconds to pour the wine-too much or too little will draw attention-but you also need to remember things like how many cards they had in a particular suit or what their highest card was. What makes this so thrilling is the fact that you’re constantly under pressure as you’re doing so, often because you have to commit lots of information to memory in a very short period of time.įor example, when you’re pouring wine for someone, the screen usually splits in two to also show you the cards in their hand. Each level tasks you with completing relatively simple tricks like shuffling a deck, flipping a coin, or pouring wine, and these are accomplished with Quick Time Event-like prompts. Gameplay in Card Shark could be most closely described as a take on the minigame frenzy of a WarioWare entry. We found ourselves looking forward to what each new level would bring, if only to see what kind of trouble this conniving duo would get themselves into (and out of) next. Or in another example, you manage to get out of a hostage situation by delaying your captors for long enough with a game. For example, if your character happens to die at any point, you can con Lady Death-a skeleton with a luxurious mane-in a card game to force her to give you your life back. The silver-tongued Comte says more than enough for the two of you, and there’s a certain kind of goofy charm in how the pair of you manage to solve all your problems by leveraging your abilities to fool people. It’s a delightful narrative all the way through, bolstered by the lighthearted, razor-sharp wit that permeates the writing. All the while, you slowly begin to realize that the Comte is tangled up in a bigger conspiracy concerning the French royalty. Impressed by your con-artist skills and preying upon your newfound homelessness, the Comte thus takes you under his wing and the two of you set out on an adventure to fleece all manner of high society nobles across France. Unfortunately, your opponent eventually gets wise to what you’re up to and your patron gets fatally shot in the ensuing struggle. While waiting on a boisterous noble calling himself the Comte de Saint-Germain (who actually existed) at the behest of your patron, you get roped into helping the rascal cheat in a game of cards in exchange for some of the winnings. Published by Devolver Digital, it’s the kind of game that’ll stick with you long after the credits have rolled, and if you’re even remotely interested, we’d very much encourage you to give it a go.Ĭard Shark takes place in 18th century France and places you in the role of a mute servant boy. The act of pulling off the con is shockingly simple, but maintaining one’s composure to ensure that everything goes according to plan is shockingly not simple. They say cheaters never prosper, but clearly they’ve never played Card Shark, a wonderfully tense, goofy little game that’s all about keeping your cool under tremendous pressure as you basically rob people blind. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
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