CD 2: Trap Master Preview

CD 2: Trap Master is a card-based roguelike tower defense game developed by ACE Entertainment and published by both ACE Entertainment and Erabit. In this game, you play as someone who seeks power and riches from a mysterious book with eyes. However, in order for your wishes to be granted, you must go through an entire story full of monsters and other dangers. If you die in the story, you get eaten by the book. As you can tell from the title, this is the sequel to a game called Candy Disaster - Tower Defense, which currently has a mixed reception on Steam.

This isn't sweet...

And no, I don’t think there’s any candy in this game, but that does explain the very cutesy enemy design that contrasts with everything else. It has this dark and gothic art style and soundtrack that I expect from Darkest Dungeon or something similar. It is jarring, especially when those enemies fall apart like LEGO bricks when killed.

So, what should you expect? Well, first off, let’s deal with fights. In encounters, all you need to do to complete them is to defeat all the waves. Enemies follow a set path indicated by a red line towards a set of blue altars, and if they make it there, you take damage. To stop them, you'll need to lay down traps, conjure summons, and use whatever powers and skills you have in your deck before you run out of HP. The game isn't turn-based, despite using cards. Nope, you generate mana over time and you need to wait before you can discard your hand and draw more cards. While time can slow down when placing traps and you can pause at any time, the entire game is in real-time. It can get quite frantic as enemies begin to overwhelm your defenses and you need cards to play. It’s actually pretty fun, especially when you start dealing with map gimmicks like moving walls and ice blocks.

You can be caught off guard very easily if you aren't careful.

However, you aren’t going to last very long if you stick with your stock cards. You can refine your deck by adding and removing cards, or even improve the cards themselves by upgrading them or adding additional effects on top of what they already do. However, you don’t need to just rely on card effects alone; There are various relics you can find and buy that passively add abilities, further modifying your play style. This is all through the Slay the Spire-style branching map full of treasures, events, rest spots, and places to spend whatever gold you earn. It’s a tried and true formula that makes you think multiple steps ahead or adapt on the fly. It’s not bad; it’s just that I’ve seen this time and time again.

Now, I do find the overall gameplay rather fun, but I did have some issues and annoyances. I wished there was a button or something that showed the red line. It shows up sometimes, seemingly at random points, but when the path is empty of enemies, it can be hard to tell where they're going and where to play traps. Also, it doesn't show every path at the beginning of a battle. While it can be obvious due to the map designs, it’s the little shortcuts that completely subvert your defence that can really get you killed before you even have the chance to fix it.

A tale of cards, randomness, and insanity...

I find CD 2: Trap Master (I still can’t quite believe CD stands for Candy Disaster) is a pretty fun roguelike that has some really good strategy. It has a good style and unique gameplay and can draw you in with its “one more try” sort of feeling. And if you’ve had enough of the base game, there are a few modifiers that can really mix your strategies. I look forward to its full release to see what else it has in store.