HEROish is a card-based castle defense game from Sunblink Entertainment. The colorful title is exclusive to Apple Arcade, a $4.99 per month subscription service to get access to games with no in-app purchases and no advertisements. The game features three story campaigns, but is it worth paying Apple Arcade’s monthly fees?
Meshing Tower Defense and Card Games
HEROish blends the card-battling and tower defense genres. In the game, you move around the castle or village your hero is tasked to defend. Your character will auto-fight when near an enemy, however, you also have cards at your disposal. These cards grant you helpers and special abilities to use against your enemies at the cost of mana.
Unfortunately, neither the cards nor the tower defense elements are well-defined. When moving your character around the map, there is only one way to go. Other avenues are locked until you’ve defeated a certain group of enemies or met an objective. This takes away the strategy element of tower defense games. Furthermore, this makes it feel rather repetitive.
The card element of HEROish also falls flat. The cards have very little to them; there is the mana cost, a few bars indicating strength and health, and that’s it. Unlike most card titles, there aren’t many special abilities, weaknesses, or other common mechanics. It feels as if the card aspect isn’t needed and is only there to fit the recent trend of card-based RPGs.
Unique and Lively Characters
The best aspects of this game are the main characters. HEROish ‘s eclectic cast is full of interesting personalities that play off of each other well. Flynn Diamond is the typical confident and strong hero archetype, whereas Vega relies on her connection to Ajax, her wolf. As you continue through the story, you’ll find ex-villains and grumpy mentor characters to add to your crew.
The dialogue is incredibly well-written, and really emphasizes how well the characters are developed. Each character has different styles of dialogue that match their personalities. Some speak casually, some are verbose. Additionally, some characters have different verbal tics they often repeat which really speaks to the level of care put into the characters in this title.
But Is It Worth the Subscription?
Unfortunately, we don’t recommend buying an Apple Arcade subscription for this title. The gameplay is repetitive. I was bored halfway through the first campaign. Although I slowly fell for the characters, the gameplay did nothing for me. I went in expecting a tower defense game and ended up with a visual novel featuring half-baked mini-games.
The way the game is set up removes any strategy elements the player could use, as gameplay is consistently linear. HEROish is fine for keeping yourself busy over a weekend, but it is not worth getting a $4.99 monthly subscription for. If you already have the subscription, however, feel free to check it out on the Apple App Store.
