 SNES DRUNK! Before the 90's card craze of Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and even stuff like Magic the Gathering, there was Arcana, a first person dungeon crawling RPG where the characters are represented in cards. No, obviously this was not even in the same universe and popularity as the other stuff I mentioned. In fact, I don't think this game in particular had any actual cards associated with it. But the card motif stood out to me when I played this game as a kid and in an odd way it stands out today as well, as Arcana is a decent enough game. But it's not for everyone. Arcana is an interesting collection of ideas, with magic spells, allies, and enemies are all in card form. If your character dies, the card gets torn in half, and like I said, it's a first person dungeon crawler, and if you're used to games like this, there's nothing particularly unique here. It's pretty standard, similar to stuff like Lands of Lore, Aya the Beholder, or Shining in the Darkness. If you're not used to games like this, you may find navigation slow and frustrating. The basic combat is fine, it's very traditional with all the conventional weapons, magic, and items, but exploring a dungeon can be tedious and downright infuriating at times. Again, if you grew up with stuff like, say, Might and Magic, this might not be a big deal, but if you didn't, this is what you're getting yourself into. You move slowly, and it's very easy to get lost. Visually, as you can see, Arcana is very simple and stripped down, just a few frames of animation for each battle, but while that may be the case, the music here is surprisingly really well done, with long winding and detailed tracks that might actually be the number one strength of this game. It kinda reminds me of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, where if the game doesn't grab you, the music will. Anyway, there's not really much to the gameplay here, it's easy to figure out, even if you've never played a game like this before. The usual elemental strategy stuff is here, in the form of Earth, Wind and Water, etc. And that's represented by the color of the border of each enemy card. Again, it's nothing unique, but it's worthwhile to pay it mind because it'll make the battles that much easier. That's important because Arcana is tough as hell. There's not a lot of save points, your inventory has a limited amount of space, and you can't go back to previous dungeons you've conquered to grind on easier enemies. Once you've finished one, it's gone. Not only that, if any one of your characters die, it's game over. That's brutal. There's five dungeons total, and that may not seem like a lot, but each of these are huge, so you'll be looking at the map a lot. And that's kind of a pain in the ass because you have to access the menu, and ugh. You're still gonna get lost, but the map at least shows you where you've been, sort of. Yeah, it's frustrating to get lost and walk slowly tile by tile, but again, this is why it's important to have a strong soundtrack with a game like this, because that at least makes it a little more pleasant to find your way around. So yeah, while the dungeon exploring takes a lot of patience, I'm still having a decent enough time playing this game thanks to the music. As for the story, well, I'm not even sure if I should go into it because the localization has it going all over the place. Where many years ago, these card masters seal away an evil Empress named Rimsala, but then of course some other guy rises to power, and starts a civil war with the interest of resurrecting Rimsala for...some reason? And your character named Rooks is the last of the card masters and must find the remaining spirit cards, who by the way become party members, which is pretty cool, and end the civil war. In the meantime, Rooks has given a convenient excuse to explore each of the five dungeons, and it's nothing terribly interesting. Again, it's not that the story is bad, it's just that Arcana really could use a re-translation. As it is, it's standard, if not confusing. So is Arcana worth playing today? It reminds me of Blackthorn, the cinematic platformer I looked at a few weeks ago, in that it looks pretty good for what it is, but what it is, is not for everyone. And yes, I know what some of you are thinking, that Arcana looks very similar to Shining in the Darkness for Sega Genesis, and yeah, I guess it is pretty similar, but I think it's a bit more complex than that game. I will say if you like that game, Arcana is certainly worth checking out. If you don't think you can see yourself getting into a game like Arcana, that's fine. I honestly don't think you're missing that much, except for a good soundtrack.