Some games are so ubiquitous I’d call you a liar for saying you’d never played them. We have all at some point matched three, we have all snapped, and we have all flipped two cards in a grid hoping they are the same. This being said it’s a little bit dangerous for devs to employ these often-used mechanics to make a new game. I remember the Match Three craze, for example. Going back, there was a game called Jewel Quest which got a couple of sequels and they all played very nicely. There were probably iterations before then, but this one sticks out in my mind. I played all of these games and really enjoyed them. Then every mobile dev team had to take that mechanic and clone it and this is a very good example of why we can’t have nice things. Over-saturation is a very good way of killing new iterations of a game before they even appear. Now, if you’re wondering what any of this has to do with today’s title, it falls into the same scope as my point. Fortunately, the devs are taking what is essentially Pairs and making something different enough that I’m praying people give it a fair shot. The game on the slate for today is Pairs and Perils and, it looks like something that warrants a much deeper look.
Pairs and Perils is a roguelike coming from the clever souls over at Little Horror Studios and being produced by Rogue Duck Interactive. Available now for PC over on Steam, this is a game that asks us to rely more on our memory than our reflexes. For a title in the roguelike genre, this is already different enough to pique my interest. These games don’t always ask us to rely on our gray matter so this is immediately a plus.
As is often the case, the basics in Pairs and Perils couldn’t be simpler. We are being asked to remember the positions of heroes and weapons, and then match them to combine their abilities. As is equally often the case, though, we can expect a few surprises along the way that will make things a little bit more interesting.
Your journey in Pairs and Perils is going to be filled with heroic adventures. It is also going to be filled with traps. If your memory falters and you match the wrong cards you will place yourself closer to danger. Your enemies have their own attack timers and each wrong move is going to make your next step even riskier. Speaking of your enemies, they also have their own abilities. These will range from stealing your hard-won gold and items to summoning hordes of skeletons. They aren’t just there to give you a headache, they’re going to force you to use all of your strategic skills to succeed.
As is the case with many of these games, in Pairs and Perils you’re brains are only going to get you part of the way to victory. If you’re going to uncover the best card combinations you’ll need to carefully select upgrades from the shop to enhance your deck. You’ll also have to develop strategies to protect the valuable cards you have from being pilfered by pesky monsters.
As I mentioned earlier Pairs and Perils is a roguelike. This means that no two games will be the same. Each playthrough begins with randomly generated heroes, enemies, and items. This will mean that every run feels fresh and opens the way for you to encounter a lot more of the game’s surprises. Also in a roguelike fashion, you can expect a pretty notable difficulty curve, with the challenge ramping up the more that you succeed. Encounters will become increasingly dangerous and there are powerful bosses waiting for you in the depths of the dungeon, who won’t think twice about ending your adventure for you.
Pairs and Perils sounds like something that’s going to be right up my alley. This is a game that’s taking well-known mechanics and building them into something fresh and new. The fact that I’m a huge roguelike devotee also makes me excited to get involved and see what this game is all about. You can find Pairs and Perils over on Steam now and there’s a good chance you’ll be hearing more from me on the subject at some point in the near future.
