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Golfie is a deckbuilding golf game, and it all makes sense

A good shuffle spoiled?

For my second game of Golfie, I played through an actual dungeon. All of a sudden I was bouncing off huge pieces of stone, and knocking over candles. All of this on my way to the next hole. And suddenly everything made sense.

Deep breath: Golfie is a roguelike, deckbuilding spin on minigolf. Think about that for a second. Thankfully, it's as good as it sounds so far.

So you're a golf ball off on a roguelike journey, moving between holes and trying to conserve shots, navigating all the general clutter you might expect on a minigolf course. Fun enough. But there are perks to choose between, and there are cards. These cards are essential because your basic shot is almost no shot at all - it's like flicking the ball and watching it wobble.

No, if you want to really get it moving you need to add a power shot card, and maybe a lob shot to give it some lift. Maybe a curve to put a kink in it. You're basically playing cards as they're dealt and doing what you can to give the trajectory arrow that extends from your golf ball a useful bit of shape. Get it in the hole and move on. Run out of shots and the run itself is over.

Golfie trailer.Watch on YouTube

A couple of things I love already, just picking through this early pre-release build. One: there's a Daily Challenge mode, which is always money in the bank. Perfect for a run-based game like this.

Two? On my last run I got a new card: repulsor field. I was able to put up a little dome of energy on the other end of a hole that meant my ball had even better chances of sinking. And it made me think: what other cards are out there? How deep does this thing go? Unusual questions for minigolf, perhaps, but exciting questions for a roguelike deckbuilder.

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