Amazing game, that deeply immerses you in a well-built world of myth and folklore. Play through the adventures of a witch-in-the-making that aspires to revive her lost lover. This ~20h campaign set in the russian countryside [EDIT:before] the first world war is mainly filled with well-paced dialogue, building a detailed environment the player wanders along where folklore and superstition are reality.

Short review: If you love story and atmosphere, go for it! If you came for an amazing card battler, better read the full review and make a informed choice afterwards, especially considering the higher price for a card battler game.

- Immersion: Even without any prior knowledge of permian-/russian-/slavic-mythos components you will find yourself being sucked into this new and strange world, where various kinds of demons and curses are as important as the various sections of a hut and their meaning.
- Character: As a "knower" (=witch) people ask for your help in otherworldly matters, placing you together with your grandfather in a position with very believable agency. A good deal of exposition is done by you explaining stuff to other people, which feels very natural and helps building the world step by step.
- Story: Accompanying Vasilisa through her ordeals in becoming a witch is simply great. A lot of decisions you take throughout the story will resurface later on, although the impact of each single decision on the story is usually not that severe.

- Card Battler: If you are only/mainly looking for a good card battler that will challenge you in the style of Slay the Spire or the like, I do not recommend to buy this game. The card battler is functional and brings some neat ideas to the table, but will lack real depth if you know how to build very strong decks, making encounter battles more a nuisance than a real challenge. That being said, I had fun with it and love the creativity that was put in it, with highlights being battling other mages and bosses. The variety of items and cards allows for a range of different playstyles, so you can always switch between decks (3 of the can be stored, you can change decks almost any time). The few card puzzles did not really do it for me.
- Atmosphere: If you have seen the trailer, you know what to expect of the graphics. For me, the simple art style did the trick and let me tell you, the developers know how to pull up some astonishing scenery with their style. These grand shots are often accompanied by folklore choires, weaving a deeply moving atmosphere, so for me this was a plus point, but I can see people being put of by this.
- Demon managment: Is tedious, but that is literally what it is supposed to be lorewise. So again something that worked for me, but I can see people disliking this feature.
- Length: Playing the Black Book requires a bit of effort, to read up on the small bits of lore trivia that you unlock all the time. It requires even more effort not to loose track of the meaning of the terms to remember, especially if you took some time away from the game. More often than not, the respective terms are highlighted and explained, but I can see that this can feel overwhelming. I learned to love the short catch up sequences at the start of a new day, where Vasilia retells the happenings of the previous day to her grandfather, making these the perfect time to take a break.

now I get through the work day with zagavors and chorts

This game DESERVES overwhemingly good reviews. Not a single flaw, at least for what it is.. a card battle game with great lore, writing, gameplay, and decisions that change certain important events. Also, not a short game.