I really wish more games in this genre existed; that of single-player deckbuilders with an adventure and stories and growing a collection. The Pokemon TCG on Game Boy, Library of Ruina, and a bit of Inscryption just don't cut it, y'know?

That's why I was excited when I discovered Cardaire. It was exactly what I was looking for, though now that I'm done with it I wish there was more. The game's a short experience, maybe 5-7 hours with extra time being added for completing the card collection. Yet those 5-7 hours are filled with good music, witty humor that parodies aspects of card games/TCG players without ever feeling above them, and an interesting system to explore the game's world.

That last point is worth expanding on. Throughout your adventure you'll obtain specific cards, dubbed "Power Cards", which function in the card game as well as in the overworld: fishing rods, a dash function, and so on. It's a cool way to tie in both gameplay portions of Cardaire.

The card game itself is alright. It's a good foundation for expanding upon, kind of like early sets of Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon I suppose. Discarding cards to build Energy is a neat resource mechanic. You're not gonna discover some absurd 3-card combos or 1-turn wins (at least I didn't), but there are enough options to build a variety of decks. Mine personally was about enhancing my creatures and debuffing the opponents'.

That said, the AI is rarely much of a challenge. I've seen the opponent cast a removal spell (Torment) when my board was empty on several occasions just because they had the resources to spare, and it isn't like they were effectively discarding it to dig up later. You're not going to struggle to beat the main game.

Ah, one last thing. While a keyboard/controller works for the majority of inputs, you'll need a mouse for deckbuilding and dueling. Not a gripe, just a heads up.

Overall, while I do think Cardaire is a fun experience, I believe it is the aspects surrounding the card game that are truly charming, rather than the card game itself.

The Short Version: If you like the beatdown-heavy style of the old Yu-Gi-Oh games (we talking Forbidden Memories, here!), but wanted to add a few dashes of Pokemon's exploration mechanics and a delightfully charming soundtrack to boot--Try Cardaire.

The Long Version:
As someone who played a lot of YGO: Forbidden Memories for the PS1 and way more YGO: Spirit Caller, World Championship 2008, and so on, Cardaire's "card game" leans heavily towards the early days of YGO, where "my guy is bigger than your guy" is kind of the norm. While that sounds simple, there's enough complexity within these 100+ cards to mix things up a bit. You could go wide with the Stellar definitely-not-Sentai cast, or you could amp up a two-or-three armed swordsman to new heights. You could run plenty of removal cards while focusing on getting hits in, or you could play really tanky cards to protect yourself while you build up a board. With only a bit over 100 cards, you aren't going to get *much* variety, but you can save yourself some repetition by only focusing on the main fights while you....

Explore! This was one of the more charming aspects, as I wasn't expecting it to have Pokemon-inspired exploration (complete with "hidden moves" to unlock new areas). The environments are delightful to see, the visual/audio gags help keep the game's lighthearted tone, and the overarching story has a good bit of heart to it. While some of the game's secrets are a bit obtusely hidden, the community (and the dev!) has either already compiled some of the bigger secrets or is quick to answer any questions.

As a game that takes less than 10 hours to see/do everything, as a largely solo project, and as an homage to the days where your best deck was cobbled together from a handful of booster packs and hand-me-downs, Cardaire is fantastic example of what many Card-Game-Video-Games aspire to be.