Iris and the Giant

A compact, poetic deckbuilder; challenging, intimate, and quietly memorable.

Iris and the Giant is a beautiful, charming, and melancholic game that combines RPG and card strategy elements in a magical setting. It takes players into the mind of a young girl suffering from depression, where every gambler faces a variety of battles against inner demons and a host of cleverly interwoven game mechanics.

The plethora of things you can unlock, the challenges you can complete and the composition of a very nice and moving story, form a title that you will enjoy.

Iris has the ability to overcome her inner demons when she accepts help from others. I think that’s an important real-life lesson, get help when things become too hard for you.

If you’re feeling depressed or anxious, why not join Iris as she journeys through the mind to crush these very feelings?

Three difficulty modes, the hardest of which is unlocked after completing the main dungeon, two secondary dungeons after the first, and dozens of cards, enemies, and more to unlock give the game some real staying power. The watercolor aesthetic and haunting soundtrack contribute beautifully to the endearing story and satisfying gameplay. Some menu issues and the inability to adjust difficulty level within a save file shouldn't hold back another strong contender for a spot in your Switch library, especially those craving that "one more run" loving feeling.

It's quite remarkable how deck-building roguelikes have become quite a force to be reckoned with in the past year or so, but given the strategic challenge and pick up and play friendliness of them it's not hard to understand...

The gameplay here is deceptively simple, with the goal of the game’s 20 stages being to reach the staircase and/or defeat a boss while enemies who fall in one blow (unless protected by armor) stand in your way, but the way these simple mechanics intersect creates a great deal of depth and potential strategy. Iris and the Giant is the kind of strategy that I appreciate, and there’s little in gaming more rewarding than wiping out an entire screen of difficult opponents as part of a several-turn-long strategy.