Crystal Soul Arena is a competitive card game by Crystal Soul Team, a newcomer in the industry. It is currently in open beta, and is available on the Google Play Store.
I had the opportunity to start Crystal Soul Arena during the closed beta, and have been playing since. The game has come a long way since I started a few months ago, and it is starting to take shape as a complete experience for players. Crystal Soul Arena has the potential to be an accessible card game for those who aren’t too familiar with the intricate strategy that these kinds of games often require.
In Crystal Soul Arena, players play their cards simultaneously. They share turns, which makes the game flow much faster than other card games. On each turn, players will choose a card from their hand of three cards to play. The other two cards will be shuffled back into the deck and once both players have chosen their cards, the two will resolve effects and battles. Each player starts with 15 health points, and when those 15 points are depleted, that player loses. Losing battles results in a loss in points based on the difference of the cards’ attack stats.
Of course, the game isn’t about simply throwing out the strongest card every turn. Most cards come with abilities to help the players to strategize. Some cards have free effects that often generate crystals, which are then used by other cards to play effects. Generally speaking, stronger cards use more crystals. Simply generating crystals isn’t enough though, as there are currently three crystal colors, and most effects require specific colors to activate. Winning a match in Crystal Soul Arena often requires careful planning and crystal management.
Like most card games, a lot of a match is decided before it even begins. Deck-building is vital to the success of players in Crystal Soul Arena, but it doesn’t feel as crucial as it is in other CCGs just yet. There currently aren’t a lot of cards in the game, but there is at least plenty of diversity in possible play styles. Finding cards with synergy is key and getting access to strong cards can make a mediocre player win a lot of games. Fortunately, it is still easy for a beginner to get into Crystal Soul Area, as everyone is given a fine starter deck for the playstyle of their choice.
Players can obtain new cards via dailies, winning matches, being at the top of leaderboards, and through in-app purchases. As of writing, the in-app purchases are locked, but players can view ads to obtain new cards. Currently, this is one of the fastest ways to obtain cards, but players can only watch 3 30 second ads every 90 minutes. It’s not too intrusive, and I will take it over being forced to spend money on gacha.
The production values are currently a bit below the curve when you compare Crystal Soul Arena to some of the other card games on android. This is to be expected though considering that this game doesn’t have as much support as bigger apps do. Still, for now, expect menus that don’t have much going on aesthetically and fairly generic audio. Maybe cards with voice acting will eventually be implemented, but this might far off. The art style of the game may turn some players away. Most of the human cards are women, and just about all of them are quite curvy. The fanservice is a bit excessive, but it doesn’t get as obscene as what we see in games like Shadowverse.
One of the most promising things about Crystal Soul Arena is the developers’ approach towards game balance. Nerfs and buffs are almost completely decided by player suggestions and polls on the game’s official Discord channel. It’s interesting seeing the developer listen to the community so intensely. It will be even more interesting to see if the community finds a way to derail itself through overreacting to certain cards in the future.
Crystal Soul Arena still has a long way to go, but for now, it has a solid foundation. The developer intends to add more cards, more crystal types, and more features as the development cycle matures. During its beta period, this is a nice light game to play occasionally.
