Oh no, Commander Quest already has me in its grasp

A roguelike deckbuilder with auto-battle mechanics and Dwarf Zhuge Liang

Flyway Games

Well, here we go again. It’s the same with every Steam Next Fest, really. Every single one has at least one roguelike deckbuilder I click with, making me mentally prepare myself to sacrifice hours of my life at its altar once the full version is out. This time, the culprit is called Commander Quest – and what a majestic specimen it is.

It has this military fantasy theme with playable characters like Richard the Lionheart, Saladdin, and Zhuge Liang – and you can even unlock a Dwarf and what I assume to be a Goblin version of them, giving them access to different card decks and mechanics.

Your commander comes with a special ability you can use during combat as well as a unique starting relic. Zhuge Liang, for example, gets a free redraw at the start of combat and can use his ability to temporarily manipulate the speed of all troops on the battlefield.

Dwarf Zhuge Liang in all his bearded glory. / Flyway Games

Commander Quest comes with all the trappings of the genre – an overworld map with divergent paths that lead to normal battles, elite battles, shops, events, or campfires, a relic system, and some consumables (though those are food instead of potions here).

Combat, however, is where things feel different. Instead of there just being you and some enemies with attacks flying back and forth, you look down on an entire battlefield with different lanes and aspects like high grounds (these let ranged units attack targets on other lanes), oil barrels, barricades, and even goodie boxes you can crack.

Your commander will be on one side of the battlefield, the enemy commander on the other – and the goal is to survive while destroying the enemy leader. Of course, that’s where the cards come into play. Instead of representing direct attacks and spells, most cards in Commander Quest are summoning cards, which call units to the battlefield. These range from common militia troops to rarer types like the Varangian Guard and Cataphracts, which have more HP, attack power, and likely some other neat bonuses.

You can play cards whenever it is your turn, after which the battle rages on automatically. / Flyway Games

You usually summon these units onto the battlefield in designated spots on your side of the area, from where they must march to the enemy, overcoming any obstacles or troops before attacking the commander. However, some units can be placed freely or at special flanking spots, circumventing enemy defenses. Despite this being an auto-battler, meaning there’s no micro, a surprising amount of tactical depth enriches the experience.

There are also more direct ways to help this tug-of-war game – some cards let you throw flaming grenades, direct a volley of arrows, distribute beer among the troops, and so forth.

Some Dwarf units even get special buffs when they have the Drunk status effect. There are a lot of little interactions like these to explore, which is really fun. Dwarfs and Humans feel quite distinct thanks to Dwarfs coming with a special mechanic: Some of their units produce Steel by being summoned, which functions as a requirement to summon more advanced units or grant other units special effects upon being summoned, either by consuming Steel or simply based on how much you have collected. 

Enemies range from other human troops to fantasy creatures, so there is no lack of variety. / Flyway Games

At times this feels very much like Warhammer Fantasy – the Dwarfs can get Gyrocopters, for example, which can be upgraded to Gyrobombers. I have no idea how they are different from the base version, though, because the devs forgot to translate that particular card from Korean into English. Some placeholder art is still in the game, too, and many of the card descriptions show false information (some upgraded cards are shown as having the same stats and effects as their base versions, which I dare say isn’t quite right).

At the moment, you can play up the second boss battle of Commander Quest with the Human and Dwarf forms of Richard, Saladdin, and Zhuge Liang, which is already quite a bit of content. There is meta progression that allows you to increase your HP, among other things, and cards that can be unlocked. It looks like three more commanders are planned, as well as a Goblin or Orc faction.

There are plenty of cards to unlock to enrich future runs. / Flyway Games

Everything about this one is already clicking for me, so I’m excited to see where Flyway Games is taking this title.

You can check out Commander Quest on Steam for yourself.