It’s hard for me to resist video games that involve cards in some way. Whether it’s a minigame in an RPG or a title designed around deckbuilding, I’m consistently drawn to the siren’s call of a deck of cards. Card Shark, an upcoming adventure game from Nerial, is testing my passion in a new way: by having me help other people play cards.
When I say “help,” what I actually mean is “cheat.” Set in 18th century France, Card Shark is ultimately a game of deceit. Your character stands on the sidelines, where they can clearly see the cards players have in hand. Using signals, you let your partner know what their opponent has in hand so that they can make the right play.
Although Card Shark is an adventure game, it’s not a point-and-click puzzler. When you send signals to your partner, you’re essentially completing quick time events. For example, if you want to tell your partner that a player has a handful of spades, you would need to clean a table in a counter-clockwise motion.
You also shouldn’t expect to do much pointing and clicking. When I started the game, a prompt suggested that I play the game with a controller. I ignored that and pushed on ahead only to find that it was incredibly difficult to send signals on a mousepad. When I tried to wipe up and down for diamonds, the game was convinced that I was trying to make a clockwise circle for hearts.
Even though there’s plenty of gameplay, Card Shark feels more like a visual novel than anything else. (I don’t mean that insultingly; I love visual novels.) There’s a big focus on dialogue and story, and Nerial has put a lot of effort into making its world come to life. The hand-drawn art style only enhances that. I found the animated sequences to be especially lovely.
While I’m always eager to find a game that will give me a chance to play cards, I’m happy to cheat at cards too. Card Shark is set to release on PC and Nintendo Switch later this year. If you’re itching to try some card tricks in the meantime, there’s a free demo up on Steam.
