I'm not sure how long the game remains fair, but I played the first hour's worth of
Poker Knight, and we may have a contender for a new decent (though not a superior) RPG+Poker
Sword & Poker contender.
At first glance, it feels like it doesn't have any depth like Sword & Poker, but you realize there's some more depth as you play a bit more. It's a lot different than S&P (which is good), you get 2 of the 5 cards from a poker hand, then the next 8 or so laid face up on the table, for you to make a poker hand from. The stronger the hand, the more damage. An average battle takes around 6-9 hands to win, and there's no opponent turn either, you just get dealt new cards from the deck after each turn, so it also teaches card counting lol. The strategy mainly comes in when you have to start dealing less than ideal hands. If you leave more than two cards in your hand (by only having a pair for your hand - 5-2=3), you take the damage of the 3rd card (and possibly 4th card if your hand was just a high card) from your life total. And once you get a bad hand, getting out of subsequent bad hands is more challenging. So planning ahead for your next hand helps (instead of making a really good hand, maybe it's better to go for a pretty good hand that sets you up for the next round).
Then there are battles that change the rules around from time to time, and each enemy has a different special move they use every third turn. It seems like a pretty big game to complete, and the only real IAP is to buy potions/upgrade amulets with gold, which you earn from playing the game (sort of like Knights of Pen & Paper, but way less things to buy). I guess if you enjoyed Sword and Poker, and think you'd enjoy another Poker-RPG mix, this is worth a shot. The main drawbacks are whether there's a pay-wall (hope not), and selecting a card can once and a while be tricky on an iPhone, probably easier on the iPad. There's also the typical awful RPG find the amulets to save the world plot, but that's simple enough to skip.
