Mahokenshi blends magical combat, deckbuilding, and celestial samurai

Honestly, who needs a deck of regular-shmegular cards, eh? The boom of deck builders has shown us so many wonderful ways to play with cards from Slay the Spire to the recently released Card Shark. Even Firaxis' next game has them. 

To continue the trend of exciting card combat games, Mahokenshi's trailer at the PC Gaming Show introduces us to magical samurai battles. 

Mahokenshi is all about four houses in the fictional Celestial Islands. Although very much based on Japanese culture, these houses are more mystical than they are historical. The four houses have a Mahokenshi to choose from, Ayaka from the House of Ruby, Kaito from the House of Sapphire, Sota from the House of Jade, and Misaki from the House of Topaz. As with many other card games each one of these characters has their own style of play  with elemental powers so you can learn each one as you go. 

Each of the Mahokenshi have one main goal in mind: protect this ethereal plain above the clouds by battling demons and monsters. Where it differentiates itself from many other deck builders is that you'll be travelling across terrain as you play, the trailer shows that the fighting is more continuous rather than level by level. 

Additionally, these deadly movesets are fully animated so you get to see your character beating up the bad guys rather than just imagining all the action. After all those years of seeing cards practically kick each others' shins it makes a nice change right? 

There isn't yet a solid release date for Mahokenshi but we have a timeframe at least. You can expect to play as these celestial samurai some time in 2023! 

Imogen has been playing games for as long as she can remember but finally decided games were her passion when she got her hands on Portal 2. Ever since then she’s bounced between hero shooters, RPGs, and indies looking for her next fixation, searching for great puzzles or a sniper build to master. When she’s not working for PC Gamer, she’s entertaining her community live on Twitch, hosting an event like GDC, or in a field shooting her Olympic recurve bow.

Read more
Battle Suit Aces
7 years after unique puzzle brawler Battle Chef Brigade, its creators are back with another offbeat genre mash-up: 'People like card games, hopefully they like card games that have really good characters'
An anime lady with big hair and a spaceship in the background
Chase sticky-fingered dragons across the cosmos (or just fly around, ramming spaceships) in this sci-fi deckbuilder
Yokai monster in Shadow of the Road
This upcoming RPG is injecting a healthy dose of magic, demons, and steampunk gizmos into 19th-century Japan
Ro, the main character of Death Howl, holding a ghostly deer that is her deceased son's incarnation in the spirit world.
Death Howl is an impossible and brilliant blend of soulslike, turn-based strategy, and deckbuilding, and you can try it for free now
A game of Mahjong
Of all the Balatro-likes on Steam, I think I'm enjoying this Mahjong version best
Shogun Showdown
This finely-honed samurai strategy game deserves a place in the roguelike hall of fame this year just as much as Balatro
Latest in RPG
Alligator skull with glowing eyes on human body and cords coming out sitting at piano with "The Norwood Etudes" ready to play
My new most anticipated RPG let me be a kleptomaniac gourmand set loose in a noir city on a quest to make 'the perfect sandwich'
Rise of the Ronin review
Rise of the Ronin review
Wyrdsong concept art
Wyrdsong, the RPG from ex-Bethesda talent, isn't dead—but it's no longer an open world: 'We're down to a skeleton crew'
A lolporrit squeals in excitement while being driven in a moon buggie in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, patch 7.2.
Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.2's trailer has me finally hyped to get stuck back in—and to go to the moon and pilot some mechs, because why not
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 barbers change hairstyle - Henry sitting on a horse wearing armour.
How to find a barber and change hairstyle in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Latest in News
Aloy - Horizon
'I feel worried about this art form:' Unsurprisingly, the real Aloy from Horizon isn't a fan of AI Aloy
Crying laughing emoji with disturbing realistic elements for REPO
REPO's first update will add a new map and a 'duck bucket' so we can finally give that pesky quacker a time out
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games