izigame.me

HEISTGEIST is a cyberpunk RPG with a cardgame progression system that compels with its moreish gameplay, a colorful cast of characters all fully (and excellently!) voiced, and some wonderful world-building! It also feels like the first act of a longer game, and seems to end just as it's about to get going.
The game is also at times UNCOMFORTABLY linear, meaning early choices in your card loadout can lead to a sub-optimal build, and while you can course correct partway through the game - it still means you've wasted the precious limited number of battles you can engage in leveling up cards that are now worthless to your build.
That said, even good builds can't overcome how drawn out some fights can get, especially if you don't have a build that does toxic damage (damage over time that stacks with further applications), and stun to prevent enemies from throwing status effects that you have to take time out to heal.
One particular nasty fight had me being attacked by two robots that could do both toxic damage and reduced the number of action points I had to use cards AT THE SAME TIME and also had heavy shields that they could (and would) constantly refresh. This fight took FOREVER as I only had THREE (3) cards (out of a default-sized deck of 21) that did damage by bypassing their shields, I had to constantly take time to heal the toxic damage (with TWO cards), and that was only if I didn't have my turn skipped entirely from having my action points reduced to 0. And the kicker is: depending upon some of your previous choices you could be facing (as I did) TWO of these fights! IN A ROW! And since the game is completely linear, you can't skip them once you're locked in without resetting the entire (protracted) mission! The word "sadomasochism" comes to mind.
And this isn't getting into fights where enemies can literally burn your deck, reducing your already very limited card count; and enemies that can fill your hand with unusable cards that you can't discard, meaning a long enough battle (and it WAS a boss battle, so...) can end with you having a hand with ONE (1) usable card per turn.
That said: I *did* finish the game, got 100% acheivos, and even replayed the game again to get to a particular mission so I could grab screenshots and write my first ever Steam guide, so. I think I had my fun with this one, as much as I may doth protest above. That also said: reloading your profile save after finishing the last mission in the game just... rolls the credits? You can't go back to the final mission, check your card loadout, or even fight the final boss again: it just takes you straight to the credits. What a bizarre place for an autosave.