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Deck builders come in many different flavors and while each may start to blend together, Nitro Kid does a good job of standing out from the rest. Allowing players to take control of 3 different characters with unique abilities and different paths to take during the story missions, players will find themselves entertained over the course of the game.
Story
The story is very to the point and gives players a solid understanding of what their mission is right off the bat. Players will control an agent of CINDER and must tackle a corporation that is responsible for a new narcotic named Nitro. Over the course of the game, players will uncover more information about the evil corporation and their test subjects which are called “Kids”. Since the game expects players to make multiple runs through the story, it is nice to have these story bits given to players in smaller segments.
Gameplay
Players will start each run by picking a different character that pulls inspiration from different pop culture icons with the first being a Bruce lee inspired character named L33. As players progress through the game, they will unlock J4X and K31.
Each run will have players selecting a set amount of cards for their chosen character before entering a room. Once players have gotten set up and enter the room, they will be given a set amount of enemies to take down while managing their cards and health. I found myself fully enjoying L33’s deck since I was setting up enemies to take extra damage when inflicted with burn. As players clear rooms, they will earn money that can be spent on different cards that can be utilized during each run.
Nitro Kid presents itself in a pixilated, 80’s inspired art style and this is a wonderful combination for the aesthetic. One of my complaints is a minimal one but the area players are bound to look like floating cubes in space. Since the story involves players rushing through 3 floors of the building, I would have appreciated it the floors seemed to flow a little better but this Is a minor gripe that many may overlook.
Another rough area that I found myself struggling with was the lack of information presented with each skill in combat. I had a hard time determining what “burn” was initially and ended up wasting a few turns just to figure out what the move was. Since players are encouraged to tackle each run as effectively as possible, it is a shame that there is this element of trial and error just to find out basic information. While this information is presented when selecting the cards initially, it would be nice to have the descriptions explained in the moment so that decisions can be made with full information.
Final Thoughts
Nitro kid does a wonderful job of standing out from other rouge-likes but some of the glaring issues prevent it from being a strong contender against other titles such as The darkest Dungeon and one of the more recent popular titles, Hades. It was a fun little adventure and could definitely hit the spot if players are looking for another game to add to their backlog but will certainly leave players looking for more after their initial run is finished.
