Card Shark review

A fascinating study of con artists, Card Shark employs everything from visual novel storytelling, gambling mini-games, and even quick-time events, as you learn how to become a master cheater in 18^th century Europe. But the game’s greatest feat isn’t coaching you to become a seasoned swindler (although it does this quite well). Instead, the crucial lesson is to remain unwaveringly skeptical of the world around you.

Games are a proficient medium for power fantasy. Whether you are throwing the Super Bowl-winning touchdown, winning the Formula One World Championship, or merely gunning down a legion of demonic forces, software can provide the feeling of unmatched athleticism. With the release of Card Shark for PC and Switch, you’ll experience the intellectual equivalent.

With the first hour of playing Card Shark, I rose from a wine-pouring servant boy to a grifter who could fool his fellow cons. It felt every bit as exhilarating as leveling up a character in an action game and using these newfound powers to dispatch a near-impervious boss. It’s an especially salient feeling because every single ruse developer Nerial (Reigns, Orwell’s Animal Farm) teaches you is rooted in real world deception. Sure, Card Shark’s input methods can be confounding at times. But you’re unlikely to find any game released in the past few years that will make you feel so brainy.

Ace of Deceitfulness

Card Shark’s lead is a mute youth recruited by the Comte de Saint-Germain to work two-person cons. The deceptions start simple enough, with a mini-game that tasks you to peek at another player’s cards. After noting the dominant suit, you’ll use the analog stick to signal this information back to the Comte. While a clockwise pattern for wiping the table down indicates hearts, a counterclockwise cleaning discloses that clubs are the dominant suit. Horizontal and vertical rag sweeps signal spades or diamonds.

In all, Card Shark will impart nearly thirty different tricks and tells, many building on the skills of previously learned grifts. In many ways, the game feels like it’s teaching you how to perform magic tricks- an activity that hasn’t been explored in interactive form since 2007’s Master of Illusion for the Nintendo DS. You’ll discover how to mislead at Three Card Monte, stack a deck, pick up discards to provide a winning hand, hide cards, and gesture your hand to the Comte. By the end of it, you’ll genuinely feel like an expert con artist. Years of role-playing as thieves and rogues can’t compare to the sensation of taking down European aristocracy at a game of cards.

Duplicity, What Have You Done to Me?

Remarkably, the signals and subterfuges are conducted through increasingly elaborate taps of the analog stick and well-timed button presses. But a single mistake will ruin the entire ruse, typically resulting in a humiliating monetary loss and a reprimand from the Comte. Although Card Shark employs layers of safeguards to prevent a sudden ‘game over’ screen, some won’t appreciate the intricacy of the game’s inputs. While I normally dislike games that rely on quick-time events, here they are a fitting equivalent for the kind of dexterous sleight-of-hand employed by swindlers.

As such, Card Shark is a literal confidence game. Not only must you memorize every step, but timing is key. Perform a technique too fast or too slow and you’ll elevate a suspicion meter. Any shortage of self-assurance or practice is revealed, intensifying the suspicion of the dupe sitting at the table.

Hang on Tightly, Let Go Lightly

If you’ve seen movies like Rounders or Croupier (1998 was a great year for swindle films), then you’ll probably know that cons can make thorny allies. Although they are often invaluable, trusting them can put you in a perilous position. Obviously, I won’t dare spoil the game’s plotline, but I will say that Card Shark navigates the issue of trust deftly. It’s obvious that Comte de Saint-Germain’s foremost motivation is wealth. But just how much can I trust him was a question that lingered across the game’s playtime. Likely echoing the sentiments of the protagonist, I wondered if there would come a time when the student is able to exceed the proficiencies of the master.

When I wasn’t contemplating who the ultimate con is, I was enraptured by Card Shark’s cast of characters. You’ll meet quite a few eighteenth-century dignitaries as your coach careens across Europe and beating them at cards is quite a thrill. Aesthetically, the game is surprisingly evocative. From the harpsichord chamber music that fill gambling halls, the subtle nod to woodcut printing and marionettes, and the delightful cinematics that use a depth-of-field effect, Card Shark’s artistry generates an immersive world. With multiple endings based on your winnings and charitability, there’s incentive for replay, too.

Conclusion

Card Shark’s cerebral approach and challenging input methods means that the game won’t appeal to everyone. But if you’re the type of person who appreciates an enchanting historical context or the thrill of being the shrewdest person in a room, Nerial’s latest is destined to win you over.

Card Shark was played on Switch with
review code provided by the publisher.