Card Shark is a fascinating game that I fully admit I’m struggling to write about. It’s not because there’s nothing to over-analyse (I will always find something to grossly over-analyse). No, instead, I’m struggling with Card Shark because I recognise that, much like Aurion , this is a game that runs uniquely and absolutely counter to my skills as a gamer. I’m left struggling to decide what to say, not because I can’t think of anything, but because whatever I say comes from that place of recognising that I am looking in on a type of game that I am terrible at and always will be.

Yes, I admit it. I don’t know that the queen is the highest value card.

Card Shark is a game that’s hard to put into a particular genre, beyond just “this is so clearly an indie game.” Certainly it has a variety of elements, such as a rich and compelling narrative, and fun characters, but its core gameplay is unlike anything I’ve played before. The heart of the game is learning and perfecting sleight of hand tricks so the player - a mute orphan travelling with a ne’er-do-well count - can rig card games as they travel throughout pre-Revolutionary France.

To be clear, when I say “perfecting sleight of hand tricks,” I don’t mean deciding which trick the character will perform. No, the player themselves must learn the trick, practice it, and pull it off perfectly in the moment, all while a timer ticks down the time until the ruse is discovered. It requires being able to memorise and repeat a perfect pattern of motion.

I, to absolutely no one’s shock, am terrible at this.

Pictured: Me doing the only trick I can - picking up cards.

While I struggle to classify what Card Shark actually is - leading into the greater tangent of whether genres mean anything, which I’ll explore in more detail another time - the mechanics within it and the skills the game asks you to master are not unfamiliar. I drew the comparison to Aurion earlier not just because it’s another game I am not the target audience of, but because the mechanics of Card Shark and Aurion are strikingly similar. More than anything, Card Shark’s requirements to memorise patterns and repeat them perfectly is the same basic mechanic as a fighting game. Much like in Aurion, progress depends on quick and sure movement, and on knowing the correct pattern to counter what’s happening around you.

This is a 100% perfect analogy, and I’m not apologising for it.

At the same time, Card Shark is obviously not a fighting game. I’d argue it falls into a genre I’m calling “tactile,” where the game engages the hands as controllers in and of themselves. All games require some kind of input, but tactile games require that that input be specific and be the entire mechanic of the game. They are games whose play requires being able to master input patterns that mimic some sort of real-life motion. Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution would fall in this genre, for example. Card Shark is a natural extension of real world motion into a digital space.

I, uh, play exclusively on touchpad. There is no world in which I’m able to emulate real world motion on a touchpad. Even if I were playing on a controller, as the game recommends, I don’t believe I would get any closer to actually being good at it. I am terrible at tactile games.

This action is literally just holding cards.

This is the crux of my issue. I played as much of the game as I could before I couldn’t get past the mechanics. That I played as long as I did, I think, stands as a testament to the power of this game’s story, art, and overall feel. It is a beautiful game with excellent art and music, and a story that kept pulling me forward. I wanted to see where it went, dive into the intrigue, and watch the pieces of schemes fall into place. I enjoyed the story of the Comte claiming a mute orphan as his son on their merry adventures through France. It was lovely.

But I am terrible at the mechanics of this game.

I did not finish Card Shark, though I wish I had. It is beautiful and fun, though if you cannot master the art of sleight of hand and stealth, it will be impossible to complete. In a sense, though, that feels in line with the story itself. If these two characters can’t master their own card tricks, they fail and die in the chaos of France. It feels appropriate that I couldn’t finish, since I couldn’t master what I needed to survive.

Card Shark sets out to tell a story of deception and card games in pre-Revolutionary France. It does an excellent job, though would likely be enjoyed more by someone who bothers to go get a controller.

Developer: Nerial

Genre: Indie, Tactile

Year: 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Language: English

Play Time: 8 Hours

Youtube: https://youtu.be/OPMgQxRcvfw