Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul is a new card battle RPG from South Korean gaming company Smilegate Megaport, that has managed to seduce us with its undeniable charm and cuteness. The game is based around the good old match-three mechanics with a couple of twists seen in card games like Poker. You lead a team of happy go lucky adventurers from another world after being summoned by the kingdom ’s chair of sorcerers. Of course, not all went according to plan, since they wanted to summon the famous Merlin, who already helped them when their kingdom faced the demons’ threat the last time.
But, they got you and now you have to clear demons, restore peace to the once prosperous and peaceful kingdom and prove to the king and other members of the royal council that Merlin is not needed. This kind of down to the ground humor that’s not in any way trying to be over-the-top and super cool got us immediately interested in Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul. You will often laugh at loud during conversations with the kingdom’ residents who will frequently ask you to help them in various ways.
This is one of the reasons why Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul is so addictive. There are many different quests meaning you won’t just clear one level after another from bad guys, ultimately getting bored pretty quickly. In most cases you will also have something special that needs to be done, making every level unique and interesting to play.
Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul is based around cards, each representing a different hero. Heroes are divided into three groups. The Steel group is made out of warriors and they excel in dealing massive amounts of damage. Then we have the Faith heroes who are there to heal and provide buffs for your party. Finally, we have Magic heroes, who lower enemy defense and create poison clouds that damage demons over time. Each caste has three different job types, shown with different icons above them.
On top of that, there are also three different colors of heroes – green, red, and blue. Red (fire) deals double damage to green (earth) and half damage to blue (water). Blue deals double damage to red (fire) and half damage to green (earth). And finally, green deals double damage to blue (water) and half damage to red (fire). A good old rock paper scissors mechanic is used here to spice things up.
You have 27 cards in total, 9 of each warrior caste and 9 of each color, and the good thing is that you must keep your card deck homogenous when it comes to warrior types and colors. Each deck has to have 9 warriors of each caste and 9 cards of each color. You can replace cards with new ones but are limited to replacing cards that fit into the same slot. For instance, you can replace a green Steel caste warrior with a different green Steel caste warrior. This may seem complicated but the game automatizes the process so you don’t have to worry about having the right deck after swapping for new cards.
Once a battle starts, you have three card slots for cards that are used for attack and two (three once you upgrade the ability) slots for backboard cards that can be swapped with attack cards. By combining colors, castes, and job types you create bonuses that increase your attack multiplier. This creates for one interesting and dynamic combat that never is the same, making Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul one of the best card games currently available on smartphones.
The game also features cute, pixel art graphic style that will win you over the moment you start the game. It all looks like an old-school Japanese RPG, with all characters being simple looking but rich in detail, along with simplistic but beautiful environments. You start on the main menu from which you can go to adventures, to the kingdom (where you check for new quests and get rewards for finished ones), to your deck where you can equip new cards, and basically to every menu. This is done superbly and we like that the game has the main hub from which you can go to any menu in just one tap.
Finally, the cards can be leveled up, either once you finish a level (when the game pulls three random cards that get experience) or with special potions that are rewarded after you successfully complete each level. The best of all is that, even though Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul is a free-to-play game, it can be played for dozens of hours without spending a dime on getting diamonds (the game’s premium currency) and gold. You can get new cards at a constant rate, you can beat each level with just a bit of strategic thinking and you can even get a three-star rating on each level without replaying them. IT all comes down to creating high multiplier combos, saving cards on the backboard to use them later, and swapping your hand at a right time.
We played Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul for dozens of hours and find out that the game is very generous to players, as well as being just right when it comes to the difficulty of battles. As soon as you start thinking that things get too hard, the game allows you to level up certain ability, or to summon new cards that can make battles easier. We found many things that helped us in retaking the kingdom and making its residents happy again. Stay with us and find out how to become the master of Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul.
1. Learn The Card Combinations
Learn how high a multiplier each card combination brings. For instance, Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul means you combined three different colors along with three different jobs within the same caste. Arcane combo means you matched just three cards of a different color. A flush is when you combine 3 cards within the same class (Steel, Magic, or Faith), and the straight multiplier is achieved when three different jobs from the same class are combined. The triple combo is achieved once you combine 3 cards with the same job. Aside from the Arcane combo, you can get elemental combos when combining three cards of the same color.
Attack multipliers will be multiplied in case you manage to achieve more than one combination of cards. For instance, fire combo along with three cards with the same job will multiply the two combos. The highest combos are the eponymous Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul, except if you have a card capable of giving increased multiplier for certain combo.
The good this is that, in case you aren’t sure which combination will grant higher multiplier, you are able to pick a card placed on the backboard and hover it over the card you want to swap it with. This will show you multiplier change in case you swap the two cards. This is highly useful and should be used all of the time because you won’t be sure which combo is better frequently.
2. Remember There Are Tricks Available
Tricks are special moves that can completely turn the tide of the battle. They are charged with killing enemies and achieving high multipliers and allow you to do some interesting things. For instance, you can replace your whole hand by keeping your finger of the cemetery or replace just one card by placing it over the cemetery. You can also see which card will be drawn next, allowing you to place different cards on you backboards for the next turn.
3. Think Ahead
Since Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul is a game of strategy, you have to think ahead. This is the reason why backboard is here. It plays the role of an auxiliary troop source that can keep two or three cards until you need them. For instance, if you manage to achieve high combo but don’t need it, keep the two cards used for this on the backboard and kill the enemy with other cards. This way, you will have a higher chance to create high multiplier during the next turn, when new enemies appear.
As for which are the best combinations of cards to keep on the backboard, we think that two cards of the same job or of the same class are the best option. They give you higher chance for a combo. On the other hand, if you keep two cards of different classes they will give you a low chance of achieving high multiplier during the next turn, no matter if they are of the same color. The best thing is to keep same classes and jobs at the backboard because there’s a higher chance to get the class or a job you need once you draw new cards than to get two cards you need in case you kept two different class cards in your backboard.
4. Don’t Forget To Collect Quest Prizes
You have lots of different quests to finish in Arcane Flush, and all of them have to be picked up at the kingdom menu. Remember this since we played the game for a while before realizing there are quests to be taken, so we had to replay the first world because we didn’t pick up the quest from the king.
And the king isn’t the only quest giver in the game. All sorts of characters will give you new and interesting quests to work on so we advise you to visit the kingdom after each world. Also, each quest prize has to be picked up manually so once you get notified that a quest is finished go to the kingdom and find the quest giver so you can get your prize. There’s a quest list tracking all current quests and you can access it only once you tap on the Start Adventure button. The list is located on the lower right hand of the screen and contains details about each quest. You’ll want to read details because in most cases you won’t know what exactly to do in order to finish a certain quest.
5. Save Gold For Improving Your Abilities And Card Skills, Get New Cards With Diamonds
If you spend the gold you get wisely, you will always have a couple of thousands of coins for upgrading skills and abilities. This is important because, each time you level up, you unlock a couple of new skills and some of them can be very helpful. You can improve your total health, more exp for your cards from potions, more tricks, and the most important one of them all, you can increase your backboard hand size to three cards.
On top of that, each card unlocks a new skill level once it evolves, and these skills are always much more powerful than on the previous level. Because of this, we advise all of you to not spend gold on summoning new cards. Sure, you can spend a couple of thousands of gold coins from time to time, but make sure to always have at least three or four thousand coins so you can upgrade your master skills right after they get unlocked. Also, cards summoned with gold have much lower chances of getting you hero cards, so it is way better to summon cards with diamonds.
And even diamonds are the premium, real money currency in Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul, they can be earned at a pretty constant rate even without spending money on buying them. If you are a patient type, wait to collect 90 diamonds and then summon nine cards. In case you summon duplicate cards (and that will most certainly happen) you will get a refund in diamonds for each duplicate summoned.
6. You Can Pick Which Enemy To Attack
This may seem logical, but it is better to just share this one because some of you might think enemies have to be attacked in the order they are present on the screen. But that’s not the case. Just tap on an enemy you want to attack and your heroes will attack that enemy. The only downside of this feature is that, once the targeted enemy is destroyed, you heroes will attack the first enemy instead of the enemy placed after the one you destroyed. Still, this feature is nice when you used all of your tricks and have cards of a color that cannot deal max damage to the first enemy.
7. Place Your Best Card As Your Featured Image
You probably noticed you can pick one “friend” card before starting a level. This card can help you in defeating enemies and we advise you to always pick the most powerful card available, depending on the color of enemies you face in a particular level. Anyway, those cards are from random people who also pay the game, and once you finish a level always send them a friend request because it will give you friend points that can be used for many things in Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul.
Now, other players can pick your card as their “friend” card and you will have higher chances for your card to be picked if you place your strongest card as your features image. This may seem unimportant but having lots of friends means lots of energy that can be received from them, and also a couple of friend list-tied achievements that will earn you some bonus diamonds.
8. Don’t Forget To Enhance And Evolve Cards
Yup, don’t forget to do that. You get potion (or elixir, as it is called in Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul) after each battle and also an hourly basis that is used for enhancing cards (leveling them up). You can have a limited amount of elixir so when you are near the max amount use the potion to level up cards. And once they reach max level, evolve them. This will unlock the next level of their special leader ability, and each ability is much more powerful when upgraded.
9. Spend Mastery Points On Just A Couple Of Most Frequent Combos
Mastery points are given after you level up your profile, and they are used to increase the default combo multiplier for different combos. Spend these wisely because they are in short supply. It is best to spend them as you will, and once you play the game for a couple of hours and learn which two combos are the most frequent to achieve reset master points and spend them just on these couple of combos. This will make your attacks more potent since focusing on just a couple of combos will make their multiplier noticeably higher than others.
10. Rare Cards Are Always Better Than Common Ones, Even When Commons Are Of A Higher Level
When you get a rare card but you already have a leveled up common card in that slot, never keep the normal one. Each rare card is better than its common version when on the same level, so always make sure to replace your commons with rares once you summon them.
Okay, folks, that’s all for now! We have to say that Arcane Straight: Summoned Soul is a wonderful game and we wish that many of you will enjoy it. And the game will be even better once you read our strategy guide that will help you retake the kingdom and destroy all nasty demons. Thanks for reading and happy gaming!