Chronicles of Crime creator lead-designer on digital deckbuilding game about Japanese folklore
Cruising with Kappa and Kitsune.
The designer behind the Chronicles of Crime board game, David Cicurel, is the creative lead behind a digital game called Mahokenshi.
Inspired by ancient Japanese folklore and myth, Mahokenshi is a digital deckbuilding game that pits players against one another as rival houses in a war between fantastical creatures. As Mahokenshi, players will be competing as powerful samurai mages who are tasked with defending their homeland - the Celestial Islands - against outside invading forces who wish to corrupt it. With the option to choose between four different houses, players will need to use their unique abilities to fight against their various enemies.
Each representing a different faction of Kami, or elemental spirits, the four houses in Mahokenshi offer players a variety of different play-styles. From the defensive House Sapphire to the more aggressive House Ruby, players can approach the game from a number of distant angles. Depending on which house they choose, players will have access to a selection of different cards that they’ll use to explore the game’s map and take down the opponents they find. The 300 available cards will have their own unique effects and benefits, with players needing to think carefully about when to employ them.
As players defeat enemies and discover new villages to visit they’ll open up opportunities to evolve their cards into stronger versions of themselves, making for a more formidable deck that’s capable of taking on greater threats. The game will come with a main campaign for players to work their way through, eventually unlocking new perks and abilities to be used in subsequent playthroughs with those characters.
Besides leading the creative direction of Mahokenshi, and designing the aforementioned co-op board game Chronicles of Crimes, Cicurel is also responsible for co-designing the spin-off title Chronicles of Crime: 1400 and creating the upcoming childrens’ game Kids Chronicles: Quest for the Moon Stones.
Mahokenshi is being developed and published by Game Source Studio, a French company that has previously worked on video games such as Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition and Marvel Avengers. Cultural consultation for Mahokenshi was provided by Chivalry Japan, a company that’s based in the Shinjuku-ku section of Tokyo.
An early-access version of Mahokenshi - which is a version of the game that will continue to develop and be added to over time - will be released onto PC via the Steam store in Q1 of 2022, with a retail release price yet to be confirmed.