The roots of role-playing games lies in tabletops, but it's easy to forget that with how elaborate their presentation can get. With all of the games that try to simulate the systems of a tabletop game, it's rare to find one that simulates the experience of a tabletop game: you, a narrator, and a game's pieces spread before you. A dice to decide your fate, and your imagination to fill in your blanks. It's been a long while since Crimson Shroud recreated that experience on the Nintendo DS; leave it to Yokō Tarō to recreate the experience through the Voice of the Cards games. The Beasts of Burden marks the third time Taro and his colleagues, composer Keiichi Okabe, and character designer Kimihiko Fujisaka collaborate in this series. Luckily, no prior experience with the Voice of the Cards series is needed. While this game is available on PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam, I am basing this review on the Steam version.

Players follow the story of the Subterran, A'le, a young woman who sees her entire village decimated by monsters. Rescued by L'gol, A'le sets out on a journey in an endless wasteland as she uses her powers to subdue monsters and wield their powers as cards. In true Yokō Tarō fashion, the monsters aren't just the creatures you encounter in the wasteland: they can also be the people you meet in the villages you wander into.

The entirety of the game is arranged to resemble a tabletop game. Your character is represented by a chess piece on a table. Your map is a spread of cards; as you move your piece, more of the map is revealed as cards flip over. Sometimes, random events occur; a roll of the die can determine whether you find treasure or misfortune. All of your proceedings are narrated by a disembodied storyteller. She reacts to your actions, cheers you in battle, and voices all of the characters. Sometimes, she stumbles over her words and has to redo a line; other times, she has a snide remark to make about one of the characters you encounter (such as the boy who buries himself up to his neck; to my surprise, the narrator decided his name was “Barry”). Things like the sheer size of the map can break the “tabletop” illusion, but the tone is just right. It's an intimate experience: just you, your storyteller, and the cards.

Also true to Yokō Tarō's fashion, there are droplets of backstory everywhere. Random NPCs are represented as cards in your collection; all of them have two facets to their story. Some are hilarious like our buddy Barry up there, who as it turns out cut off a finger because he fretted over his bangs so much. Others are sadder, like the nameless girl who practices her speech in front of her mother's tomb. And others are a plain old brick to the face, like the little orc who promises to show off his fancy new hammer to all of his bullies one by one. While the story doesn't get quite so oppressive as Taro's more famous works, there is definitely an off-kilter, moody atmosphere to Beasts of Burden, and it makes the experience all the more engrossing.

So, what about the combat? Well, it's fairly simple for a JRPG: your characters take turns with monsters attacking each other until their health drops to zero. Animations are fairly rudimentary, leaning into the “card” angle, although some of the fancier cards like the Primals have slightly more elaborate animations. Each turn grants you a gem you can spend on Skills, while defeating monsters gives you a chance to earn an equippable skill card based on their powers. This leads to a good bit of customization, letting you grant any character up to three skills. There is also a good incentive to constantly fight monsters, as every fight gives you a chance to get a rarer and more-powerful version of a monster's skill. It can be the difference of a status ailment needing to meet or beat a roll of 6 on a d10 in order to land—or just 4.

The charm does come with some flaws. Random encounters can trigger a bit too often, making exploration of the larger maps a chore. While fights are incentivized with the chance for better skills, you can't double-up on the same card (even if it's different rarities of the same card). There's also the added wrinkle that anyone in battle can only be affected by one status ailment at a time. This works in your favor; for example, you can't be poisoned if you've already got an Attack debuff inflicted upon you. On the other hand, if you've paralyzed an enemy, you can't debuff them further. The music can also be repetitive; while perfectly fitting for a role-playing adventure, it's far from Okabe's best work.

There's a good spread of DLC for the game, all of which is fairly appealing for such a simple game. There are alternative tables, BGM, and even card faces featuring pixel art for the cast. But it would have been nice to have more options unlocked from the game.

All in all, The Voice of the Cards: Beasts of Burden is a compelling little game. It's an effective, low-stakes concept with solid execution, with a lot of love put into it from creatives that had a lot of fun playing with the concept. That there are three entries into this series is exciting; as technology for games continuously improves, it's nice to see an attempt at leaning in on the simplicity of role-playing. Sometimes, all it takes is a good narrator and a single die...