I am OBSESSED – ScreenPlay CCG – Review

As an avid trading card and table top game player, I am always keen to pick up the latest card games popping up on Steam. ScreenPlay is a 1v1 card game set in a cinematic world where turns are called scenes and the players fight for the spotlight over three acts.

Please note this review comes with one major caveat. ScreenPlay is still in Early Access and has coins which can be purchased to gain packs. It also has some Generative AI images which the developers intend to replace, which are highlighted in the galleries. My rating will reflect this in good faith.

Players familiar with Magic The Gathering and Hearthstone will find themselves right at home as you place your “character” cards on the stage alongside one lead character (For the sake of this review I will call these side characters actors). You take three lead characters into each match but only need to complete the story arc of two to win a match. Leads have different requirements to steal the show.

The bar at the bottom of a lead card keeps track of how many “show” points they have banked. Leads collect these when actors are played, when they attack, or some other action dictated by the card. They can also gain points when actors perform and the points can be banked, transferring to your lead characters as they enter the stage.

Both actors and leads have health and defence stats, which come into play during combat. Actors also have additional skills which can activate when played or trigger mid-scene. You then have tropes and crew cards which work as your spell cards.

Each “scene“, or round is broken down into frames. You start with five of these but they increase with each lead who completes their performance. During the “directing phase” you decide how to split up these frames. Playing cards, performing and dodging uses up frames, and these requirements are shown at the top of the cards with the highlighted frame dictating when it is played in the timeline.

Once each player has assigned their frames, the two acts are set into motion for the “filming phase”. This plays out automatically and you are left to the fates to see if your lead can steal the show. It’s risky business and figuring out which characters to put forward and when is the key to winning ScreenPlay.

I could go into massive detail about the various strategies I developed but they would only really relate to the three leads I gravitated towards. There were other leads, but I was unable to unlock any more in the time before writing. Once we add in the different character skills and tropes, the strategies only multiply and I’m keen to mix and match my new cards to see what they can do.

I started with the tutorial, played against the AI and then moved on to the PVP, where I became quickly hooked on ScreenPlay. The rewards aren’t huge, but I was able to unlock a bunch of card packs without spending any money and managed to keep up with other players and gain my fair share of wins. There is a “boss” mode to come and the match-making was pretty solid too.

The UI is pretty clean and, despite some issues in the demo version (the early access version has now been released), I’ve not had any crashes. Everything leans into the cinematic universe with cards referring back to many pop culture references and icons. There are memes galore if you’ve been about the Internet long enough, with a few throwing some shade in the general direction of some public figures.

Some characters have voice acting, some avatars are animated, and there are a bunch of different cosmetics you can unlock if you have the spare currency. The artists featured in the gallery have done a great job in bringing these characters to life and I look forward to seeing the placeholders replaced.

ScreenPlay is easy to pick up but challenging to master. It has a lot going for it and I am excited to see where they take it.