Prototype Alpha Playtest #002 — The Butcher & The Drowned Bride

Last weekend we sat down for another Prototype Alpha playtest, this time focusing on two of LIMINAL's first six Entities: The Butcher and The Drowned Bride.

One of the biggest goals of these early tests isn't balance. It's identity.

When someone picks an Entity, I want it to feel immediately different from every other Entity in the game. If you choose The Butcher, you should feel like you're relentlessly hunting your opponent. If you choose The Drowned Bride, you should feel like you're slowly reclaiming what was lost beneath the water.

This playtest gave some incredibly valuable insights.

Every Stage Must Feel Like an Upgrade

One piece of feedback immediately stood out while testing The Butcher.

Originally, progressing to Stage II replaced the Stage I ability. That created an unexpected problem.

The Butcher's first ability generated Fear whenever one of your Blood Manifestations removed Presence. Once the Entity evolved, that Fear engine disappeared entirely.

Instead of feeling stronger, evolving actually removed part of the deck's identity.

That isn't how progression should feel.

Advancing an Entity should never make you lose what made it fun to play in the first place. From now on, Entity abilities are designed to stack, ensuring every evolution feels like gaining new power rather than replacing old strengths.

The Butcher Needs to Work in Every Matchup

Another interesting observation was how dependent The Butcher could become on the opponent.

If your opponent isn't losing Presence—or simply isn't playing the kind of deck you expected—your Fear generation slows dramatically.

That creates a dangerous situation where an Entity's effectiveness depends too heavily on what the other player is doing.

Every Entity should always have a way to execute its own strategy, regardless of the matchup.

That's something future iterations will continue to improve.

The Drowned Bride Has an Identity...

The Drowned Bride immediately communicated its theme.

The healing mechanics, card names and overall atmosphere all felt cohesive. Even without an opponent, it was easy to recognize what the deck wanted to do.

That's exactly what I hope every LIMINAL Entity will achieve.

...But the Theme Isn't Strong Enough Yet

Where The Drowned Bride struggles is consistency.

The deck contains healing, control and Fear generation, but they don't always reinforce each other. During testing it often felt unclear whether the deck wanted to be a healing deck or a control deck.

The feedback was simple:

Choose one clear identity.

Rather than splitting its focus, The Drowned Bride should lean fully into restoring Presence and turning every successful recovery into Fear generation.

That creates a much clearer gameplay loop—and a much more memorable Entity.

Counterplay Creates Better Horror

One of my favourite ideas from this session wasn't about individual cards.

It was about the relationship between decks.

Imagine The Butcher relentlessly tearing through your Manifestations while The Drowned Bride desperately restores them before they're lost forever.

Those two fantasies naturally collide.

That kind of interaction is far more interesting than simply making every deck stronger in isolation.

As Prototype Alpha continues to evolve, creating meaningful counterplay between Entity identities will become an increasingly important design goal.

The Biggest Lesson

This playtest reinforced something I've been learning over and over again:

A deck doesn't become memorable because it has powerful cards.

It becomes memorable because every card pushes the same idea.

When players choose an Entity, they shouldn't have to wonder how it's supposed to win.

They should feel it from the very first turn.

And that's exactly what Prototype Alpha is helping shape.

Prototype Alpha is still evolving, and every playtest uncovers something new. Thank you for following the journey—there's still a long road ahead, but with each session LIMINAL becomes a little closer to the horror card game I've imagined from the beginning.