I get it: it’s 2026 and this is an iOS game, so subscription fees and endless IAP is the norm. Still, this is pretty disappointing coming from a dev who has made so many great iOS games that didn’t lean into these annoying revenue models. Gameplay wise it’s great - fun, expansive, gorgeous. But I’m not interested in paying a monthly fee to remove ads, I hate seeing multiple currencies and a bunch of paid “bundles” in the store. I’d pay $10 or even $20 to just have the game. As it stands, this will get less play from me than any other TTT game because it just feels a little bad to play a game with this kind of stuff in it.

Card Crawl 2 is a genuinely fun game, but its monetization undermines the experience in important ways. Ads are technically optional; you can watch them for daily rewards, cosmetics, or to reroll choices at deck-building decision points (choosing cards and/or items).The issue is that rerolls affect gameplay, which makes ads feel effectively mandatory if you want to compete on the Daily/Weekly leaderboards. That creates a gap between players who engage with ads (or pay) and those who don’t.The only way to remove ads is through a monthly subscription, which feels out of place for a game like this. A one-time purchase to remove ads would be a much more reasonable and player-friendly option.It’s also disappointing how feedback about this has been handled. When players raised concerns, the responses sometimes came across as dismissive. For example, the developer said:“As hard as it sounds but individual opinions are not representitive of the general player base. Outside of our small bubble no one will care about these ‘issues’.”Regardless of intent, that kind of response makes it harder to feel like player concerns are being taken seriously.I’ve liked the developer’s previous games (especially Card Crawl Adventure), but the current direction (and what feels like an unreceptive attitude toward player feedback) make it difficult for me to support the game.

This is everything I wanted from the original Card Crawl plus more, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far.I was also initially a bit bummed when I saw the paid subscription to remove ads, but I gave it a chance. The only ads I’ve seen are for optional things like rerolling daily challenges, refreshing the market, or unlocking daily rewards. The core gameplay isn’t affected, and I can play as much as I’d like without seeing a single ad. Admittedly, I could progress faster by watching ads, but they’re not as intrusive as other comments have made it seem.You will have to shell out a few bucks for Pouchy upgrades if you hope to progress far, but this is well worth it, in my opinion.

The gameplay itself is phenomenal and a massive improvement from the first but having a subscription to remove ads just isn’t great. I’d happily pay a one time fee to remove ads and if some form of a subscription must be in the game then some sort of pass or access to cosmetics like costumes for the different characters and different card backs, things like that would make me feel like I’m getting something out of paying for a monthly subscription. This game doesn’t play like a ftp/p2w sort of game and seeing features that are common in such games for monetization is off putting and unfortunate. I would happily pay 10 dollars to own the game or even to remove ads but a monthly subscription just doesn’t do it for me.