Shephy is a single-player card game where the aim is to get 1000 sheep. Games are split into three rounds where the player has around 22 cards to use per round. However, the game is much more complex than it initially sounds.
Decks are formed of cards which help the flock expand and negative cards also. These negative cards will cause sheep cards to drop ranks or will even remove cards from the playing field. There’s even a card that instantly causes you to lose the game. Thankfully, there are cards that allow you to discard and remove other cards from the game. All of the cards in the deck must be used each round in the game so players must find a way to balance the negative cards.
Most of the negative cards in the game cause the player to remove one of more sheep from the field. Most cards will remove a high number of sheep or cards from the field. As expected then, managing this can be quite difficult. However, there are plenty of cards that also add more sheep to the board. Some cards will also upgrade sheep cards into higher ranked ones to give you more sheep on the playing field.
There’s quite a large learning curve to Shephy however, the game will give you a deck at random. As a result, it’s not always the players fault if they lose as the cards to win just aren’t in the deck. It’s a very difficult game and once you’ve learned a pattern, it does become much easier overall.
Outside of the ‘quick play’ mode there’s also a Challenge Mode where players are tasked with obtaining over 1000 sheep. There’s also a story mode called “Post Loves” which features specific twists and makes the game even more difficult. The story is bizarre to put it plainly. It involves sheep, traveling between dimensions and sheep Gods.
Shephy is a strange game but the difficulty can either keep players coming back for more or not at all. It’s a pain that sometimes winning is flat out impossible and as a result, this cute game may not be worth your time unless you want a difficult game. For most other types of gamers, it’s probably safer to wait until another card game comes to the Nintendo Switch.
