Thanks for putting thoughts and efforts in your reply. This kind of discussion is the main reason I develop the game, since I enjoy exploring unusual and intricate mechanics.
I can see how the current defence (and some other statuses) description is insufficient, and will certainly try to improve it. It is true that “resistance” is more often used in games with negative values. However, resistance is also strongly connected with the notion of multiplicative changes (i.e. “resist 50%”), as opposed to defence, which is frequently additive.
You are quite correct that the decision to allow negative statuses is rare among similar games, but it was quite intentional and currently every status (and even every resource except HP) can be negative, with most of them having real effect depending on the sign.
This creates some interesting and non-trivial interactions which I quite like, as well as actually reducing overall complexity in a roundabout way (since I currently have 27 statuses, which would grow to ~50 if I would replace every negative status with corresponding “inverted meaning” status).
For example, consider Wyvern monster, which does “Repeat 4: (Defend hero -1, Melee 1)”. This sounds quite weak, until you take into account compounding nature of negative defence. If hero has 8 defence, this attack do no damage. However, if initial defence is zero, it does 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 14 damage, enough to one-hit weaker heroes.
Another example is negative strength, which obviates requirement for (1) separate “weakness” status (2) additional rules on interaction between strength and weakness.
Your comparison with Slay the Spire is very on point. I intentionally deviated from “simpler is always better” rule of card design which StS embraces. I compensate for complexity a bit by simplifying other parts of the game (such as UI and game map).
i frequently stumble over cards “which talk about status effects” I haven’t even acquired yet
I did consider “trickling down” unlocks in the beginning, so that player gains access to new cards / statuses at a slower pace. Note, however, that actually the Warrior is already “simple and straightforward” character compared to later ones, and his cards are mostly very simple “gain buffs, beat enemy, heal self”. Even Heavy Blow, which is indeed hard to read on first try, is basically just “hit, getting more damage from Weight effect and Critical status”.
Later heroes / cards use indirect damage, hand manipulation, card modification, summoning, etc.
concept of toughness though… (it felt kind of expensive to pay for it…
One other issue I noted watching your playtest is that probably I should reduce probability of rare cards. Note that some cards, including Scaled Skin and Feast on Flesh are rare (with golden titles). Rare cards are more powerful, but also have higher requirements / downsides. So taking a rare card early can be viewed as a risky investment, hoping that necessary ingredients will arrive in future rewards. By default, the game scales up probability of rare cards with each stage, from 0 to 100%.
Problem is, full game contains 20 stages, but stages after 12th have to be unlocked. So the rare card probability grows too fast precisely for novice players, where it can lure them into taking too much unsupported cards. I will certainly think about balancing this.