Combining cards is essential to battle success in Outcast Odyssey [Sponsored]

Outcast Odyssey is a deep and strategic card battler on iOS and Android that challenges you to collect over 300 cards and build a mighty deck out of them.

There's a massive single player campaign to battle your way through, with over 40 islands full of hidden treasures, unique enemies, and challenging dungeons. Bosses lurk at the end of these, and you'll need all of your skills if you want to succeed.

Then there's PvP where your deck - and abilities - will be put to the test. This is played in the arena, where you can also join a guild and talk tactics with your fellow players.

We spoke to Erik Wahlberg, Live Producer at Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc., to find out which games inspired Outcast Odyssey, what tips he would give to new players, and what the team would change if they could start over.

Which games most inspired Outcast Odyssey?

"There are too many to mention!

"We can say that - in addition to inspiration from huge and lesser known games - the passion and dreams of our developers most inspired the game design and development.

"Our post-launch features were hugely inspired by our players though, of course."

What's your favourite card and why?

"Although there are some amazing Epic cards (Soul Witch, Soul Edge, Dark Spawn, and Baba’s Mortar) a personal favorite of mine is Mistoffelees, a “Pet” found only in our Mercenary pack.

"It's only a five-star card, but it deals lethal poison damage when paired up with a decent Pierce weapon.

"Few players defend against poison in PVP and although it won’t inspire any 100,000 point damage combinations it more than gets the job done.

"Plus, Mistoffelees cat eyes are cool!"

What inspired the visual design for Outcast Odyssey?

"A combination of high-fantasy, steam-punk, and mythological imagery resulted in the cool visuals you see in the game."

Have you got any tips for newcomers? What's your strategy?

"Yes, reach out to other players in Chat. Not only will you get great tips but you will probably also get invited to join a guild - there are many advantages to being part of one.

"Additionally, try to build a deck of cards that complement each other as the combinations of cards are very important - and we particularly recommend combining a pet or hero that can leverage the skills of a weapon.

"For example, the Huntress (a hero easily found in the Campaign) increases all Volley attacks by two. Combine her with the Hydra weapon (which can be found in the Bounty), and the weapon’s three Volley attack is increased to five. Combine that again with Haru (a Pet found in the Mercenary Pack) and now you add a Burn effect to all 5 of those attacks."

If you could start over, what would you change?

"We wish we had released the game earlier so we could be even deeper into our post-launch efforts! The game has really grown and we look forward to what it can become."

Outcast Odyssey is out right now in the App Store [download] or Google Play [download].