Dicey Dungeons

Dicey Dungeons

Dicey Dungeons is the best card-based roguelike out there.

I love card-based roguelikes, and I love Dicey Dungeons even more than Slay the Spire, heck, even more than Dream Quest. I’ve enjoyed over 200 hours of play (including pre-release versions I helped playtest, for which I received a free copy of the game) and will enjoy plenty more. Why? Depth, replayability, and sense of humor.

Once you’ve completed episode 1 with each character, you’ve barely scratched the surface of what Dicey Dungeons has to offer. Unlike some of Terry Cavanagh’s other games, Dicey Dungeons’s difficulty is pleasantly curvy! Casual players can enjoy the game, starting with the simpler classes. Hardcore players will be challenged by the more complex classes, and episodes 4 and 6 for each class.

Real player with 226.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best Deckbuilding Roguelike Deckbuilder Games.


tl;dr: If you like tactically tussling with RNG, Dicey Dungeons is easy to get into, but has a lot of surprises in store for you whenever you think you’ve gotten the gist of it. Terry Cavanagh is an excellent developer.

Full review: Great visuals, fantastic music, and quickly becoming one of my favorite indie games yet. Be warned, it’s moderately buggy and could use some small QoL improvements. If you don’t like RNG you probably shouldn’t play this (do I gotta say this?) but it’s not strictly unfair, rewarding on-the-spot thinking a lot. There’s a lot of ways to optimize your gameplay. Be prepared to get dunked on, as enemies can roll well just like you can, but runs are short for a TBS “roguelite”, at 30-45 minutes, so losing isn’t devastating in a vacuum~ This game opens up in unexpected ways as you go. Be prepared for change, and chaos.

Real player with 162.7 hrs in game

Dicey Dungeons on Steam

Spellsword Cards: Origins

Spellsword Cards: Origins

So I read through a few of the other reviews and I can see how some may find it negative. No it is NOT flashy and doesn’t have ‘interesting’ characters, but to be honest, it’s kinda refreshing. I’m an old school gamer and I’ve played Many card games, rpgs, whatever and I have to admit I’m addicted to this for some reason. I’m determined to beat the stupid lich with all my characters if possible. That being said, it’s also VERY frustrating and will P1ss you off many times! The cards are a bit unbalanced, for example I’ve reached the lich with no access to mana or healing cards depending on who I choose. This makes it a bit unfair, as well as not being able to meet the boss with a full health. No matter how hard I try to finish the previous battle with as high health as possible, it just doesn’t cut it. There was one game I used to play a lot, had over 400 hours until some new dev, crappy pants, redid the whole thing and made it vegas like…I truly hope these devs Don’t do that to this game at all! It’s a game unto itself and Yes it Does need work but it can be challenging and fun if you know how to use the cards given to you. I noticed the new game from these makers and I wanted to give it a shot thinking it would be similar to this style, but I think they already headed to the slot machines….

Real player with 170.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best Deckbuilding Roguelike Deckbuilder Games.


An interesting take on Card Game / RPG / Roguelike hybrid. I like the mechanic of dumping cards to the discard pile to gain extra action points (earned quite a few 1 turn kill combos that way). I do like the card combinations and various synergies thus far, and I due appreciate the card upgrades system as well.

EDIT: Some previously written issues turned out to be user error, and thus deleted that portion of the commentary above. Other than that, the above aforementioned is exactly the same prior to the deleted, and erroneous (on my part again, sigh) critique.

Real player with 26.8 hrs in game

Spellsword Cards: Origins on Steam

Blood Card 2: Dark Mist

Blood Card 2: Dark Mist

I planned to give Red Mist two hours of stream time and ended up continuing on for five and a half. Then I clocked another ten hours off stream. If you still need to hear more, watch my gameplay footage or read on below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MYIZPQJEs8

You build your deck, and your cards are your life. Enemies will steal them from you as they damage you, and you’ll face three or four foes at once with more waiting in the wings. If you’re a casual player, you’ll love this like I did. If this isn’t your first rodeo, then you’ll find each character (deck archetype) has a few ways to create an infinite loop. But even the infinite loop isn’t a guarantee of victory: the real trick is understanding the effects enemies will have on you.

Real player with 290.8 hrs in game


Read More: Best Deckbuilding Roguelike Games.


3.9/5 (B plus) : Good card battler with a unique mechanism (cards as life points) and interestingly different characters. Art is good enough. Weaknesses are mostly in the lack of advancement. The difficulty levels add no new fun or functionality, just increase the difficulty, which does increase the challenge with each successful replay, but almost nothing else.

A very good element of the game design is similar to Slay the Spire, having very different play styles, cards, and mechanisms for the different characters. Really appreciate how different they are and there are six.

Real player with 195.1 hrs in game

Blood Card 2: Dark Mist on Steam

Dragon Call

Dragon Call

If you are looking for a new and fun deck building card game that is not ‘pay2win’ this will keep you entertained with several different Hero’s that have varied abilities and card pools.

Real player with 97.4 hrs in game

All the joy o a CCG without the microtransactions, the rules are pretty intuitive and if your familiar with hearthstone and shadowverse youll catch on extremely quick, translation can be a bit wonky but once you understand what means what its easy.

PRO tip if you buy it your 1st run click the gear in the top right, from there you can change language to english

Another issue I found is if your trying to use the chatbox or add a friend ID be in windowed mode as the virtual keyboard will not work in full screen infact it can crash your game

Real player with 83.9 hrs in game

Dragon Call on Steam

Fuzz Force: Spook Squad

Fuzz Force: Spook Squad

Fuzz Force: Spook Squad is a cute little dice-rolling game. It’s very easy to pick up and play, but there could be more to this game. Let’s explore the ups and downs of the game (+, +/-, -, ?):

  • The game looks really nice, shiny and coloful. I like how the characters and enemies move in a limited way.

  • Great character design.

! Mecha Peppa is probably my favorite.

  • A good selection of weapons, skills, dice, buffs and debuffs*.

  • It’s super fast to start playing the game. Everything is super straight forward. Just go and beat ass.

Real player with 22.4 hrs in game

This game is pretty great, its main feature or whatever is that it’s insanely cute. Adorable. The criticism I have is that the actual gameplay is extremely simplistic, and the replay value is also in turn almost zero, aside just trying out each character once. It’s fun to see the new weapons, but… the gameplay is so simple that I find myself not caring what every weapon does. The game tries to make some replay value with the achievements, like using the mutators/handicaps/ AKA “special missions”, but I just don’t feel compelled to, because the gameplay is so barebones.

Real player with 10.4 hrs in game

Fuzz Force: Spook Squad on Steam

Erannorth Reborn

Erannorth Reborn

I’ll start with the base game itself and tackle modding later on in the review despite it being my favorite part of the game. While modding is a major focus of the game it’s not what you expect to be paying for right off the bat.

First up, gameplay. There is an open world game mode that I haven’t played much of (yet) and thus won’t be talking about. The core game mode is the rogue-like card-based rpg formula we’re all familiar with by now. There are a great deal of difficulties and game modes such as draft in the base game letting you have your own variety. These game modes will set you on a journey across Folkswave, the area of focus within the setting, where you will hopefully but almost certainly not find success. On this journey you’re certain to make friends, find loot, kill monsters, explore the unexplored, and generally have a great time.

Real player with 381.5 hrs in game

TLDR: Thumbs up for a very complex card battle game with rpg-like character customization and alot of depth. Though there is alot to learn from card text and tags, this game is an addictive hidden gem: 9/10.

This review is long because I was frustrated trying to learn about the game when I started. So I wanted to talk about what approach worked best for me.

At first the game felt linear, but there were so many abilities to discover that I didn’t mind it. Monsters are fairly diverse too as you move across stages. Plus there are events that give you choices. Eventually though it started to feel just a little repetitive, but that was only because I didn’t understand all the different game modes. Each mode has 3 tiers of difficulty so it’s easy to get locked into wanting to see how far you can survive through the tiers.

Real player with 188.1 hrs in game

Erannorth Reborn on Steam

ORX

ORX

Defend your lands and save your kingdom from the relentless attacks by a never-ending swarm of ORX!

ORX is part-tower defense, part-deck building card game, set in a beautifully drawn world of dark fantasy. Expand your territory, call soldiers to arms and fortify your castle with every card that you play!

As you progress through the game’s sprawling Campaign, you’ll unlock new cards for a grand total of more than 300 - all of which can be used to bolster your kingdom’s defenses. And with the powerful items, known as Artifacts, which can be found throughout the world, you can enhance your deck in game-changing ways!

Every level, tougher and more relentless enemies will assault your kingdom - and it’s up to you to pick the right strategy and rid your realm of the green-skinned menace once and for all!

  • 300+ Cards - experiment with the cards available, and unlock new ones to build the perfect deck!

  • 4 Factions, each with their own set of cards and tactics

  • A roguelike-style Campaign, featuring 3 Acts, all with their distinct biomes, day/night and season cycles!

  • Over 30 types of enemies, all chomping at the bit to burn your castle to the ground! From simple, yet nasty grunts to ORX Heroes, all equipped with unique abilities - there’s plenty of danger coming your way!

  • An advanced difficulty mode, available to those who’ve mastered the Campaign - put your tactical skills to the ultimate test!

Take Carcassonne, one of the most well-known tabletop games in the world, mix it with the ever-popular tower defense gameplay, and add the unpredictability of Slay The Spire’s deckbuilding roguelike mechanics - and you’ll get ORX!

Each level, players will build fortified castles in order to survive a relentless onslaught of enemies. Your deck is the key to your success in ORX - use the cards in your possession to build castle walls, pave roads, summon armed troops and strengthen your kingdom in many different ways!

Each card costs a certain amount of Gold - and while you earn a set amount of Gold over time, you can build Farms, Villages and other useful locations to increase your income and unlock the full potential of your deck! But remember, gold isn’t the only way to build up your realm - be sure to scout the nearby area for Vaults, containing powerful rewards.

But be warned - you only got a short amount of time before your kingdom gets rushed down by hordes of green-skinned monsters, getting angrier and more powerful, wave after wave! Gather the right deck, fortify your defenses, and think on your feet - that’s the key to standing tall against the never-ending hordes of ORX!

ORX on Steam

Tales of Finariel : Card based RPG

Tales of Finariel : Card based RPG

Forge your destiny through this card based RPG! Will you become a grand mage specialized in elemental powers or will you prefer the finesse of a very sharp blade? This choice is up to you. Come and explore the lands of Finariel, which are still full or mystical and unexplored areas.

Game features

  • A medieval-fantasy RPG fully hand drawn.

  • A card based system to chose your actions and attacks.

  • Customize your fighting experience through the deck building system. Chose your cards and replay your battles with differents strategies.

  • Upgrade and enhance your weapons and other items in various way, allowing huge customization.

  • Do not follow blinding a class archetype. You can decide what your character should be like. Chose what skills you should be learning, will it be in the same area or completely different. You always dreamed of playing a mage wielding a big sword? Now you can.

  • Enhance your weapon mastery, not by gaigning levels but by using it.

  • Make your own choices and affect your destiny in this world.

Tales of Finariel : Card based RPG on Steam

Destiny or Fate

Destiny or Fate

Warning

By writing this review I’ve already produced more Destiny or Fate content than the devs have in more than a year. Yes, this game has been abandoned with major bugs. Proceed with caution.

Why am I still giving it a thumbs-up then?

Recommendation

The fact that I’ve completed the game more than 10 times, and have clocked more than a dozen hours indicates that the core gameplay loop is still satisfying. So, in order to not look like a hypocrite:

If you can get this game for anything below 5 bucks, and you know for a fact that the genre is for you, then you can consider getting it. Please don’t let it be your first taste of deckbuilding roguelikes, though.

Real player with 119.1 hrs in game

Overall ★★★★☆ (4/5) Recommended for people who are seeking strategy games!

I bought this game 2days ago and played for a while. Literally, couldn’t stop playing it. Very interesting game play due to interconnection between hero abilities, card, and enemy special ability. I just got into 3rd stage without much investing into mastery (which you don’t lose even if you die). I highly recommend to people who love strategy challenges. I hope to see more updates with interesting heroes, cards, and enemies. So far, I played 3 heroes, and it’s been lot of fun in each hero play. (It seems there are more than 10 heroes available, but I could unlock about 5heroes so far).

Real player with 103.8 hrs in game

Destiny or Fate on Steam

Ratropolis

Ratropolis

Call me a dues-paying member of ‘The Cult of the New’ when it comes to genre mash-ups like this. I can’t get enough of them. When Slay the Spire came out and combined roguelites and deck-builders I was hooked for 100+ hours and even back in my pre-COVID table-top gathering days, deckbuilders (Dominion/Thunderstone) were my favorite. The combination of control and RNG is so delicious and it’s exciting to see all of the ways developers are using this in either quality design or just experimenting with a gimmick.

Real player with 90.9 hrs in game

A very tentative recommendation. In terms of my play-time, I’ve completed most content (including wave 120), so I feel I’ve enough experience with the game to give a moderately informed review.

In a nutshell, this game is a very polished game that reminds me of my days playing free games in the heyday of flash. Take a Newgrounds defense game and add a massive layer of professionalism and that’s this game. You play a defense game where your units, economy, and development are linked to a deck built throughout a session. It is hard. You will lose a lot. But there will be an “ah-hah!” moment where you understand what the game wants from you and suddenly it will be rare to lose.

Real player with 87.3 hrs in game

Ratropolis on Steam