Poker Quest
For reference, this is a game I’ve played for hundreds and hundreds of hours since late 2019, so it’s seen me through some times. At first, it was killing downtime doing research, then it was procrastination through exam times, now it’s more an evening waltz after work. I’ve also seen the game go through various changes and improvements and for me there’s a few things that are intrinsic - a baseline attraction.
At its essence it’s a permadeath crawler; there are modes with upgrades and custom runs to sustain all that modding goodness for different audiences too, but Classic is the core. Discrete runs, with randomness as a key feature. That’s actually a strong positive; that there are thousands of items, different map nodes and cards in battles and you have to figure a way through it all. There is a lot of variety, but the beauty is that there is almost always a path through to victory. Fidelity to randomness is great, it gives the game an innate value of honesty and keeps runs fresh. I think realising that even though there’s a devotion to true randomness, essentially every run is winnable makes it exciting and not ‘unfair’ for example.
– Real player with 297.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Medieval Indie Games.
Poker Quest is a fantastic roguelike, With a lot to offer in its current state! As mentioned in the description, the combat is very similar to Dicey Dungeons, but with a Poker card deck instead of dice. If you aren’t familiar with Dicey Dungeons, essentially the way this combat works is that you draw a hand full of cards (the amount you draw per turn can be upgraded), and then you have various equipment that you collect and upgrade throughout the run, that are triggered by inserting cards into them, and all have various requirements for what cards can be put inside of them (Needing a flush, straight, or pair of a certain size, occasionally the equipment effects are increased based on the value of cards inserted, etc)
– Real player with 241.6 hrs in game
Death: The Ascension
Certainly not for everyone, confusing at first, but has plenty of unique mechanics after you get past the learning curve
– Real player with 285.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Medieval Singleplayer Games.
Update:
After a few ascensions, I have a better idea now how the mechanics and concepts fit into this creative new game developed by a very friendly and responsive indie-developer who has updated the game in quick response to suggestions on the discussion forum.
What is it?
I would describe Death: The Ascension as a card/puzzle life-choice simulator in which you aim to optimize your chances of a successful ascension by manipulating event probabilities. It has a deck-building type of mechanic in which you add cards to your deck, but the deck is not a draw-deck. Cards in your “deck” influence the chances of drawing cards into the player’s five card hand from an infinite pool. In other words, if you have only one card in your “deck”, you have a 100% chance of drawing five cards of that type. You are playing cards against Death as your opponent. Death has their own deck that has similar draw mechanics, but only draws one card per turn. Each turn one card from each deck is played with four possible events dictated by the player’s card with varying probabilities for each event known ahead of time.
– Real player with 83.4 hrs in game
Indies' Lies
An easier, and more enjoyable DBG
Different from the traditional deck building games, we have made many adjustments and optimizations in many aspects, the deck building process will be smoother and more flexible, allowing more players can experience the fun of DBG.
Solitary different role experience
There are 3 professions in early stage. Among them, each profession has three characters. Around each different profession, each character has its own unique and surprising gameplay, different talent trees and varied lieutenants, which will make your deck building more diverse. There will always be something you would like!
Cleverly designed lieutenants System
Players can invite up to two lieutenants to join the team in the game. Different lieutenants have their own positioning and building routes, some of them are strong DPS hero, some of them have strong tank capabilities, and some of them can make the attack of the main character more powerful. You have to make choices depend on the need of your team. A good choice can make your experience more refreshing.
Rich and Variable Talents
We designed unique talents for different professions and deck building. Even the same profession will have different talent selection routes for each game. 200+ unique talents can satisfy all your growing demands in the process of deck building.
Unique Plot Mode
The game has an original fictitious worldview and unique stories.
When you use different characters to complete the games, their own stories will be unlocked, and you will uncover different clues. These clues will take you further to the world under the influence of both old and new gods.
Read More: Best Medieval 2D Games.
Gamble Tower
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Three clans to choose from, choose a combination of a primary and secondary clan to achieve different builds!
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20 different enemies that vary and change between floors!
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Two main boss battles with unique mechanics.
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Over 50 different orbs that you can modify and upgrade in different and unique ways.
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Capture and use enemies (and the enemies’s tools and weapons) as a way to improve your deck
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Random events, shopkeepers and interactions between each combat!
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The tower and its content are procedurally generated between each run, no run is the same as before!
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Gender swapping
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And the content list is still increasing!
A deckbuilding roguelite game where you hire a hero to crawl his or her way up to the top of a distorted tower in search of treasures, while you bet and gamble against other gamblers to profit on your hero’s misadventures.
Here you have Orbs (which actually look more like gemstones) that have a plethra of uses and effects but act exactly like cards, you have things such as Summons, Equipments, Attacks, Special Orbs and more!
A variety of different kinds and types of enemies and other gambling challenges await for your unlucky hero inside not very friendly rooms, where you might find a reward at the cheap cost of your hero’s life.
You must find precious orbs and synergize them with the other gemstones available in your orb to assure your success on this expedition! Find them on chests, enemy loot and other quite… interesting places.
Each run is different in this randomly generated tower, where you might find a lot of weird NPCs and gambling gadgets, therefore, keep entering surely not suspicious doors to your heart’s content.
Vivid Knight
This is a cute roguelite and auto-chess crossover. It’s very strategy-focused, and the difficulty makes it quite addictive, but some balance issues begin to detract from enjoyment once you’re deep in the game.
The Good
The core game play is roguelike, with your character exploring a maze and fighting monsters in turn-based auto-chess-esque combat. Each step consumes mana, a limited resource that refreshes on each floor, and your team begins taking damage when you run out of mana, forcing you to be efficient in your exploration.
– Real player with 62.5 hrs in game
Welcome to Auto Chess Darkest Dungeon, But Cute.
Jokes aside, this little game so far is one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. I do quite like the auto chess formula, but this game takes a quite unique spin on it which makes it really enjoyable for me.
I’ve seen a lot of reviews making comparisons to TFT and they’re not entirely wrong by drawing the said comparison.
That said, if you’re familiar with games like Auto Chess and TFT, there’s a few things this game does a little different.
– Real player with 32.4 hrs in game
Dark Stone: The Lightseeker
Even though the early game may be boring, the game allow for in-depth strategy and planning, with gradual unlocks over time which allows for you to plan ahead with better starting teams and permits for you to build larger teams during the runs, while also increasing the maximum difficulty with each complete run.
– Real player with 40.1 hrs in game
I got the opportunity to play this throughout the beta recently. I was new to the deck building genre, but not roguelikes, and have thoroughly enjoyed the game. It is certainly plenty difficult for me and Jinny has been incredibly receptive to feedback on balance and UI/UX changes. The English localization is still a work in progress, but its not bad by any means.
Definitely recommend if you enjoy the genre.
– Real player with 17.2 hrs in game
Dark Edges
Get ready to roll in this dice-packed rogue-lite single-player strategy game! Collect a unique set of dice and discover powerful artifacts to protect your village from ghastly monsters!
Another Way to Die:
You’ll come across hundreds of faces that can be inserted into your dice. Select the faces that go well together to gain an edge against your foes!
Against the Odds:
Every wave will feature different kinds of enemies, dice faces, companions, and even bosses! You’ll also come across a slab of artifacts, traps, and spells - everything you’ll need to weaken your enemies before the battle arises.
Take Me Down to a Pair Of Dice City:
All sorts of travelers will visit the village throughout the game and settle in, later helping in your tireless defense.
In Dark Edges you’ll find:
Various characters with unique abilities and die faces to choose from;
200+ dice faces
100+ artifacts
50+ unique enemies
50+ secret events
20+ companions
30+ magic spells
40+ kinds of traps
The game will also feature an endless wave mode, in which monsters will attack your village without taking a breather.
Rogue Cards
Rogue Cards is a roguelite deckbuilder set in a medieval fantasy world of endless choices and dry humor. You’ll encounter challenge after challenge in a deviously difficult, randomized series of encounters where your choices matter. The more you play, the further your deck and character develop, and the closer you get to ascending to godhood!
Challenging Tactical Gameplay
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Monsters are stacked with multiple stages - each stage with different abilities you must defeat.
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Thousands of cards - each playthrough is guaranteed to have a unique deck.
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Multi-enemy encounters - choose wisely which stack and which monster to defeat first!
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Multiple playthrough character development - a honest roguelite.
Strategy Matters
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Unique graveyard mechanic - cards must be returned from graveyard between or during matches.
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Planning your itemization from the start - can you afford to save or do you need to invest now?
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Cards that give permanent boosts to your abilities - play and replay it and become a veritable god!
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Choosing your path - Your character develops differently from defeating different bosses.
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Build your hero - each playthrough awards you gems you can use to boost your abilities and win the next run!
A Real Roguelite Feel
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Build your deck between runs - gain new cards, keep the best and start your next run with an upper hand!
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An ever-changing storyline with multiple endings.
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Captivating story that your playthrough generates.
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Cool original art and style.
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Music to blow your socks off.
Have you ever felt like a farmer’s son/daughter from a medieval time period? Is there a tingling in your belly that says you are the chosen one? In your innermost mind, do you feel invincible because you can always start over as another farmhand destined for greatness? If you answered yes to those, or some other questions that you have heard in the past, then look no further in your search for games!
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