Pawnbarian
I often feel like roguelike deckbuilders use a wide breadth of cards in their game to distract from the fact the core gameplay loop just isn’t all that satisfying. So, enter Pawnbarian, a game that doesn’t let you change your cards at all between characters, all you can do is add one of a few different upgrades. Strips away all the noise and gives you satisfying, thoughtful gameplay from the moment you start a run to its finish.
What it delivers is an experience that reminds me of Into the Breach, but with movement/attacks that vary from hand to hand. Calculating out the perfect route through the board to get a few pick offs and avoid damage is incredibly satisfying. Each turn feels like a tight geometric puzzle. The different characters really do feel like different beasts entirely. The titular Pawnbarian gains a lot from getting past the enemies to the final rank, the Knight Templar gets more actions by using more knights, and the Shogun uses pieces inspired by Shogi, which are often a little weaker, but he backs them up with an AoE ability he can power up by killing enemies.
– Real player with 25.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mouse only Roguelite Games.
I was privileged to win a copy of this early via Esty’s Misfits giveaway on Twitch (@Esty8nine) - delighted, because I was salivating over this from the ads!
The game is very much as it appears: use your moves optimally, learn opponent moves, build your army, and try not to die of Blight. It’s one of those puzzle strategy games you could open, mess around with for a bit and close again. I’ve since found the 2019 free demo, and it’s true to that- though extra time & development has gone in to make user experience satisfying.
– Real player with 14.5 hrs in game
Super Turbo Demon Busters!
Get Dead Shell on Android
Honestly the game itself is pretty addicting, i just don’t see why anyone would buy the version with less content.
Dead shell, fits the “games as a service” model, it got updates and with them more content.
while STD Busters gets 125 levels from whatever version they added on steam.
The only thing extra you might want to check out of curiosity are the two endings, as opposed to the mobile endless mode.
In any case both version work the same, a simplified rogue-lite almost converted to a clicker game.
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mouse only Dungeon Crawler Games.
Pros:
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A rogue-like inspired by Doom and ALIEN that pokes fun at some of the tropes
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Play through and collect marine, weapon, and demon cards to add variety to your session
Cons:
– Costly upgrade system over the more convenient level promotion from previous game
– You may end up fighting uphill battles by the moment you enter a map
– Poor exframe engineering
”Super Turbo Demon Busters!” may not have the conveniences from its predecessor, but there sure is some entertainment to be had here with no doubt. Because ”Super Turbo Demon Busters!” is a good rogue-like/Doom-satire to lose track of time with when you want to go blasting away demons methodically. So even if you end up fighting cybered up monsters who can tear your medic apart, you will still have a blast while doing so.
– Real player with 9.0 hrs in game
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 Mouse only Roguelite 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
Legend Creatures(传奇生物)
It’s something like a card based version of DoTA / League of Legends.
You have a hero hierarchy in play, and get to select a few basic DNA cards, and when you get 3 of a kind, you can merge 3 level 1 cards into a level 2 card, and when you get 3 level 2 cards, you can get the level 3 cards, which are the ultimate cards in the game.
Here are the following attributes of each race :
Human Males : receive defense and magic defense buffs and share buffs with friendly cards
Human Females : receive +30% attack speeds
– Real player with 894.1 hrs in game
This is an auto battler, like in an “old school” way. The graphics at least. The English translation and some of the menu layouts needs work. I have not looked it up, I’m sure I can, well hopefully. But other than figuring out the main LOOP of this auto battler, I have no idea what most of the games menu’s say. If there’s another game mode, or way to unlock more items\creatures. I’ve still yet to randomly stumble across it. I paid full price to support their project. Certainly a little blind faith in that regard, lil bit of faith nonetheless.
– Real player with 139.4 hrs in game
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
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
Curious Expedition
The Curious Expedition is yet another Kickstarter-spawned entry into the ever-growing field of Rogue-Likes, but with a refreshing new twist. This time around, the player takes on the role of a small party of 19th-Century explorers engaged in a gentleman’s wager - to travel the world on six concurrent expeditions, competing to see who can gain the most fame. It’s a fairly quick and lethal game, but that’s exactly what it’s meant to be - a good way to kill a few hours at a time, running expedition after expedition off to their doom.
– Real player with 150.3 hrs in game
The Short Pitch
TCE is one of the best games in its class, a Roguelike-inspired strategy/adventure game that will leave you wanting more. Easy enough to beat several times in one day if you’re dedicated, yet hard enough to make every victory feel like you clawed your way to it from the depths of hades.
If you’re looking at this game and you’re even half sure you want it, get it. If looking at it fills with you a warm and gooey sense of longing for the hours spent huddled around CRT monitors taking turns playing The Oregon Trail, buy it. Even if you’re a more modern gamer, but you’re a fan of FTL, Caves of Qud, the Binding of Isaac, or similar, buy it.
– Real player with 82.6 hrs in game
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!
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300+ Cards - experiment with the cards available, and unlock new ones to build the perfect deck!
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4 Factions, each with their own set of cards and tactics
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A roguelike-style Campaign, featuring 3 Acts, all with their distinct biomes, day/night and season cycles!
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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!
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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!
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
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 (+, +/-, -, ?):
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The game looks really nice, shiny and coloful. I like how the characters and enemies move in a limited way.
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Great character design.
! Mecha Peppa is probably my favorite.
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A good selection of weapons, skills, dice, buffs and debuffs*.
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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
Neurodeck : Psychological Deckbuilder
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What is this game about?
Neurodeck promises an interesting combination of deck building paired up with psychological challenges such as loneliness and exclusions and mental health issues such as phobias. If that sounds interesting to you don’t get your hopes up unfortunately. The psychological part is pretty much tacked on, with very thin connections to the main theme, while the deckbuilding is OK at best. Let’s dive in quickly:
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
Solid deck building game.
On the + side:
The idea is awesome
Animations of the phobias are smart
Many interesting game mechanics: the shark phobia was a real challenge - it … behaved like a shark would, eating your cards.
In many subtle ways, the design was smartly done.
Very addictive until the realities below hit you:
On the - side:
Many cards are useless. Too expensive in terms of stamina, duplicating already existing effects, introducing effects which are irrelevant etc. I would say about 3/4 of the cards I have seen are horrid. After most battles you gain a card and the 3 choices are usually so bad that I had to skip selection. Thankfully, there is such an option ( = choose none of the cards) and you can also remove cards from your deck, which is very important for a deck building game. But still too much fluff.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game