Coin Crypt
First off, this is my wife’s favorite game, even though she has never played it, entirely because of the opening theme music.
I would recommend this game as a fun, though sometimes challenging rogue-like romp, bringing together the constant threat of permanent death with a light-hearted playfulness.
The game attempts to present itself without tutorial or much explanation, evoking the enigmatic feeling of many games in the NES era, and does so mostly successfully. (I did do some wiki-ing about the gods after a few days, as this was somewhat opaque to me). The basic strategy of the game unfolds into a fairly rich and varied system as you unlock new classes and learn how to synergize class talents with the other elements of the game. While some classes can be made into powerhouses quite easily, others seem destined for failure. Though at first I felt the obvious imbalances of the classes was a flaw in the design, I now feel like this helps lend the game its particular charm.
– Real player with 133.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Roguelike Deckbuilder Colorful Games.
EDIT:
I got super tired of reading so many complaints of people saying that the game is too hard and confusing, so I wrote a guide for beginners. This should clear up any questions you might have about the game, and if you still don’t like it afterwards, then I guess it isn’t for you. This review is also specifically focused on the base game and does not include any info on the DLC expansion.
Also, this was Slay the Spire before Slay the Spire.
– Real player with 111.2 hrs in game
Haxity
One of my least favorite card games coming games like Hearthstone, Magic, Slay the Spire, Gwent, etc etc. Very low impact on deck building. Fun concept of having dueling players build decks to play specifically against one other person in a draft duel but the mechanics of the game make 90% of matches a rock paper scissors match of do you get to play your cards or does your opponent get to play theirs. No matter how cool of a deck you can build, either you win because you just did damage and the other player didn’t get to do anything to make the match interesting or your that player who doesn’t get to play. The only “close matches” I’ve played were mirror-like matches where both players just punched each other until the one with initiative gets the killing blow. I believe the game is still being developed while I’m writing this review so I’m sure they’re still tweaking and I hope the experience gets better but unfortunately for me that would require completely abandoning several key mechanics that I believe they want to define the game.
– Real player with 73.8 hrs in game
🌎 Overview 🌏
A unique card-based rougelike RPG that has great presentation. The cyberpunk themes are strong, but the game still needs a bit of polish and more content to become possibly one of the greats.
Score is at the bottom of the review, while you are down there, leave a like if you liked this review!
– Real player with 15.1 hrs in game
Phantom Rose
Scarlet Rose Redemption
Phantom Rose is a rogue-lite deck building game with great artstyle and a troubled history. This is an updated review, written after finishing max difficulty level adventure.
Pros:
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Absolutely breathtaking anime-like dark artstyle.
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Great (sadly short) piano soundtrack, that compliments the atmosphere very well.
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Good selection of different cards and combinations.
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Requires some thinking and strategy without being tiresome.
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Easy to start, easy to put away (i.e. play a bit to kill time then come back later easily).
– Real player with 20.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Roguelike Deckbuilder Anime Games.
Time to slice up some teddy bears.
Truth be told, I have been following the sole developer of Phantom Rose for quite some time. One day someone I was following on Tumblr reblogged Makaroll’s art and I followed them soon after. Though, it wasn’t until I finally made a Twitter account that I came across some surprising news. This artist that I happened to come across one day was developing a game. Looking back, I have no idea how I missed this (maybe it was one of those weeks where I was too busy to visit Tumblr), but I was excited to find out more. It didn’t take long before the teaser trailer was released to reveal that it was going to be a card game and the level of hype I had skyrocketed. Despite being really terrible at card games, I was definitely going to pick up Phantom Rose.
– Real player with 19.6 hrs in game
Guild of Dungeoneering Ultimate Edition
GoD is a fun little rogue-like with a lot of character, but not a lot of content.
The card based gameplay is very straight forward compared to a traditional TCG, so the mechanics shouldn’t be a stumbling block for most players for very long. Each of the different character classes (13 in total, I believe) has their own starting decks. These decks are expanded in battle by collecting equipment dropped after each battle. As with most RPGs, the common drops are low quality, only granting you a single card or buff, while the rare and epic loot drops can grant you 5 powerful cards and multiple buffs. You can also equip your Dungeoneer with a special item or blessing before exploring a dungeon, and these can offer advantages like extra hit points, larger starting hand sizes, or increased damage.
– Real player with 137.0 hrs in game
Just finished the game at 15hrs. Interesting game with innovative system. Still, I had to consider really long whether to say I’d recommend this game or not. In the end, the positives won out.
Something very important you should know before buying the game: despite the misleading name and description, gameplay-wise this game is not a dungeon crawler, neither is it a RPG. It is more like a twist on deck-building card game. If you understand that before playing the game would be a lot easier to play.
– Real player with 21.3 hrs in game
Slay the Spire
One of the absolute defining games of its genre, Slay the Spire is great fun for virtually endless hours of play. It is a game where your decisions have a massive impact on performance (and while RNG does play a role, it typically won’t make or break a run unless you need an absolute miracle to succeed in a given fight. It is however, very light on lore and exposition. I personally don’t mind the lack of frills, and it does come together very nicely thematically and aesthetically. However, to try to provide a well-rounded review, I admit that is the one complaint I have heard from one or two friends who play the game.
– Real player with 1367.5 hrs in game
Quite simply, the best deckbuilder I’ve ever played. I only have one other game in my library that I’ve played more than Slay the Spire, and it’s a multiplayer survival game which is made to eat time.
The balance in StS isn’t perfect, of course, but it’s the closest I’ve seen. The developers really have a talent for incorporating interesting card mechanics that don’t devolve into a slew of broken effects. Decks tend to snowball if you build them intelligently (and probably get a little lucky), but I find this to be extremely rewarding - more often than not, the game is extremely brutal at higher difficulty levels, so it feels great when a well-played deck demolishes everything in sight. This works in the other direction as well: a few bad card choices will get you dead with a quickness.
– Real player with 553.3 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!
Deep Sky Derelicts
I will caveat my recommendation by saying that it only just makes it over the threshold. It has a couple of nice ideas that make it playable but many small annoyances that make it far less so. It’s quite cliched but if I could give it a “meh” I probably would.
There are several reviews that compare it to Darkest Dungeon (one of my all time favourites) so I gave it a go. After an hour playing, I realised that this was not particularly accurate. Other than having turn based combat and a map where you wander round and encounter random things, it is not that similar, please disregard anyone saying that!
– Real player with 72.2 hrs in game
OVERVIEW
As a TCCG/RPG game Deep Sky Derelicts scratches an itch I didn’t know I had. It has a few rough edges, but I can certainly recommend it. It is mechanically sound and thematically interesting, albeit somewhat clumsy and childish at times; more on that later. The presentation is well executed and the pacing is just right thanks to careful balancing.
GAMEPLAY, MECHANICS
There is a lot of variety here - the number of classes/specializations makes for great replayability. I’m pretty far along in my current playthrough and I already know what my next party composition will be. The game can be swingy at times, but I never ran into long periods of it being too easy or unfair party wipes. At least… not yet. That said, there are a couple of things I dislike, mechanically speaking:
– Real player with 53.0 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
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
Nowhere Prophet
Edit - I finally beat the game. Everything I said holds doubly true. This game is perfect in every way. There’s like six different endings. I accidentally taught Skynet about slavery. Feelsbadman. Gonna have to get it right next time.
Usually, I wait until I’ve seen half or three-quarters of the content a game has to offer before I write a review. That won’t be necessary here - I’ve done 4 runs, made it to the last level once, and only unlocked about 10% of the game’s other content, and I already find this game to be stellar in every possible way. Specifically, this game, even more so than Slay the Spire, is a love letter to anyone who enjoys drafting Magic: The Gathering; but by no means is that necessary to love this game. Everything about it, from the tooltips to the alignment system to the gameplay to the music and art directions, is executed flawlessly. While some of the other reviews - particularly the complaints about the VERY generous permadeath system; more on that later - made me wary of purchasing the game, I’m glad that I did.
– Real player with 109.8 hrs in game
Need more time with this title, but deeply impressed with the experience so far. It’s story remains a little shallow (like most games of this ilk) but does better than a lot of it’s genre in being interesting in terms of it’s various road events… my initial hesitations were largely focused on the involvement of strategy game style positioning, which in my experience adds little to games like these while slowing play down considerably… I’m not sure that’s any less true in this game, but the feature is fairly minor and thus easy to only involve as much as you want to (certain decks have mechanics that benefit from using it liberally, while others can all but ignore it). There also seems to be some minor UI issues, such as the fact that I can’t seem to end my turn without exhausting all my units, forcing me to attack or move with units even if I don’t want to… unsure if that’s a bug or by design, but seems like a bizarre choice if the latter. The music is servicable but far from impressive and seems to recycle quite rapidly.
– Real player with 90.3 hrs in game
Frost
Frost: A solo deck-building PC game
(This was originally posted on my blog, GoPlayListen . It is largely aimed at tabletop gamers, but hopefully others will find the review useful too)
I’m pretty wary of computer games that mimic ideas from the board and card game world. It’s very rare they manage to capture the subtlety required to make a truly great tactical or strategic game, focusing more on visual bells and whistles and (usually) adding too many luck elements to hold the interest for long. Unless they’re a direct port from an existing tabletop game, they rarely seem designed for gamers.
– Real player with 17.2 hrs in game
Certainly not a game for everyone, but if you’re intrigued by the theme or the thought of pushing your luck in a hostile card-driven affair, then Frost is a pretty cool pick.
Aside from being chromatically challenged, Frost is notable for being a solitaire experience inspired by real world deck-building card games such as Dominion and its subsequent imitators including World of Tanks: Rush and Resident Evil.
The action, such as it is, takes place in the sort of post-apocalyptic setting that author Kurt Vonnegut made popular in his seminal novel Cat’s Cradle; a freezing world where tribes must now band together for their very survival. In the game’s ‘Classic’ mode you become a leader who must collect the resources needed to traverse the land in search of a mythical place called the “Refuge” whilst also trying your best to outrun the titular snow storm that threatens to consume all.
– Real player with 16.3 hrs in game