DungeonTop
Beware that initial playthroughs may frustrate you. It is recommended you start out with the Warrior and the Shield icon, it’s just easie to surviver. Also you need to remain picky about cards. If you die, you have to start over. You can save after each battle and you can kill program if you’re losing.
Really love this game. Graphics, music, mechanics, it all comes together very well and it’s highly addictive.
Much less random than other rogue games like Darkest Dungeon and more strategic, giving more choice each turn. It also has more interesting cards to offer than most deck builders and a game board adds brilliant chess like strategy element where position matters a great deal.
– Real player with 40.9 hrs in game
Story
At the beginning of the game, you select and play as a hero. Long ago, there were legends of a place known as the Grand Forge. This was a city whose citizens were so adept at creating that they could bend the fabric of reality itself, using their skills to create whatever they wanted. The story begins three years after something called the Steel Curse has blighted civilization, causing black iron gates to crop up and manifest countless waves of monsters within the walls of major cities. The hero you select will gather an army (and minions and strange cards that do other things) and traverse the levels of the dungeons in an attempt to quell the monster attacks forever.
– Real player with 31.6 hrs in game
Trials of Fire
Look guys, I’ve been playing this game for a few weeks now and while I can say I do love this game. It’s got adventure, a unique world to explore, characters that have a surprising depth to them (on the few occasions you have the right character for the right scene), and a plethora of fun combo cards and builds. …But…
I fucking hate this game. You have GOT to do something about the enemy combo formation tactic that goes on. It’s the same tactic every time- but it’s UNAVOIDABLE. No matter how you attempt to position, it’s a HEX BASED GRID- you cannot avoid getting surrounded by dudes. Every unit just moves in to surround one target, then all cards are wasted for 1 dude to hit the target 1-3 times, proc’ing the other enemies 2-6 times, for a total of 3-12 damage. If you were confused about the result, your character is dead. Which cannot be mitigated properly because healing herbs only show up when I complete what amounts to a laughably unbalanced boss fight where the 1st boss sends more dudes after you than you can possibly field, while sitting back in the corner buffing himself into oblivion and tagging your guys (who are stuck in combat with his overpowered handmaids) with dot damage and cackling maniacally. Not sure if someone on your team is one of those sadistic Dungeons and Dragons DM’s who think that its totally fair to TPK the party in the first 5 minutes but it feels that way at times.
– Real player with 291.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Roguelike Deckbuilder Turn-Based Tactics Games.
As much as I love the genre, card-battler deckbuilders have become a deeply overcrowded field in the last few years. I’m always on the lookout for titles that stand out in some way, doing new or unusual things, and especially ones where those things actually work. Trials of Fire hits that mark, in a few different ways.
First off, it’s a party based RPG, with your three-man team being composed from nine total classes. Each character has their own distinctive deck, consisting of five generic cards and four class-specific starters. The core deck for each character is kept essentially fixed at this size, allowing the player to replace any of those nine slots with more advanced cards drawn from a class-specific pool. Alternatively, they can instead elect to replace one of their existing cards, either basic or advanced, with an upgraded version. This replacement-focused attempt at deck-building strikes an interesting balance, and it’s been pretty rare for me that the decision of what to do is a totally obvious non-choice. The fixed size also serves to keep the deck for each character relatively manageable, as with a more traditional approach applied across multiple characters the size could get unwieldy. There are rare circumstances in which a character will pick up an additional ‘Trait’ card in their core deck, which can’t be overwritten or replaced, instead requiring action to remove. It’s likely not surprising that the most common of these are various Injury cards (gained from risk taking during story events, or having all health depleted in combat) as well as Fatigue (added to the whole party if they’ve gone too long without rest).
– Real player with 82.6 hrs in game
Rise of the Slime
Rise of the Slime
You suddenly wake up as a small Slime and are told to go on a journey across the land to reclaim the throne…
Slay the Spire but with a slimy gooey twist
After playing the game for quite a while now I can say that I really enjoy it and every little aspect of it.
Art
The artstyle is a cute comic cutout style with almost everything being moved around on sticks like on a kids play which adds a unique charm to it. Small details like two extra arms holding up shields to signify block are just cute.
– Real player with 27.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Roguelike Deckbuilder Cute Games.
I was pleasantly surprised by this game. This is NOT just another carbon-copy deck builder.
Rise of the Slime feels a bit more casual than similar titles. I died less often, and combat encounters felt less swingy in general. You can expect to get much further in your runs, and to have more control over the cards in your deck.
The adorable graphics and setting are a huge bonus. Most deck builders take place in a highly gritty fantasy setting, and the adorable art style is a nice change of pace. It is also nice to walk through the world rather than click on rooms in a menu. There are even a few secrets with the interactable terrain.
– Real player with 24.6 hrs in game
Rise of the Slime: Prologue
The demo is awesome! You should try it out.
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
You know how some games make the beginning easier so you get that feeling of accomplishment before you’re stomped on?
That doesn’t happen here. :)
– Real player with 2.5 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
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!
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
Jupiter Moons: Mecha🦾
Choose your mech, customize your loadout, and build your perfect deck. Experiment with cards to find powerful combinations as you enjoy the tactical combat and deckbuilding in this roguelike adventure!
Customize your mech
Choose your Mech frame. Every pilot approaches combat differently, choosing from the melee-oriented assault frame, the stealth sniper frame, or just opt-in for raw laser firepower. Mech frames can be upgraded during the game: by installing new equipment and upgrading the frame to a newer variant.
Build your perfect deck
Collect weapons, shields, and equipment by destroying your opponents in battle. Victory serves you with new ‘toys’ for your mech, swapping out these ‘toys’ will adjust your combat deck.
Test your Mech on battlefield
There are countless weapons and items to discover and try out: lasers, machine guns, plasma rifles, sniper cannons, swords, hammers, drones, mines, force fields, jet engines, as well as more unique ones like: rocket fists, whips, scythes, cloaks, pile bunkers or mini-nukes!
Enjoy the tactical combat
Predict your opponent’s actions and adjust your tactics to the situation on the battlefield. Flank, assault, ambush, hide behind cover, or precisely target most valuable components on enemies.
Find powerful card combinations
Discover unique card combinations that will give you an edge on the battlefield. Or try to find the one that will break the game: one-turn boss battle victory or no damage. Test your combos on the highest difficulty levels.
Protect your mech body parts from destruction
Each body part of the Mech has its own armor and health. Balance your equipment to keep your deck efficient and provide enough protection. When a body part is destroyed, you can’t play cards attached to it!
Choose your path
Choose your path on the campaign wisely, avoid fights not suitable for your current loadout. Take greater risks for better rewards, or just complete your objectives. Discover the origins of the alien AI that is corrupting the machines.