Deckbuilders: about the games
Marvel's Midnight Suns is a RPG and tactical strategy game set in the darker side of the Marvel Universe. The player leads a team of Super Heroes and supernatural warriors against the demonic forces of Lilith and the elder god Chthon. The Hunter, a fully customizable original hero, is shaped by the player's choices of appearance and reactions, while friendships form with heroes from The Avengers, X-Men, Runaways and others. Turn-based tactical battles use the environment, lined-up combos and devastating abilities within a card-based combat system. Between missions, players explore their mystical secret base, The Abbey.
Inscryption is an inky black card-based odyssey that blends deckbuilding roguelike mechanics, escape-room style puzzles and psychological horror. Players build a deck of woodland creature cards through drafting, surgery and self-mutilation. Secrets lurking behind the walls of Leshy’s cabin, and those inscribed upon the cards themselves, reveal a deeply disturbing story.
Slay the Spire mixes card games with the roguelike genre into a single player deckbuilder. On every climb up the Spire the player crafts a unique deck from hundreds of cards, chooses a risky or a safe route, and faces different enemies and bosses. The layout of the Spire changes with each attempt, so the foes, cards and relics found differ as well. Relics are powerful items that can greatly enhance a deck through their interactions, yet obtaining one may cost more than just gold.
Roguebook is a roguelike deckbuilder from the makers of Faeria and Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering. The player leads a pair of heroes, with the one in front shielding the one behind, swapping their positions to chain powerful combos. Decks are assembled from over 200 cards, upgraded with 30 gems and rounded out by 80 relics with special effects. The Book changes each time it is opened – the map, its mysteries and dangers are procedurally generated, and its hexagonal-tile pages are uncovered with magic inks.
Monster Train is a strategic roguelike deck-building game set on a train bound for hell. The player defends three vertical battlegrounds and shields the last burning pyre from the forces of heaven. Along the way you pick your route for the benefits it offers, upgrade your champion, recruit units, improve cards and even duplicate them. There are five clans with distinct playstyles, more than 220 cards and ten starter decks, plus the Hell Rush mode where eight players compete in real time, and daily challenges.
Friends vs Friends is a frantic online PvP shooter that blends combat with deck building. You pick a character, put together a card-based loadout and jump into fast, chaotic fights in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 or free-for-all play, or host private matches with friends and invite them along to spectate. Every character comes with unique passive skills that boost the synergies of your deck, and levelling up plus timed challenges bring new weapon, trap and curse cards that can be upgraded. There is also practice against bots and cosmetics to unlock, with more characters, cards, maps and home-base upgrades planned for after launch.
Ash of Gods: The Way is a story-driven tactical card game in which Finn infiltrates the tournaments of the Way, the card game a neighboring nation uses to teach aristocrats the art of warfare. His aim is to stop an attack on his home. Players build decks from warriors, equipment and spells across four factions, and each turn they deploy one warrior and one support card, after which their units advance toward the enemy and attack. Battles bring different objectives and rules, and the player's decisions shape the story.
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a single player RPG set in the world of The Witcher that blends narrative-driven exploration with unique puzzles and card battle mechanics. Players follow Meve, a war-veteran queen of Lyria and Rivia, who must face an imminent Nilfgaardian invasion and set out on a dark journey of destruction and revenge. Along the way they explore new monster-infested regions, save villages, hunt for treasures and resources, develop a battle camp, recruit units and improve their skills. The choices made shape the state of the world and the tale can end in different ways.
Monster Train returns with new clans, enemy factions, challenges and modes. The Titans have seized Heaven, and former angels and demons form a makeshift alliance against their common foe; you command these clans aboard newly forged trains through Hell, Heaven and Abyss. Play stays vertical across three tiers, where you defend your Pyre, recruit units and upgrade cards, with new Room and Equipment cards expanding your deck’s options. Between runs you visit the Covenant Outpost to unlock Pyre Hearts, take on Dimensional Challenges and customize your train.
Deep Sky Derelicts blends turn-based strategy and RPG with tactical card combat and roguelike elements. Players explore derelict alien ships, fight, loot and upgrade their gear in a retro-futuristic comic book style. The story unfolds in a grim dystopian future where humanity has scattered across the galaxy and society has split into two classes. The outcast dreams of life on a habitable planet, and their squad of up to three mercenaries fights with actions drawn from randomly drawn cards and upgrades between missions on the home ship; content is procedurally generated and the game offers story and arena modes.
Hexarchy is a historical 4X strategy game played in turns, where decisions are made using cards and deck building. The player founds and develops cities, improves land and gathers resources, which can be spent on buildings, wonders and armies or sold for gold. The game allows both trade and conquest and builds its tactics on hex-based fields. Matches last less than an hour, and the game can be played single-player or online, including cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes.
Tainted Grail: Conquest blends a deck-building roguelike with an RPG, with a story-driven focus and endless replayability. Players explore constantly changing maps and fight deadly enemies. The aim is to uncover what happened to the cursed island of Avalon.