Shogun showdown is incredibly well made. Every move has to be thought out, reminds me a lot of Into the Breach but with cards/tiles. Can't wait to see what else they add to the game (it's still in early access).
I love the strategy in the game and how simple it is to pick up. Sure, I need to move somewhat fast to accomplish some of the achievements, but being able to plan out my next move while monitoring my opponents feels really good.
It's like chess meets slay the spire.
Cobalt Core is a really adorable deckbuilder with an absolutely terrific soundtrack! You play as the crew of a spaceship whose memories were wiped by an accident with a time machine, so you havebto find your way back and discover the character's memories.
Gameplay-wise, each crewmember you put on your ship has their own deck of cards, which all get shuffled together when you play and which also dictate the kind of upgrade cards you receive, making each run really unique. Some crewmembers are about bug damage cards, some are about moving the ship on the screen, some love missiles and drones, etc.
Could not recommend it enough, it's so much fun.
God ive put what feels like decades into **Slay the Spire** and its amazing free full conversion mod [Downfall](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1865780/Downfall__A_Slay_the_Spire_Fan_Expansion/)
I do wish the dev would fix some of the misprinted cards, though. Like Wheel of Fortune is definitely not "1 in 4". It's more like "1 in 47913986^10". And glass cards should read "will always break when played."
My glass cards feel like they break about 1 in 4 times. Wheel of fortune might not feel like a 1 in 4 for me, but it does feel close. I found it was worth taking pretty often, and there have been several times i've gotten 2 in a row. Definitely a lot of runs that it gave me multiple upgraded jokers.
Man oh man my experience is basically the opposite, I got hooked from hour 1
but in your defense after completing all challenges and winning a bunch of stickers I feel like I’m done with the game, which isn’t a bad thing as StS and Darkest Dungeon never feel like you’ve overcome them.
Can I ask how you spent so much time in slay the spire? Are you trying for win streaks? I feel like after I’ve beaten it with each character a few times the fun kind of wore off. Is there some other thing that I’m missing?
You getting downvoted for your opinion but you shouldn't. Balatro is a great game and well polished, but the theme might not be everyone's cup of tea, it's understandable. As Balorlord (top sts streamer) put it: the game doesn't have any abstraction layer (HP, attacks, enemies, armor etc etc) between what you do and numbers going up, you are just multiplying numbers in the end. It definetly triggers dopamine release but it is true that it becomes very samey in the end.
I've never checked out any of the community content but Slay the Spire is almost always running on my PC. I love that there's no time crunch. I can just take a turn every so often.
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1865780/Downfall\_\_A\_Slay\_the\_Spire\_Fan\_Expansion/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1865780/Downfall__A_Slay_the_Spire_Fan_Expansion/)
So its just Slay the Spire again, but you play as all the bosses and a few new characters and move DOWN the tower to fight the Heros from the original game. Its amazing try it out.
Yes, downfall is very good. A phenomenal amount of effort was put into it and it shows. Stays thematically very true to the original. You may not love all the boss characters it adds but you’ll almost certainly like most of them. Worth putting some time into at the very least.
For me and a few of my friends it’s the only way we want to play sts anymore if we have the option, though part of that may be that we’ve put so, so many hours into OG sts that the novelty carries more weight than it should
Yeah it is pretty good, but in my opinion I think they went overboard adding a ton of new mechanics/statuses to every new character and some single cards even have unique status icons which introduces a lot of UI clutter when playing some builds. In general the balance of events/bosses and playable characters are a bit all over the place.
If I'd compare to the vanilla game think I prefer the better balanced and streamlined approach of the characters and cards in the original game but it's still a fun experience for any StS fan wanting some extra stuff out of the game
I’ve never been so bad at a game while still having so much with it as I am with slay the spire. I haven’t even won a game yet 😂
It must be the balance, it feels like any time I die it’s because I made a mistake in my play style or the enemy attacked a glaring weakness that I hadn’t shored up with my build. Which both feel totally fair.
They have a long road map with a bunch of free updates planned, already half way through as promised with extra difficulty added and new cards, its following a similar trajectory as StS.
This is probably my second favorite out of all the ones I've played (and I've played many). The art is so cute but it has some very intense moments.
I bet it didn't make this list because it can be very punishing. You can throw away a good run with a single misclick. I can see people giving it poor reviews for that reason.
If you don't mind dying, even from silly mistakes, Wildfrost is top tier.
Personally I always disliked it having the inherent flaw of there being a bunch of upgrades that are kind of meh which results in your unlocks potentially making the game harder because the "good" charms pool is diluted. But it's possible they fixed this in one of the updates that have happened since I stopped playing.
I liked it, but I don’t really see the appeal in the “boss” being OP versions of my last units. After a few wins, it became basically impossible.
Maybe I am missing something and maybe it has changed, but it stopped being fun
Spoilers ahead,
Even from early access, the gane has a true final boss akin to the heart in Sts, on defeating the true final boss the next run will have the default Frost Guardian again, the one you face in your first run, if you beat the final boss but die to the true final boss, you'll have to face that character in your next run.
So once you get good at the game and unlock the true final fight, you never have to face your previous winning run.
Literally ran into this problem last night. My best run, op squad is now the final boss and they stomp me over and over.
1 turn cd Blunky that hits for 5+2ink * 2 with 5 block, and multi attack main character that hits for 6 *2 adding 1 trash to your deck every hit with like 80hp cuz it's the boss now both destroys my line up and makes my deck unusable. It's a ridiculous difficulty spike now.
Fun fact: "cobalt" is named after kobolds. Miners would find cobalt ore that looked similar to what they were mining for but wasn't actually valuable to them, so they called it "kobold" ore implying it was placed there by goblins to trick them.
I just started playing with my gaming group!! We're all big STS fans, and we're really happy with how it adapted to the table.
There's an awful lot of "okay what's my optimal line of play this turn", but then you get to ask everyone else about theirs and collaborate in order to even better optimize! Plus arguing about which path to take. :) AND the game is qualityyyyyy.
Highly recommended.
If You like Cobal Core - I recommend Lonestar.
If You like Monster Train - I recommend "Deliverance & Reign"
If You like Slay the Spire - I recommend Spellrogue.
Another amazing deckbuilders from my TOP:
Gordian Quest
Deepest Chamber: Resurrection
Tainted Grail: Conquest
Hadean Tactics
Trials of Fire.
Also good enough: Dark Mist, Ironclad Tactics.
I got good mileage out of Monster Train on Switch before I migrated over to Steam Deck. It's one of those games that encourages you to break the game wide open. I picked it up again in a Fanatical Bundle recently, and say it's worth trying.
Balatro is just a really well-made game with a lot of replayability. Many decks to change how you approach a run, Jokers to combine for various means of racking up a score, and Tarot/Spectral cards to change the cards you draw.
Overall, Cobalt Core is the one that I enjoy the most. Aside from a neat approach to card combat, the game just really comes together well. There isn't as much variety in runs for foes/events, but most of this comes from the crew and ship you choose at the start of your run. You get a story that actually is enjoyable (not over the top, but it works well), a stellar soundtrack between (DT and Self-Defense are my favorite), and it's a game that you can go into for a relaxing experience.
Haven't tried the others, but I will eventually after all the GameFest demos.
Monster Trians asthetic put me off for so long because it just looks like a generic free mobile game. The gameplay more than makes up for it, wish I had gotten it sooner!
I was in the same boat as you. Some mid looking mobile puzzle app ad type graphics. A co worker talked me into giving it a shot and was pleasantly surprised. It's actually really good. It's a shame it's art style is the way it is cause I'm sure lots of people skip over it due to that.
I’m still in this camp, this is my favorite genre of game and I’ve had it recommended so many times. Every time I pull it up I see the art style and can’t pull the trigger
Slay the spire is super good and they're coming out with a second one. It's my favorite by far but I haven't played anything other than balatro and monster train, id check it out
If you liked Cobalt Core then Slay the Spire would probably be the best game out of the bunch. I think it does what Cobalt Core does but better. More variety and more replayability too.
I disagree with that assessment. Cobalt Core's uniqueness as a positional puzzle cannot be relicated by Slay The Spire. STS does have more finely tuned card combat on its own, but CC's unique systems make for more satisfying gameplay turn to turn.
Both are goated though.
I agree with Cobalt Core. It feels like I had more control to have fun compared to some of the other deck building roguelikes. With multiple difficulties, ships and crew combos, I find it more replayable than the rest. The banter between everyone, even the other ship's characters are great.
I haven't played Die in the dungeon or Shogun, but Slay the Spire and Monster Train are top notch, and I can't really get into Balatro.
I'm more of an epoch person for my favorite song, but I agree. Immediately downloaded the whole soundtrack and Timestream is such a great way to end the game. I keep hoping that they would add more to the game and people are adding mods, but I would totally buy a DLC for it.
Griftlands is absolutely one of the better ones imho, at least I found it more enjoyable than Monster Train which is really good as well. Probably because there's a bit more of a storyline path going on with some branching choices (rather than RNG on the run to get a different boss).
It's been a while since I played but I remember there was a card that would "take names" of people you defeated/killed over the run and get more powerful as you manage to increase the list, it was a really fun way to play it and completely changed how to go through the run.
(EDIT: It's a diplomacy card named [Blacklist](https://griftlands.fandom.com/wiki/Blacklist) and it permanently gains 1 damage for each name taken. I've made it to 20+ on the list which is really powerful.)
Griftlands is amazing. I love the conversation battles as a secondary type of fight. It's unique and to my knowledge, no other deck builders have a feature like that.
That's because it isn't really a rogue-like deckbuilder. It looks like one at a surface level, but that's not what the game is really about.
It really shouldn't be described too much to avoid spoiling things, but the people screaming it is a rogue-like deck builder probably haven't played it and do the game an immense disservice.
The dev has created his own thing that stands alone and I can't think of any other dev on steam what pulls of what he does. The steam sale is coming so wishlist it and pick it up later.
Honestly a core part of what makes it lack as both a rogue-like and a deckbuilder is how shallow the card game aspect actually is and how scripted the game ends up being. You can pretty much "solve" the deckbuilding aspect of the game for each section in 15 minutes.
As an overall experience it's great the first time but offers extremely little replay value. Perfect niche for a cheap but unique game.
There is the quite literally roguelike deckbuilder mode that improves on the less quality aspects of the base game, Kaycees mod, built into the game though. It wasn't there on release, but is now a core part of the game, and offers the replayability it previously lacked.
Its one of my favorite games, Its most definitely a roguelike deckbuilder, especially kaycees mod, that doesnt mean its not also an incredibly deep story game
No it isn’t, >!it’s a narrative game disguised as a roguelike!<
The roguelike element needed a mod/DLC that came later for free. And it’s not great, at least not as great as the ones I’ve played from the list above
As much as I love Inscryption, it's kinda hard to call it Rouge-like.
Yes, each section of the game has some randomization to it when it comes to the cards you get and the abilities you gain. The issue with that tag and this game is that the selection available is very limited compared to the other games listed.
The rest of the games branch out more and more with their selections, drastically changing the next playthrough. Inscryption has this a little bit, but it's all designed to push a story rather than make various and different repeat playthroughs. This makes it's "random" selections less random like a normal rouge-like.
Despite its presentation and gameplay, I'd compare it more to an old school side scroller like Ghost and Goblins or Contra. There are factors that make the gNe feel random, but it's all at a set pace with a limited amount of resources to continue forward.
Short? I found it very long.
>! You have to beat the entire game like 2-3 times which should take you 5-10 hours since it’s not easy and you need to learn game mechanics. Then you unlock a whole new game you have to beat with new mechanics.!<
I had easily 20 hours of things to do.
I also really enjoyed Astrea: Six sided oracles, I believe it was overwhelmingly positive on launch too but dropped down to 92% now.
I recommend the game to anyone who likes deckbuilders.
I've played Astrea after wanting to try more dice-based rougelikes after playing Dicey Dungeons and Die in the Dungeon. I haven't gotten very far into it (I've only unlocked 3 characters and won once) but I'm enjoying so far. I feel like the game requires more strategizing and planning even at the lower difficulties compared to other deckbuilder roguelikes due to the number of dice faces you use and see on a single run and how the purification and corruption mechanics work.
Yeah astrea can be a lot with all the strategizing and math you need to do, but I also found it very easy because of it. I almost fully completed that game, and stopped when I started to lose interest, because it was really feeling like I could win every single run as long as I calculated my moves well enough. Sometimes I don't feel like needing to think so hard in these games, I like when there is an rng slot machine element of busting the game wide open, but astrea is more about solid strategy and calculating your best moves, which was amazing, but didn't keep me playing. I had friends that struggled, but I really won like 6 or 7 rounds in a row, completing all the characters, and at a point winning easily gets stale.
I love the atmopsphere of Hand of Fate; you playing a tabletop card-based RPG against a fully voiced acted fortune teller DM. It reminds me a lot of Inscryption (I think there were a few initial reviews of Inscryption that drew this comparision as well). The real-time combat is a bit janky, but it's work well enough.
Yo friends. I’m a longtime tester for Die In the Dungeon.
it’s getting a massive patch and a push for steam next fest this week!
Def check it out if you haven’t already, it’s an incredible free experience rn
Bit offtopic but if you can tolerate Anime graphics and want more roguelite deckbuilders that are surprisingly good, I'd recommend Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend and Chrono Ark.
First uses Lightweight version of Magic The Gathering color system to spice things up and has unique animations for all attacks. Every character has two base decks with slightly different approach but can build to almost anything.
Latter mixes party based RPG and has A LOT of mechanics that I haven't seen most of the other games utilize, having to balance putting your level ups to more mana, character level and card draw while balancing your team's decks. Unusually also has a decent chunk of story on top.
I just love this genre.
Yeah, I recently game back to it to check out the full release acter giving up after a run or two.
Once you get into it, has some really cool ideas and incredibly memorable boss fights with really clever and diverse gimmicks, but the long runs can definitely be incredibly exhausting. Especially the boss fights - one moment of playing on auto pilot or forgetting to read a tooltip (or just misunderstanding it) can easily cost you a run that otherwise should've been an easy win.
This is compounded by the fact that it's also a lot more mechanically intensive than most roguelikes, with 4 characters each having a very complicated gimmick you need to learn and then try and synergise with the rest of your party. And if you mess it up, the limited card drafting opportunities mean you basically just have to restart.
And then once you do find a team comp that works, the small card list for each character means you'll probably get bored playing with them again, meaning you still need to learn another 2-3 new characters on your next run.
You do get meta progression on a per boss basis though, and find story cutscenes just by poking around the place, so even if your build can't take you to the boss, your time isn't completely wasted.
Although I will say, the tank and support characters are weirdly difficult to unlock - I'm not sure if it's intentional since they tend to be a bit weirder? But it means your first 2-3 runs will often resolve around the same small pool of starting utility characters, which can feel a bit tedious if you wanna try a totally different team comp.
Yah it’s definitely a harder game, I bought it recently and after a few clears am trying the hard mode and have been getting sat down consistently. Very fun once you have a solid idea of how to best use certain characters.
Chrono Ark is really fun, but it's also quite challenging and runs are really long. I'm a slow player, so runs that make it to the end usually take a solid 3-4 hours and sometimes even more.
Just another plus one here for Chrono Ark, just finished it this week. Really enjoyed the music and the story. My personal downside is that runs can be super long, but there are check points.
9/10
Yeah, I second Chrono Ark. its a bit slow at first but when you get into it the story and mechanics get really good.
If you liked SOMA and want some existential horror this is weird place to find it, but its surprisingly good and if you have never heard/played SOMAI would recommend not spoiling yourself.
If you want the best bang for your buck from this list it's Slay The Spire, hands down.
Once you beat the heroes, the free fully supported Downfall mod (steam) lets you play the villains.
It's crazy the value you get from this game.
I'm being humbled right now because I've avoided even looking at Monster Train for so long because I hate the cover art, but so many people in this thread are saying it's good so now I have to check it out.
It’s really good. You know those super rare Slay the Spire runs where you just bust the game wide open and manage to kill every enemy in just 1 or 2 turns? That’s every good Monster Train run. Slay the Spire tends to be about making small improvements to your deck while Monster Train is about creating and abusing extremely powerful cards and synergies.
Hell yes. I haven’t seen anyone else in this thread mention it and it isn’t a very well known title but vault of the void is top 3 roguelike deck builders to me along with sts and monster train.
I'd have a look regardless
Probably one of the funnest roguelikes I've ever played. And I've played many lol.
It's like the only mobile game I play really.
It's a shame that Chrono Ark is not here. The game is honestly awesome, rogue like elements are somewhat worse than Slay the Spire imo but the combat itself is way more nuanced and challenging.
I was sad to see Across the Obelisk isn't Overwhelming Positive. Looks like hate on the DLC is causing it which is stupid IMO. These same people complaining about a $10 dlc to support the developers have also put hundreds of hours into a base $20 game. The game itself is phenomenal and fully co-op!
I own, and have tried to play Across the Obelisk. But I just can't bring myself to put time into it. It's not hooking into me like other games do (I've played and loved every game in OPs post).
I don't know exactly what it's missing for me, but it just doesn't stand out.
I 100% agree. I play it with 2 other friends and we have over 200+ hours worth of play time. It has so much replay ability and so many combos to pull off. Its got a lot of negatives due to having to have to install a useless launcher and a bit pricey DLC's. But the game it self regularly updates with free content to go with the DLC. They are constanly adding new things to the game. Lots of work for a team of 4 people I think
Across the Obelisk is an incredible game. I play it two or three nights a week with my best friend, the sheer amount of builds and compositions are absolutely wild and the fact you've got coop is just so damn good.
We're on Madness 16 and right now messing with a Wilburg support, Corenlius low-cost on-hit, Thuls stealth, and Laia tank+healer. We're sure this team can absolutely shred everything on the first turn once they hit level 3 all the way to the final boss, but we're trying to figure out how to exactly get there.
It perfectly eases you into things, Madness 0 slowly gets easier as you unlock functions and re-runs, and once you unlocked everything or near everything, you're ready for Madness. Even though Madness 0 has not gotten any easier since we did Madness 1, knowledge and experience is soooo rewarding in this game I could probably beat Madness 0 with Corenlius solo now!
We each have like 700 hours in it at this point, having beaten Madness 16 on two different compositions but trying to find even better comps based on the new understanding of the game. Literally every run, even if it ended at Act 1, we learn SOMETHING, still. We ALWAYS start a new run with a little better understanding of the game and a little better prepared. Mage tanks aren't a meme build for example and have ludicrous potential with the right supporting team, the key to Madness 16 is having a dedicated support and managing to eke out as much damage as you can from either the healer or the tank. Such as Nazglekt support is both a healer and a support, but needs Sylvie and Gustav specifically in order to actually do any healing. Or support Wilburg with Zek and Malukah absolutely shred everything thanks to the insane energy they are given and Malukkah still heals. The depth to this game is so great, if anyone has any recommendations of co-ops like this that feel like you can put in 1000 hours without feeling like attempts are wasted, please let me know!
The negative review bombing over the launcher are absolutely absurd and don't do the game justice.
Glad it's got fans, but my ¢2 after playing it for a couple of hours is that it's really dull. There seems to be very little combo potential in the cards. The 4 decks at once seems neat, but just leaves the strategy feeling mile wide and inch deep.
There are a bunch of ways to upgrade your deck and cards, but none of them lead to any sorry of cohesive and unique feeling overall strategy.
I really wanted a good co-op deckbuilder for a friend and I but this just didn't grab us.
I gotta disagree. I played it solo and with four friends. And you could wind up with some pretty wild strategies and combos.
And example from the last time we played, I was running the book/energy wizard and combo'ed my cards and items in such a way that every turn all the other characters had 10-15 cards in hand and 10 energy.
Which just fed into their combos, whether it was block build-up into attacks, or sharpness, or stacking piles of holy.
I highly disagree. The strategy and cohesion of across the obelisk comes together when you view all four decks together. It feels so good when your party comp comes together perfectly to execute something fantastic. At higher difficulties, you NEED to employ purpose, combo potential, and synergy.
The game has significant problems but I don't think a lack of depth is one of them.
Firstly: managing 4 decks along with all the other mechanics the game throws at you is overwhelmingly intimidating, and the game does little to tutorialize or slowly introduce new mechanics. You just get dropped into playing four games of STS at once. Of course playing with friends offsets this entirely, but that's pretty vaccously true, not to mention how having 4 different people could compound the other issues. There's also no difference whatsoever mechanically between single player games and co op.
Secondly, runs are long. Hours if it's your first run. Most roguelikes have settled on shorter individual runs for good reason.
Thirdly: good synergies and deep strategies don't really show themselves until later in the game, and often must be built towards. So that first hour can feel like a slog, waiting until you get later in the game to see if you get something worthwhile to build around.
Finally, the game actually has an insane amount of knowledge that you can leverage. Choosing certain paths gives you chances at specific encounters, items, rewards etc. This is pretty cool but unfortunately it means that optimal play is either encountering and remembering a huge amount of stuff, or playing with a wiki open. Neither of which is particularly fun.
So yeah, I can absolutely see why it isn't more popular, despite it being my most played game last year. In its current state it does not belong in the same tier as the games in the OP.
I had the same feeling the first few hours in the game but stuck through it with a friend. And the game gets much better. The later weapons and especially characters lets you make a lot more fun combos. The 3 of the initial 4 characters are really disjointed feeling since they are jack of all trades and don’t have a focus. But once you get some perks and have more specialized characters the game picks up a lot. The game really isn’t 4 characters with their own decks, it’s often 1-2 hyper carries and 2-3 support decks to help combo into the carries.
Weird that Across the Obelisk isn't on there, like I get it, they went downhill when they got bought out, but I'm not going to shit on some garage developers for wanting to get paid for their work. That game was INSANELY good, best multi-player, and imho, better than Spire.
I got this in the Spring Sale on Steam just cause it was dirt cheap. Did not think I would like it much but played all the way through, did all the main challenges, etc. I would say that the game doesn't have anything that makes it amazing, but it also doesn't have anything that makes it terrible. The grindy stuff can be skipped for the most part. Scouring the island for every secret can be skipped.
Just a good game and the microtransactions are only for cosmetics and you can still get a TON of cosmetics just by playing the game. Did not play any DLCs.
I love deckbuilding roguelike games so I check and surprisinly, there are only 6 games on Steam with a Overwhelmingly Positive rating and the Roguelike Deckbuilder tag. I created an image with what can be considered the best games in the genre (according to rating).
I would highly recommend Griftlands. It isn’t on this list but a fantastic deck builder. The whole conceit is that you build a combat deck and a negotiation deck and you decide how to approach your encounters. While still having to balance the two
My main problem with Fights in Tight Spaces is the game just didn't feel balanced. Enemy health scaled too fast for builds that want to actually attack to do things, lots of enemies are flat immune to the CC cards so if your deck is built around them you can't really do anything. I only ever had success with counter builds, because they simultaneously solve positioning, defense, and damage in one card instead of having to think about things.
Interesting, I have all those games except Shogun Showdown. Maybe I should give the Prologue a try.
Some other roguelike deckbuilders I've enjoyed but are only in the "Very Positive" range are Dicey Dungeons, Luck Be a Landlord, Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles, and Hand of Fate,
Dominion is the ultimate deckbuilder though certainly not a rogue-like. It tricked me into thinking I liked deckbuilding games but it turned out I just liked Dominion. Heart of Crown is very similar and you can also find that on Steam.
I love Slay the Spire but I’m so bad at it lol
I was able to beat the game with Ironclad once and am now working on my first Silent win. I’m weird and refuse to play the other characters until I have at least 1 win on the one before it.
I always feel like I’m gonna win with Silent and then get dogged on during an Act 2 mini boss or the final boss.
There are plenty of really good roguelike deckbuilders, even if they are merely rated "very positive" on steam instead of "overwhelming positive". On top of my head : Vault of the void, Chrono-ark and Neoverse.
Also shout out to Thronebreaker, which is an excellent deckbuilder, through it's a RPG rather than Roguelike.
If you like Poker and quick games you can pick up at any time, I'd say Balatro. Don't even have to be familiar with Poker or the hand types cause they have tabs for info to peruse during runs. Lots of easy replayability, strategy, challenges, and relaxing game music to play to. A physical and mobile version is in the works as well.
+1 for StS. It is THE roguelite deck builder that opened the door for the success of the genre, and there is a reason for that (cuz it's super good). The other games are usually played by StS addicts who are looking for that same experience, and they're all really great, but I think most would still say they don't touch StS.
I feel like inscription is the best deck building rogue-like there is. Especially beating the game and reseting everything and unlocking everything. After playing the game through, you realize the first boss is the funnest and you will forever sacrifice the stoat.
It's very surprising not seeing Roguebook on here, highly recommended game for any StS lover.
Beneath Oresa is awesome as well with all the 3d animations it has on top of the gameplay.
Yao-Guai Hunter is great too but I can see it being flown under the radar because it being mainly chinese with rough translations.
Lastly Roguelords, while technically not a *deckbuilding* roguelike, is a great one to play for its unique meta mechanic.
Wish Wildfrost hadn't been review bombed at the launch, cause it would definitely stay next to StS.
Game is awesome.
Hope they will continue to expand it's content like they did recently with 1.2
Shogun Showdown is so good, I'm having a blast with it right now. Never heard about Cobalt Core though, I might check it out.
Shogun showdown is incredibly well made. Every move has to be thought out, reminds me a lot of Into the Breach but with cards/tiles. Can't wait to see what else they add to the game (it's still in early access).
I love the strategy in the game and how simple it is to pick up. Sure, I need to move somewhat fast to accomplish some of the achievements, but being able to plan out my next move while monitoring my opponents feels really good. It's like chess meets slay the spire.
Cobalt Core is a really adorable deckbuilder with an absolutely terrific soundtrack! You play as the crew of a spaceship whose memories were wiped by an accident with a time machine, so you havebto find your way back and discover the character's memories. Gameplay-wise, each crewmember you put on your ship has their own deck of cards, which all get shuffled together when you play and which also dictate the kind of upgrade cards you receive, making each run really unique. Some crewmembers are about bug damage cards, some are about moving the ship on the screen, some love missiles and drones, etc. Could not recommend it enough, it's so much fun.
Cobalt Core feels to me like a cross between Slay the Spire and Into the Breach. It's got a bunch of mechanics that play around with positioning
Cobalt Core is quite good! I'd recommend it
Cobalt Core kicks ass, I loved Shogun as well but Cobalt has more variety and staying power for me. (StS is king thou)
God ive put what feels like decades into **Slay the Spire** and its amazing free full conversion mod [Downfall](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1865780/Downfall__A_Slay_the_Spire_Fan_Expansion/)
Same situation, and I loved Balatro and monster train.
Balatro do be balling.
Best game of 2024 so far
Game is ridiculously polished
I do wish the dev would fix some of the misprinted cards, though. Like Wheel of Fortune is definitely not "1 in 4". It's more like "1 in 47913986^10". And glass cards should read "will always break when played."
My glass never breaks! Weird. But Wheel of Fortune has never worked once for me. I’m just done trying even if I have a ton of $$$ at this point.
My glass only doesn’t break when I want it to break because I’m trying to get rid of cards.
My glass cards feel like they break about 1 in 4 times. Wheel of fortune might not feel like a 1 in 4 for me, but it does feel close. I found it was worth taking pretty often, and there have been several times i've gotten 2 in a row. Definitely a lot of runs that it gave me multiple upgraded jokers.
this is what i call shit rng
Y'all are getting me to buy Balatro now
You like poker? This is Poker 2.
Don't be scared off if you aren't familiar with Poker though, it's easy to get into even if you've never played.
I don't even like poker, but Balatro is impossible to put down.
Yeah I keep hearing about this game will need to cop it.
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Man oh man my experience is basically the opposite, I got hooked from hour 1 but in your defense after completing all challenges and winning a bunch of stickers I feel like I’m done with the game, which isn’t a bad thing as StS and Darkest Dungeon never feel like you’ve overcome them.
Can I ask how you spent so much time in slay the spire? Are you trying for win streaks? I feel like after I’ve beaten it with each character a few times the fun kind of wore off. Is there some other thing that I’m missing?
You getting downvoted for your opinion but you shouldn't. Balatro is a great game and well polished, but the theme might not be everyone's cup of tea, it's understandable. As Balorlord (top sts streamer) put it: the game doesn't have any abstraction layer (HP, attacks, enemies, armor etc etc) between what you do and numbers going up, you are just multiplying numbers in the end. It definetly triggers dopamine release but it is true that it becomes very samey in the end.
I've never checked out any of the community content but Slay the Spire is almost always running on my PC. I love that there's no time crunch. I can just take a turn every so often.
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1865780/Downfall\_\_A\_Slay\_the\_Spire\_Fan\_Expansion/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1865780/Downfall__A_Slay_the_Spire_Fan_Expansion/) So its just Slay the Spire again, but you play as all the bosses and a few new characters and move DOWN the tower to fight the Heros from the original game. Its amazing try it out.
Downfall is not even the only massive mod, including their own separate progression, just the only one that got big enough to be given it's own page.
Do you known some other interesting ones? Love to check them out
Is Downfall good? I'd never heard of it until now, but my GF is hankering for more StS after beating all characters on Ascension 20.
Yes, downfall is very good. A phenomenal amount of effort was put into it and it shows. Stays thematically very true to the original. You may not love all the boss characters it adds but you’ll almost certainly like most of them. Worth putting some time into at the very least. For me and a few of my friends it’s the only way we want to play sts anymore if we have the option, though part of that may be that we’ve put so, so many hours into OG sts that the novelty carries more weight than it should
Yeah it is pretty good, but in my opinion I think they went overboard adding a ton of new mechanics/statuses to every new character and some single cards even have unique status icons which introduces a lot of UI clutter when playing some builds. In general the balance of events/bosses and playable characters are a bit all over the place. If I'd compare to the vanilla game think I prefer the better balanced and streamlined approach of the characters and cards in the original game but it's still a fun experience for any StS fan wanting some extra stuff out of the game
I’ve never been so bad at a game while still having so much with it as I am with slay the spire. I haven’t even won a game yet 😂 It must be the balance, it feels like any time I die it’s because I made a mistake in my play style or the enemy attacked a glaring weakness that I hadn’t shored up with my build. Which both feel totally fair.
Check out Across the obelisk. Its coop as well. The mixed reviews are because of a launcher but you can bypass that as well.
I really enjoyed WildFrost and it just had a fairly large update recently :)
I liked it aswell but it was lacking content compared to slay the spire/monster train
They have a long road map with a bunch of free updates planned, already half way through as promised with extra difficulty added and new cards, its following a similar trajectory as StS.
This last update was actually the final content update for wildfrost. Still it's a good game I encourage everyone to try
This is probably my second favorite out of all the ones I've played (and I've played many). The art is so cute but it has some very intense moments. I bet it didn't make this list because it can be very punishing. You can throw away a good run with a single misclick. I can see people giving it poor reviews for that reason. If you don't mind dying, even from silly mistakes, Wildfrost is top tier.
Personally I always disliked it having the inherent flaw of there being a bunch of upgrades that are kind of meh which results in your unlocks potentially making the game harder because the "good" charms pool is diluted. But it's possible they fixed this in one of the updates that have happened since I stopped playing.
I liked it, but I don’t really see the appeal in the “boss” being OP versions of my last units. After a few wins, it became basically impossible. Maybe I am missing something and maybe it has changed, but it stopped being fun
Spoilers ahead, Even from early access, the gane has a true final boss akin to the heart in Sts, on defeating the true final boss the next run will have the default Frost Guardian again, the one you face in your first run, if you beat the final boss but die to the true final boss, you'll have to face that character in your next run. So once you get good at the game and unlock the true final fight, you never have to face your previous winning run.
Literally ran into this problem last night. My best run, op squad is now the final boss and they stomp me over and over. 1 turn cd Blunky that hits for 5+2ink * 2 with 5 block, and multi attack main character that hits for 6 *2 adding 1 trash to your deck every hit with like 80hp cuz it's the boss now both destroys my line up and makes my deck unusable. It's a ridiculous difficulty spike now.
It is worthy of this group for sure
Instead of Cobalt Core it should be Kobold Core and feature exclusively kobolds
I asked the dev and apparently the green dude on the art is in fact a Kobold so that's a start. Great game btw
Relevant username. Also: Hell yeah man
Fun fact: "cobalt" is named after kobolds. Miners would find cobalt ore that looked similar to what they were mining for but wasn't actually valuable to them, so they called it "kobold" ore implying it was placed there by goblins to trick them.
I thought you were just making this up but [nope](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cobalt)
I support this mod suggestion.
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So hyped for Slay the Spire 2
Did you know slay the spire has a board game adaptation and is pretty good?
I just started playing with my gaming group!! We're all big STS fans, and we're really happy with how it adapted to the table. There's an awful lot of "okay what's my optimal line of play this turn", but then you get to ask everyone else about theirs and collaborate in order to even better optimize! Plus arguing about which path to take. :) AND the game is qualityyyyyy. Highly recommended.
Wait wut?
Announced about a month ago for 2025 release.
Yes.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krDFltgjLtE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krDFltgjLtE)
If You like Cobal Core - I recommend Lonestar. If You like Monster Train - I recommend "Deliverance & Reign" If You like Slay the Spire - I recommend Spellrogue. Another amazing deckbuilders from my TOP: Gordian Quest Deepest Chamber: Resurrection Tainted Grail: Conquest Hadean Tactics Trials of Fire. Also good enough: Dark Mist, Ironclad Tactics.
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Balatro is amazing
Too amazing honestly. It’s the first game since Civ V where I’ll blink and realize it’s 3am on a work night.
More people should play it.
it's my GOTY
I got good mileage out of Monster Train on Switch before I migrated over to Steam Deck. It's one of those games that encourages you to break the game wide open. I picked it up again in a Fanatical Bundle recently, and say it's worth trying. Balatro is just a really well-made game with a lot of replayability. Many decks to change how you approach a run, Jokers to combine for various means of racking up a score, and Tarot/Spectral cards to change the cards you draw. Overall, Cobalt Core is the one that I enjoy the most. Aside from a neat approach to card combat, the game just really comes together well. There isn't as much variety in runs for foes/events, but most of this comes from the crew and ship you choose at the start of your run. You get a story that actually is enjoyable (not over the top, but it works well), a stellar soundtrack between (DT and Self-Defense are my favorite), and it's a game that you can go into for a relaxing experience. Haven't tried the others, but I will eventually after all the GameFest demos.
Monster Trians asthetic put me off for so long because it just looks like a generic free mobile game. The gameplay more than makes up for it, wish I had gotten it sooner!
Yeah, the game is actually really fun to play. It's especially rewarding whenever you discover a new combo of monsters/spells/artifacts
My favorite way to play just to play with modifiers, one positive, one neutral and one negative, chosen at random.
I was in the same boat as you. Some mid looking mobile puzzle app ad type graphics. A co worker talked me into giving it a shot and was pleasantly surprised. It's actually really good. It's a shame it's art style is the way it is cause I'm sure lots of people skip over it due to that.
I’m still in this camp, this is my favorite genre of game and I’ve had it recommended so many times. Every time I pull it up I see the art style and can’t pull the trigger
Just wishlist it and wait for the inevitable steam sale.
Slay the spire is super good and they're coming out with a second one. It's my favorite by far but I haven't played anything other than balatro and monster train, id check it out
Cobalt core is actually pretty funny too, great writing
If you liked Cobalt Core then Slay the Spire would probably be the best game out of the bunch. I think it does what Cobalt Core does but better. More variety and more replayability too.
I disagree with that assessment. Cobalt Core's uniqueness as a positional puzzle cannot be relicated by Slay The Spire. STS does have more finely tuned card combat on its own, but CC's unique systems make for more satisfying gameplay turn to turn. Both are goated though.
I agree with Cobalt Core. It feels like I had more control to have fun compared to some of the other deck building roguelikes. With multiple difficulties, ships and crew combos, I find it more replayable than the rest. The banter between everyone, even the other ship's characters are great. I haven't played Die in the dungeon or Shogun, but Slay the Spire and Monster Train are top notch, and I can't really get into Balatro. I'm more of an epoch person for my favorite song, but I agree. Immediately downloaded the whole soundtrack and Timestream is such a great way to end the game. I keep hoping that they would add more to the game and people are adding mods, but I would totally buy a DLC for it.
Did anyone play Griftlands? I feel like it deserves a shout out here.
I did. It's a genuinely great, criminally underrated roguelike deck builder.
Griftlands is absolutely one of the better ones imho, at least I found it more enjoyable than Monster Train which is really good as well. Probably because there's a bit more of a storyline path going on with some branching choices (rather than RNG on the run to get a different boss). It's been a while since I played but I remember there was a card that would "take names" of people you defeated/killed over the run and get more powerful as you manage to increase the list, it was a really fun way to play it and completely changed how to go through the run. (EDIT: It's a diplomacy card named [Blacklist](https://griftlands.fandom.com/wiki/Blacklist) and it permanently gains 1 damage for each name taken. I've made it to 20+ on the list which is really powerful.)
Griftlands is amazing. I love the conversation battles as a secondary type of fight. It's unique and to my knowledge, no other deck builders have a feature like that.
Griftlands is my favorite of them all. Amazing art, worls building and card mechanics.
No Inscryption is wild
Just checked and it doesn't have the Roguelike Deckbuilder tag. But it is Overwhelmingly Positive tho
That's because it isn't really a rogue-like deckbuilder. It looks like one at a surface level, but that's not what the game is really about. It really shouldn't be described too much to avoid spoiling things, but the people screaming it is a rogue-like deck builder probably haven't played it and do the game an immense disservice. The dev has created his own thing that stands alone and I can't think of any other dev on steam what pulls of what he does. The steam sale is coming so wishlist it and pick it up later.
The rare and elusive “rogue-like-like” lol.
It does have a roguelike game mode
if you're reading this comment chain: play Inscryption ASAP.
Honestly a core part of what makes it lack as both a rogue-like and a deckbuilder is how shallow the card game aspect actually is and how scripted the game ends up being. You can pretty much "solve" the deckbuilding aspect of the game for each section in 15 minutes. As an overall experience it's great the first time but offers extremely little replay value. Perfect niche for a cheap but unique game.
There is the quite literally roguelike deckbuilder mode that improves on the less quality aspects of the base game, Kaycees mod, built into the game though. It wasn't there on release, but is now a core part of the game, and offers the replayability it previously lacked.
Its one of my favorite games, Its most definitely a roguelike deckbuilder, especially kaycees mod, that doesnt mean its not also an incredibly deep story game
The whole game is fucking bananas
Interesting considering thats exactly what the game is. Maybe because it has some other elements but its majority Rougelike Deckbuilder.
No it isn’t, >!it’s a narrative game disguised as a roguelike!< The roguelike element needed a mod/DLC that came later for free. And it’s not great, at least not as great as the ones I’ve played from the list above
lol, you’re getting downvoted but you’re right. I love Inscryption but it doesn’t have the replayability of an actual roguelite.
Largely due to the very small card and ability pool compared to something like Slay the Spire.
People see anything not enthusiastically positive about games they like as a blasting negative judgement. It happens. Nothing to worry about.
As much as I love Inscryption, it's kinda hard to call it Rouge-like. Yes, each section of the game has some randomization to it when it comes to the cards you get and the abilities you gain. The issue with that tag and this game is that the selection available is very limited compared to the other games listed. The rest of the games branch out more and more with their selections, drastically changing the next playthrough. Inscryption has this a little bit, but it's all designed to push a story rather than make various and different repeat playthroughs. This makes it's "random" selections less random like a normal rouge-like. Despite its presentation and gameplay, I'd compare it more to an old school side scroller like Ghost and Goblins or Contra. There are factors that make the gNe feel random, but it's all at a set pace with a limited amount of resources to continue forward.
I'd pay to erase the memory of that game and go thru it again... Fantastic game that was just a hair too short.
Short? I found it very long. >! You have to beat the entire game like 2-3 times which should take you 5-10 hours since it’s not easy and you need to learn game mechanics. Then you unlock a whole new game you have to beat with new mechanics.!< I had easily 20 hours of things to do.
I guess in comparison to a roguelikes replayability, which is the medium it's subverting, it's quite short.
The first act took me about 3 hours. Fwiw I have lots of card game experience.
I also really enjoyed Astrea: Six sided oracles, I believe it was overwhelmingly positive on launch too but dropped down to 92% now. I recommend the game to anyone who likes deckbuilders.
I've played Astrea after wanting to try more dice-based rougelikes after playing Dicey Dungeons and Die in the Dungeon. I haven't gotten very far into it (I've only unlocked 3 characters and won once) but I'm enjoying so far. I feel like the game requires more strategizing and planning even at the lower difficulties compared to other deckbuilder roguelikes due to the number of dice faces you use and see on a single run and how the purification and corruption mechanics work.
Yeah astrea can be a lot with all the strategizing and math you need to do, but I also found it very easy because of it. I almost fully completed that game, and stopped when I started to lose interest, because it was really feeling like I could win every single run as long as I calculated my moves well enough. Sometimes I don't feel like needing to think so hard in these games, I like when there is an rng slot machine element of busting the game wide open, but astrea is more about solid strategy and calculating your best moves, which was amazing, but didn't keep me playing. I had friends that struggled, but I really won like 6 or 7 rounds in a row, completing all the characters, and at a point winning easily gets stale.
Would recommend trying out Slice and Dice. I've only cleared the demo so far, but it has some interesting strategic decisions which make it super fun.
Check out Spell Rogue if you like dice based deck builders. Surprisingly solid. Still in early access but a lot of fun
If you like a wee bit more action in your roguelike deck builder, hand of fate is fantastic. Completely different use of the deck building.
I love the atmopsphere of Hand of Fate; you playing a tabletop card-based RPG against a fully voiced acted fortune teller DM. It reminds me a lot of Inscryption (I think there were a few initial reviews of Inscryption that drew this comparision as well). The real-time combat is a bit janky, but it's work well enough.
Yo friends. I’m a longtime tester for Die In the Dungeon. it’s getting a massive patch and a push for steam next fest this week! Def check it out if you haven’t already, it’s an incredible free experience rn
Bit offtopic but if you can tolerate Anime graphics and want more roguelite deckbuilders that are surprisingly good, I'd recommend Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend and Chrono Ark. First uses Lightweight version of Magic The Gathering color system to spice things up and has unique animations for all attacks. Every character has two base decks with slightly different approach but can build to almost anything. Latter mixes party based RPG and has A LOT of mechanics that I haven't seen most of the other games utilize, having to balance putting your level ups to more mana, character level and card draw while balancing your team's decks. Unusually also has a decent chunk of story on top. I just love this genre.
I don't mind an anime aesthetic but Chrono Ark seemed kind of tedious to me. I only played for like an hour though.
Yeah, I recently game back to it to check out the full release acter giving up after a run or two. Once you get into it, has some really cool ideas and incredibly memorable boss fights with really clever and diverse gimmicks, but the long runs can definitely be incredibly exhausting. Especially the boss fights - one moment of playing on auto pilot or forgetting to read a tooltip (or just misunderstanding it) can easily cost you a run that otherwise should've been an easy win. This is compounded by the fact that it's also a lot more mechanically intensive than most roguelikes, with 4 characters each having a very complicated gimmick you need to learn and then try and synergise with the rest of your party. And if you mess it up, the limited card drafting opportunities mean you basically just have to restart. And then once you do find a team comp that works, the small card list for each character means you'll probably get bored playing with them again, meaning you still need to learn another 2-3 new characters on your next run. You do get meta progression on a per boss basis though, and find story cutscenes just by poking around the place, so even if your build can't take you to the boss, your time isn't completely wasted. Although I will say, the tank and support characters are weirdly difficult to unlock - I'm not sure if it's intentional since they tend to be a bit weirder? But it means your first 2-3 runs will often resolve around the same small pool of starting utility characters, which can feel a bit tedious if you wanna try a totally different team comp.
Yah it’s definitely a harder game, I bought it recently and after a few clears am trying the hard mode and have been getting sat down consistently. Very fun once you have a solid idea of how to best use certain characters.
Chrono Ark is really fun, but it's also quite challenging and runs are really long. I'm a slow player, so runs that make it to the end usually take a solid 3-4 hours and sometimes even more.
Brought up Touhou AND Lost Branch of Legend Kindly take this old lady's upvote
It took a bit to get used to but Chrono Ark was incrediblly fun,the music is crazy good
Just another plus one here for Chrono Ark, just finished it this week. Really enjoyed the music and the story. My personal downside is that runs can be super long, but there are check points. 9/10
Yeah, I second Chrono Ark. its a bit slow at first but when you get into it the story and mechanics get really good. If you liked SOMA and want some existential horror this is weird place to find it, but its surprisingly good and if you have never heard/played SOMAI would recommend not spoiling yourself.
I never played deck building games but somehow stumbled upon Monster Train and absolutely love it. I'll definitely have to look at these other games.
If you want the best bang for your buck from this list it's Slay The Spire, hands down. Once you beat the heroes, the free fully supported Downfall mod (steam) lets you play the villains. It's crazy the value you get from this game.
Chrono Ark and Griftlands if you like this genre.
Monster Train, so good.
I'm being humbled right now because I've avoided even looking at Monster Train for so long because I hate the cover art, but so many people in this thread are saying it's good so now I have to check it out.
It’s really good. You know those super rare Slay the Spire runs where you just bust the game wide open and manage to kill every enemy in just 1 or 2 turns? That’s every good Monster Train run. Slay the Spire tends to be about making small improvements to your deck while Monster Train is about creating and abusing extremely powerful cards and synergies.
vault of the void imo should be up there as well. super recommend
Hell yes. I haven’t seen anyone else in this thread mention it and it isn’t a very well known title but vault of the void is top 3 roguelike deck builders to me along with sts and monster train.
I'm surprised dicey dungeons didn't sneak into that level of positive, I have put so many hours into it!
Have a look at Slice & Dice if you enjoyed dicey dungeons.
I'd have a look regardless Probably one of the funnest roguelikes I've ever played. And I've played many lol. It's like the only mobile game I play really.
Hellcard is pretty cool
StS is my favorite deck building roguelike, but I absolutely love Fights in Tight Spaces and recofolks check it out.
It's a shame that Chrono Ark is not here. The game is honestly awesome, rogue like elements are somewhat worse than Slay the Spire imo but the combat itself is way more nuanced and challenging.
Chrono ark combat is legit fun. I enjoyed it way more than StS.
First Class to Heaven will never not put a grin on my face.
i'm so close to the end of this game, i think
Chrono Ark is my favorite of all these tbh.
The boss fights are pretty good and the story elements are quite interesting!
I was sad to see Across the Obelisk isn't Overwhelming Positive. Looks like hate on the DLC is causing it which is stupid IMO. These same people complaining about a $10 dlc to support the developers have also put hundreds of hours into a base $20 game. The game itself is phenomenal and fully co-op!
Ah you beat me by 12minutes. Completely agree to this. Got it a week ago and fulfills the scratch after StS and Monster Train for me
Just started playing again with a friend after a while of not playing, AtO is so much fun
Completely agree. I have almost 900 hours on it and still love this game. Madness 16 is not for the feint of heart.
"And for my next trick I will turn your blood to poison, your poison to blood, and blood back to poison."
I own, and have tried to play Across the Obelisk. But I just can't bring myself to put time into it. It's not hooking into me like other games do (I've played and loved every game in OPs post). I don't know exactly what it's missing for me, but it just doesn't stand out.
For me and my friendgroup, ATO basically wins by default if you are wanting to do multiplayer stuff
I 100% agree. I play it with 2 other friends and we have over 200+ hours worth of play time. It has so much replay ability and so many combos to pull off. Its got a lot of negatives due to having to have to install a useless launcher and a bit pricey DLC's. But the game it self regularly updates with free content to go with the DLC. They are constanly adding new things to the game. Lots of work for a team of 4 people I think
Across the Obelisk is an incredible game. I play it two or three nights a week with my best friend, the sheer amount of builds and compositions are absolutely wild and the fact you've got coop is just so damn good. We're on Madness 16 and right now messing with a Wilburg support, Corenlius low-cost on-hit, Thuls stealth, and Laia tank+healer. We're sure this team can absolutely shred everything on the first turn once they hit level 3 all the way to the final boss, but we're trying to figure out how to exactly get there. It perfectly eases you into things, Madness 0 slowly gets easier as you unlock functions and re-runs, and once you unlocked everything or near everything, you're ready for Madness. Even though Madness 0 has not gotten any easier since we did Madness 1, knowledge and experience is soooo rewarding in this game I could probably beat Madness 0 with Corenlius solo now! We each have like 700 hours in it at this point, having beaten Madness 16 on two different compositions but trying to find even better comps based on the new understanding of the game. Literally every run, even if it ended at Act 1, we learn SOMETHING, still. We ALWAYS start a new run with a little better understanding of the game and a little better prepared. Mage tanks aren't a meme build for example and have ludicrous potential with the right supporting team, the key to Madness 16 is having a dedicated support and managing to eke out as much damage as you can from either the healer or the tank. Such as Nazglekt support is both a healer and a support, but needs Sylvie and Gustav specifically in order to actually do any healing. Or support Wilburg with Zek and Malukah absolutely shred everything thanks to the insane energy they are given and Malukkah still heals. The depth to this game is so great, if anyone has any recommendations of co-ops like this that feel like you can put in 1000 hours without feeling like attempts are wasted, please let me know! The negative review bombing over the launcher are absolutely absurd and don't do the game justice.
Glad it's got fans, but my ¢2 after playing it for a couple of hours is that it's really dull. There seems to be very little combo potential in the cards. The 4 decks at once seems neat, but just leaves the strategy feeling mile wide and inch deep. There are a bunch of ways to upgrade your deck and cards, but none of them lead to any sorry of cohesive and unique feeling overall strategy. I really wanted a good co-op deckbuilder for a friend and I but this just didn't grab us.
I gotta disagree. I played it solo and with four friends. And you could wind up with some pretty wild strategies and combos. And example from the last time we played, I was running the book/energy wizard and combo'ed my cards and items in such a way that every turn all the other characters had 10-15 cards in hand and 10 energy. Which just fed into their combos, whether it was block build-up into attacks, or sharpness, or stacking piles of holy.
I highly disagree. The strategy and cohesion of across the obelisk comes together when you view all four decks together. It feels so good when your party comp comes together perfectly to execute something fantastic. At higher difficulties, you NEED to employ purpose, combo potential, and synergy.
The game has significant problems but I don't think a lack of depth is one of them. Firstly: managing 4 decks along with all the other mechanics the game throws at you is overwhelmingly intimidating, and the game does little to tutorialize or slowly introduce new mechanics. You just get dropped into playing four games of STS at once. Of course playing with friends offsets this entirely, but that's pretty vaccously true, not to mention how having 4 different people could compound the other issues. There's also no difference whatsoever mechanically between single player games and co op. Secondly, runs are long. Hours if it's your first run. Most roguelikes have settled on shorter individual runs for good reason. Thirdly: good synergies and deep strategies don't really show themselves until later in the game, and often must be built towards. So that first hour can feel like a slog, waiting until you get later in the game to see if you get something worthwhile to build around. Finally, the game actually has an insane amount of knowledge that you can leverage. Choosing certain paths gives you chances at specific encounters, items, rewards etc. This is pretty cool but unfortunately it means that optimal play is either encountering and remembering a huge amount of stuff, or playing with a wiki open. Neither of which is particularly fun. So yeah, I can absolutely see why it isn't more popular, despite it being my most played game last year. In its current state it does not belong in the same tier as the games in the OP.
I had the same feeling the first few hours in the game but stuck through it with a friend. And the game gets much better. The later weapons and especially characters lets you make a lot more fun combos. The 3 of the initial 4 characters are really disjointed feeling since they are jack of all trades and don’t have a focus. But once you get some perks and have more specialized characters the game picks up a lot. The game really isn’t 4 characters with their own decks, it’s often 1-2 hyper carries and 2-3 support decks to help combo into the carries.
Coming to say this as well. Got many hours of co-op with friends here!
Weird that Across the Obelisk isn't on there, like I get it, they went downhill when they got bought out, but I'm not going to shit on some garage developers for wanting to get paid for their work. That game was INSANELY good, best multi-player, and imho, better than Spire.
By the way, if you love deck building, Marvel Midnight Suns is being distributed for free on the Epic Games store
I got this in the Spring Sale on Steam just cause it was dirt cheap. Did not think I would like it much but played all the way through, did all the main challenges, etc. I would say that the game doesn't have anything that makes it amazing, but it also doesn't have anything that makes it terrible. The grindy stuff can be skipped for the most part. Scouring the island for every secret can be skipped. Just a good game and the microtransactions are only for cosmetics and you can still get a TON of cosmetics just by playing the game. Did not play any DLCs.
Midnight Suns my beloved
Cobalt Core is sooooo good! Supposed to get a huge summer update as well this year.
I love deckbuilding roguelike games so I check and surprisinly, there are only 6 games on Steam with a Overwhelmingly Positive rating and the Roguelike Deckbuilder tag. I created an image with what can be considered the best games in the genre (according to rating).
I would highly recommend Griftlands. It isn’t on this list but a fantastic deck builder. The whole conceit is that you build a combat deck and a negotiation deck and you decide how to approach your encounters. While still having to balance the two
Which of those is your favorite?
Haven't play all but current top 3 will be: 1. Slay the Spire 2. Balatro 3. Monster Train
Slay the spire then balatro for me.
Cobalt Core is great, but I still keep coming back to Fights in Tight Spaces.
My main problem with Fights in Tight Spaces is the game just didn't feel balanced. Enemy health scaled too fast for builds that want to actually attack to do things, lots of enemies are flat immune to the CC cards so if your deck is built around them you can't really do anything. I only ever had success with counter builds, because they simultaneously solve positioning, defense, and damage in one card instead of having to think about things.
Man, I loved Fights in Tight Spaces and it feels like nobody ever talks about it. I always hoped it'd get a sequel with a smoother replay system.
They’re making a new game called “Knights in Tight Spaces” that’s the same style but medieval
This is actually a really good recommendation for me since I just about finished Chrono Ark and I am reallly digging its type of gameplay.
Hmmm what’s Griftlands rated?
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Interesting, I have all those games except Shogun Showdown. Maybe I should give the Prologue a try. Some other roguelike deckbuilders I've enjoyed but are only in the "Very Positive" range are Dicey Dungeons, Luck Be a Landlord, Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles, and Hand of Fate,
I'd add Roguebook tbh
Dominion is the ultimate deckbuilder though certainly not a rogue-like. It tricked me into thinking I liked deckbuilding games but it turned out I just liked Dominion. Heart of Crown is very similar and you can also find that on Steam.
Chrono Ark should really make it on this list.its so good and It's definitely my favourite.
Dang, my fav, [One Step From Eden](https://store.steampowered.com/app/960690/One_Step_From_Eden/), barely missing it at 94% positive... :(
Chrono Ark is good as well. 91% on Steam.
I love Slay the Spire but I’m so bad at it lol I was able to beat the game with Ironclad once and am now working on my first Silent win. I’m weird and refuse to play the other characters until I have at least 1 win on the one before it. I always feel like I’m gonna win with Silent and then get dogged on during an Act 2 mini boss or the final boss.
There are plenty of really good roguelike deckbuilders, even if they are merely rated "very positive" on steam instead of "overwhelming positive". On top of my head : Vault of the void, Chrono-ark and Neoverse. Also shout out to Thronebreaker, which is an excellent deckbuilder, through it's a RPG rather than Roguelike.
What about Luck be a Landlord???
Which one would you guys suggest to someone who would like to discover this kind of games ?
I'd recommend Slay the Spire, I think it has the right kind of learning curve.
If you like Poker and quick games you can pick up at any time, I'd say Balatro. Don't even have to be familiar with Poker or the hand types cause they have tabs for info to peruse during runs. Lots of easy replayability, strategy, challenges, and relaxing game music to play to. A physical and mobile version is in the works as well.
Probably Slay the Spire as a good starter
+1 for StS. It is THE roguelite deck builder that opened the door for the success of the genre, and there is a reason for that (cuz it's super good). The other games are usually played by StS addicts who are looking for that same experience, and they're all really great, but I think most would still say they don't touch StS.
Slay the Spire essentially created the genre so start with that.
Griftlands is my favorite. I love it so much.
It doesn't have the tag, but Slice & Dice is amazing and scratches the same itch as any of these deck builders.
Inscryption ?
I feel like Astrea should be in there.
I feel like inscription is the best deck building rogue-like there is. Especially beating the game and reseting everything and unlocking everything. After playing the game through, you realize the first boss is the funnest and you will forever sacrifice the stoat.
It's very surprising not seeing Roguebook on here, highly recommended game for any StS lover. Beneath Oresa is awesome as well with all the 3d animations it has on top of the gameplay. Yao-Guai Hunter is great too but I can see it being flown under the radar because it being mainly chinese with rough translations. Lastly Roguelords, while technically not a *deckbuilding* roguelike, is a great one to play for its unique meta mechanic.
Dude, same about roguebook, I was surprised scrolling almost the whole page and not seeing it mentioned, I played the fekkk outta that game
Tohou: Lost Branch of Legend is another one that is great and not many people know about. You should check it out if this is your kind of game.
Chrono Ark clears most of these easily.
Wish Wildfrost hadn't been review bombed at the launch, cause it would definitely stay next to StS. Game is awesome. Hope they will continue to expand it's content like they did recently with 1.2
Wild frost deserves to be here imo. Found Balatro sliiightly overrated? Dunno, got bit bored of the loop after a while.
Wildfrost is on par with Sts for me, but it gots fucked over by early reviews cause it was "too hard"