I’ve been playing a lot of inscryption and while kaycee’s mod is fun, it can get a little boring after a while. Is there anything that will scratch that itch? (that’s not magic the gathering, too predatory).
Edit: Just bought slay the spire and it is really fun so far. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
Slay the Spire is THE card game to try on pc. Absolutely start with that one, then check out the other recommendations in the thread
also on mobile and console
I love Slay the Spire, but it makes my eyes bleed on mobile. It definitely needs a bigger screen.
And it being $10 on the Play store with reviews that say it crashes and deleted the game progress if it loses focus - wowsers
Yes, this makes it nigh unplayable on Android. Also, very long load time.
- Slay the spire
- Monster train
I like monster train’s combat better, but slay the spire has runs that are long enough to feel like you can actually take advantage of your deck building.
- Fights in tight spaces
It’s grid based tactical combat married with card game mechanics. It’s very much a card game, but it’s executed on a grid and you need to fight off multiple enemies using careful positioning and execution.
Fights in Tight Spaces is awesome. Randomly came across that game during a Steam sale and it was surprising and really interesting. Definitely recommend.
Whoa, that looks a lot like the Metal Gear Acid games, which I loved! Glad to have found out about this.
In the order of recommendation as a longtime fan of deck builders:
Slay the spire is a must. Cannot recommend enough. Just play it, it’s the quintessential deck builder. There are plenty of mods on steam. The full version complete with achievements is on Android as well.
One Step From Eden is a favorite of mine, it blends deck building and real time combat in a system heavily inspired by the megaman battle network series. It scratches that itch like nothing else I’ve ever played. Steam and Switch. Again, lots of mods on steam.
Star Realms and Ascension are vs style deck builders that are played in a multi-player format like magic or hearthstone. They are unlike any other game in this list in that every match is against an opponent with the capability to play the same cards as you. Your deck is built during the game out of a shared pool, not pre-built before, so neither player has an advantage going into a match. Android and Steam, and hotseat multi-player as well as online multi-player and ai games. These two games also have actual physical tabletop releases if you really like them.
Quantum Protocol is a quaint little deck builder that is more like a puzzle game than a traditional battle style. It was kind of short but super addicting once you get into the gameplay loop. Still recommended if you like deck builders. Steam.
Dawncaster is the one on Android I’m currently playing. It’s extremely similar to slay the spire. Its mechanics are surprisingly deep and it has a large pool of cards, even though the battles are only ever one on one.
Tower Tactics Liberation is a deck builder that blends into the tower defense genre, if you’re into that. This one can be difficult at the higher levels though, and a single playthrough can take half a day. Steam.
Loop Hero is technically a deck builder. The best way I can describe this one is an idle battler that you build up yourself each round. Steam.
Card Quest is an older one on Steam and Android, one of the first ones I ever found. It’s a pure deck builder-roguelike with minimal graphics, but addicting for the genre nonetheless.
Hope you guys find what you’re looking for in this list.
Edit: added links
This is great, I’ll have to check out dawncaster. I had seen it before and wasn’t totally sure if it’s worth diving in, but I need a new android card game right now
well there goes the rest of my life
Slay the spire is the best, I probably have 400-500 hours played in it, but as I don’t see anybody else recommending it, I would check out Nowhere Prophet as well. It has some slight tactical elements but the core is a good rogue-like deck builder. It’s much harder than slay the spire IMO which has meant it’s not quick as pick up and play fun to me.
And likewise, I’ll take your suggestion and look into Nowhere Prophet
Dicey Dungeons. Collect cards with effects, roll dice, pay dice to activate card effects. Pretty great.
Monster train
It’s definitely not patientgamers material but Deckbuilder roguelikes/roguelites have taken off these past few years with many more in development right now.
Some to keep an eye out for are ‘Balatro’ and ‘Dungeons and degenerate gamblers’. Mentioning these since I believe they’re both in development but have a playable free demo (which makes them somewhat ok for the patient gamer in my book)
I think it depends on the PG (patient gamer) but I think the philosophy doesn’t extend to indie games as much as big budget AAA titles that get pushed out half baked and only end up being good years down the line after they’ve finally actually finished it. We have patience for indie devs. It’s not a zero sum thing. Like, I’ll hop on the next ratchet and clank game, no way I’m waiting a year to play it. But for games that I don’t care so much about that start out as ps5 exclusives, I always wait for the PC port
HARD agree with you.
Indie games are completely different to me than big name titles. I have zero issues picking up an indie game on day 1-2 if it’s rated well. I’ll even PREORDER and/or donate if it’s a dev that I love (lookin at you, Mullins, you fukkin genius…)
AA/AAA games, I will almost NEVER buy in the first year. I do kinda regret not snagging Elden Ring earlier, but a year later at 30USD it was a steal.
Cyberpunk I still hafta start but apparently now is the best time to play it! Very happy I didn’t get that on launch.
Returnal is the last game I caved at launch (on the computer). Full Dualsense triggers and haptic support, ran incredibly on day one, and I got a 10USD discount from launch price (which was 60 to begin with, fuck a 70 money price)
CP2077 had a great little patient trick. I took a gamble, bought it on clearance for $17 during the whole “this game will never be playable” phase. I let it age like a fine wine, and cracked it open 3 months later when the price was back to full and people were enjoying it.
Yeah I’m much more into indie games. The only aaa game that I bought on launch was doom eternal because 2016 had no problems around launch.
I’m actually super psyched about those myself. I feel like (with a few exceptions) deckbuilders have been in a bit of a rut. Balatro and DDG seem like two interesting sides of a completely different coin.
I usually prefer poker to blackjack, but DDG definitely has my interest more.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned Wildfrost! Just look at the artstyle. It’s incredibly cute but it also has a lot of strategic depth. Right now winning a run in the game is quite hard but in the beta branch they’ve just made it easier to win a normal run while also adding more challenge modifiers for those who want the challenge.
On Android I enjoy
Night of the Full Moon - Really good. Lots of game modes, frequent updates. I’ve paid like $10 after at least a hundred hours to unlock a few completely optional decks. Some of the cards suffer from translation issues, but it’s not a big deal.
Miracle Merchant - fairly simple gameplay with no progression. Fine for a 10 minute session.
Pirates Outlaws Quite fun. A few game modes. Nice graphics.
I just wanted to add that STS is a spectacular game and I hope you enjoy. Its a very challenging game but you learn pretty quickly.
If you run into issues and want advice there’s a bunch online but I’d love to help if you need it. Best of luck to you :)
Gwent (witcher 3 mini game) and Slay the Spire.
And now an independent game massively redesigned compared to the W3 mini game!
Stacklands is very unique and crazy good
Nobody’s mentioned it yet, so here you go:
Across the Obelisk is like Slay The Spire in some ways, but you always have a party of 4 adventurers and they each have their own seperate decks to represent their differing abilities and classes. Early on it can feel basic, but the more you play the more cards you unlock and the gameplay and deck varieties really deepen and get engaging.
If you want a larger game like Across the Obelisk but less meta progress and more RPG themed I would vouch for Gordian Quest. Haven’t played it too much myself but it is pretty neat. Played more Across the Obelisk because of multiplayer and my friends are into it.
If you like 4x games Hexarchy is in development that combines deck building like Slay the Spire with Civ. You can currently request to take part in the public playtest on Steam.
Cultist Simulator is a great card game. A little odd, not like other games at all and kind of mysterious but ultimately a cool experience
Absolutely. I miss the OLD Cultist Simulator before they made changes to the success system, but it’s still a really awesome game.
What changes? I played the shit out of cultist simulator around its release date but didn’t complete all dlcs, always meant to come back to it at some point.
Before the Scars system was introduced, probabilities for most tests were 30%/70%/100% at the 1/5/10 threshold. After scars were added, it became 30%/70%/90% at the same threshold. This modification changed Cultist Simulator from a game of secret knowledge and skill, to a game of chance.
It most importantly affected grinds and expedition and weakened the cult choice. It affected grinds because you could no longer have a cultist be your income long-term. Craftwork? Your Shapers (exalted Forge cultist) will eventually become corpses if you keep crafting. Previously, that’s just how you’d make money as the Unflinching Order. Now, the transition to writing is mandatory (since painting was nerfed to oblivion as well). If you’re unlucky, you can scar so fast that your Shapers don’t even earn you a nest egg before being too scarred to risk (3 of the same scar is instant death).
And then expeditions. The lategame used to be expedition rushes with your prepared cult always winning. Now, it’s another coin toss. First, you find yourself just summoning up a bunch of demons and hirelings because it’s too dangerous to risk scarring a cultist (and except curses, screw success rate. Just keep throwing stuff at it till you get through)… And then there’s curses… unless you enter each mission situated to pull
An Imminenceon demand (not trivial especially considering how short-lived influences are), you are risking that chance of pulling a curse and losing a permanent attribute. The current “best practice” is to build up heart influence and “talk loop” it before entering any expedition that carries a curse.Taking a step back… I wrote the original cult guide on reddit. One thing I loved about Cultist Simulator was how much your cult choice influenced your gameplay despite how little it technically did. The reason? The 100% success rate on ONE action, that nobody else could have. Go Forge? Safe money. Go Edge? Safe from anyone that breathes (literally, Assassins meant you could disregard notoriety entirely as long as you took the time to murder every investigator). Go Heart? Perfect shield from notoriety. Grail? Safe (imperfect, you could fail but not die) handling of people and kidnapping, etc.
Scars made “let’s try it” more viable for off-cult, while reducing the 100% success rate made cult-specific builds disappear. The former sounds good (and might have been), but combined with the latter, it basically doesn’t matter what cult you pick anymore.
…as for the dlcs. The stories they add are phenomenal. I really enjoyed playing all of them except Exile (which I watched on youtube because it went all-in on the chance related changes). The game is basically unplayable without Dancer because Sulochana is so important to every strategy. Why? Because you can talk to her about anything. When you use a card in a verb, its timer stops… and that kinda reiterates all the above stuff (and that heart influence) about what I didn’t like about the changes.
…and the work change.
Painting was nerfed so bad it’s barely worth doing. You have to play it very carefully if you want to make any money off it. Shocker, it’s partly RNG-driven. You only make money if you paint with reputation (notoriety). But painting debuffs you and you only remove them by painting with passion and rolling well.
With cult work also nerfed, that leaves Glover & Glover. Since anti-notoriety strategies are nerfed, that leaves “second highest position at Glover & Glover”.
Ultimately, by midgame, nothing makes “worth it” money except the various lore treatises that your acquaintances give out.
Ultimately, here’s what changed:
- There’s really only one or two ways to do most things now
- This is 5x true with work, where all the creative ways to make money are gone and the only decent money is Clerk early and writing treatises on lore late.
- And you really should save scum a lot now because a few low-rolls in a row will suck the fun out of the game.
