Surprisingly, Hell Maiden marks a massive shift for the team. They’re taking the famous setting from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy to create a horde survival rougelite deck-builder. It will be interesting to see how the team approaches this new genre. This is where we asked them about the game’s features, its tarot-inspired card system, when to expect the first demo, and if their iconic anime graphics will still be present.

In Hell Maiden, you play as Dante who inexplicably finds herself back in Hell after already reaching Paradiso, her memories completely wiped. Determined to claw her way back to Heaven and uncover the truth, she’s joined by the wise Roman poet Virgil and the saintly Beatrice. Your journey takes you through the nine Circles of Hell, where you’ll face swarms of fiends and bosses. You’ll build your arsenal by collecting, stacking, and merging tarot-inspired cards.

The game is set to release on PC via Steam with no current date, and the developers describe it as “Touhou meets Vampire Survivors”.

Hell Maiden is described as an original retelling to Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. What inspired you to reimagine this classic work as a horde survival deck-building game with an anime-inspired twist?

The idea was initially proposed by our creative director, Kira (António Lopes), based on his own original character designs for two of the main characters of Dante’s Divine Comedy — Dante and Beatrice. This spontaneous character design exercise was what kicked everything off and led to the creation of Hell Maiden.

As fans of the horde survival genre and games such as Vampire Survivors and Halls of Torment, we decided to pair it with another much beloved genre among our team members, deck-building, to create an unlikely combination of mechanics that work surprisingly well together.

Anime being an integral part of our artistic expression, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to reimagine Dante’s Divine Comedy with an all-female cast, which lines up perfectly with our studio’s previous titles. More than a retelling, Hell Maiden is mainly a sequel that picks up from where the original poem left off.

Your previous titles Pocket Mirror and Little Goody Two Shoes leaned heavily into horror and narrative-driven RPGs. What motivated the shift to a more action-packed genre?

The team had been itching to explore other genres that involved more action and fast-paced gameplay ever since the development of our previous title, Little Goody Two Shoes. While we’ll forever love the horror RPG genre and would be happy to revisit it in the future, we consider it’s the right time to expand our horizons and explore other genres, ideas and possibilities for our small studio. Personal taste and creative vision weren’t the only factors going into Hell Maiden’s creation and genre choice.

As an independent game development company, we feel ready to explore not only different creative avenues, but especially the possibility of self-publishing. After Little Goody Two Shoes, we decided to aim for a project that makes the most of our in-house strengths, skills and abilities in order to develop a game that’s more in line with what we can accomplish independently at this point in time.

Dante is portrayed as a female character who has lost her memories and is back in Hell after reaching Paradiso. What can you tell us about her character?

Hell Maiden’s Dante is rather different from the original poem’s protagonist: from her motivations to her circumstances. Contrary to the original Dante, our protagonist isn’t solely motivated by the prospect of meeting her beloved, Beatrice, in Paradiso and instead is moved by a strong sense of justice and determination to get to the bottom of why she was cast out of Heaven.

While the original poem’s protagonist personality encapsulates common and universal traits, our Dante is unreasonably determined, passionate and incredibly willful. She isn’t easily swayed by her emotions, nor is she intimidated by her opponents — no matter how tough. The one trait she does have in common with the original Dante, however, is her prideful nature.

The game features a cast of characters like Virgil, Beatrice, and the Poets of Limbo. How did you decide which figures from Divine Comedy and history to include?

Virgil and Beatrice are integral characters of the original poem and we couldn’t go without including them in our main cast. All other characters, however, were directly mentioned by Dante.

Right at the beginning of Inferno, Dante lists a series of virtuous poets, polymaths and philosophers (among others) from antiquity whom he admires. Virgil, Ovid, Homer, Lucan and Horace are among the most virtuous of all which made our decision to include them as the five main Poets of Limbo rather straightforward.

While Dante’s list is quite extensive, we’re taking our own liberties and including others with similar characteristics to the canonically included historical figures as well. The same doesn’t apply to the antagonists, however, as they’re all canonical residents of Hell.

The graphics feature that unique anime style you showcased in Little Goody Two Shoes. Do you now consider this your signature style, or is it simply a style you’re comfortable working with?

Our visual identity is very much intentional and unique to our studio — more specifically to our creative director, Kira, whose personal style in illustration and design shapes our games’ visuals. In that sense, it is very much our signature style although we collaborate with different artists for our games and often enjoy working with mixed media elements as well.

We’ve been experimenting with 3D as of recently, so there’s still plenty of room to experiment with and explore our signature style!

What’s the current state of the game, when can we expect its release, and when might the demo be available?

While we don’t have a release date yet, we’re currently working hard on a demo version of Hell Maiden which we’re hoping to release soon. In a general sense, the game is still in early development, but we’ll be keeping everyone updated with our every move!

Moving onto the gameplay, can you walk us through the process of designing the tarot-inspired card system? How do Spirit Cards, Weapon Cards, and Mod Cards work together?

Hell Maiden’s card system is meant to provide players with unique skills throughout each run. There are two types of Spirit Cards — Weapon and Mod Cards.

Weapon Cards empower players with unique skills and abilities. For example, Dante’s signature Weapon Card, “Blazing Quill’, unleashes a close ranged attack upon players’ targeted enemies. Other Weapon Cards include different abilities such as periodically summoned lightning bolts and spikes, energy spheres that surround Dante’s character sprite and damage surrounding enemies, projectiles, among others.

In order to enhance the chosen Weapon Cards, players will be able to equip them with Mod Cards which, as the name suggests, modify that weapon’s attacks — from increasing attack speed, damage and area, to imbuing them with status effects such as poison, burn, slow, etc.

We’re also developing other ways players can influence and diversify their runs with meta-progression mechanics, Spirit Cards you can acquire after defeating certain bosses, a perk system and more! We believe Hell Maiden’s deck-building will be exciting for players to tinker with and explore.

The Poets of Limbo, like Homer and Ovid, provide Blessings and Signature Weapons. What do these characters bring to the gameplay?

In one word — complexity. All Poets of Limbo have their own Signature Weapons which are unique to them. These open up a myriad of possibilities throughout each run by allowing players to experiment and tinker with different card combinations. The same applies to their Blessings which are character-themed card pools which offer Mod Cards that are unique to each Poet.

As such, players will be able to mix and match Weapon and Mod Cards from various different pools to create truly unique combinations. The more Poets players rescue from the depths of Hell, the more cards they’ll have at their disposal!

Do you plan to make Hell Maiden highly replayable to keep players returning, and since it’s releasing in Early Access, how often do you intend to update it?

Yes, we’re focusing a lot on replayability and making sure the game remains fun throughout with new cards, features and characters to unlock!

This also applies to the narrative’s progression — from side quests that further expand on the lore, to new interactions with the Poets of Limbo after each run and even new dialogue every time players revisit bosses they’ve already defeated.

Our plan for Early Access is to update the game regularly and keep a close relationship with our community to make sure we’re maintaining a good pace while simultaneously addressing players’ concerns, bug reports and suggestions. At this point in time, we cannot say how often we’ll be making updates, but we’ll most definitely keep everyone updated!

Is there a unique mechanic you’d like to highlight, something you’re particularly proud of?

Just like all our other titles, Hell Maiden is very near and dear to our hearts.

One of our flagship features for the game is its deck-building elements which bring a new and fresh take into the horde survival genre. We’ve been having a ton of fun playing around with the different combinations of attacks, buffs and enhancements this system allows for. It’s a really magical experience when the game you’re making turns out to be genuinely fun and compelling!

The addition of a complex and gripping narrative is also one of Hell Maiden’s unique features we’re most proud of as it’s something we haven’t seen being done before in the genre.

Dante’s Divine Comedy is the perfect fit for something like this and we’ve been having a lot of fun deconstructing and redesigning its narrative into something that’s playful and lighthearted while also retaining all the passion, earnestness and sincerity we’ve weaved into our previous titles’ storylines. All in all, we’re very excited about Hell Maiden as it’s allowing us to explore new possibilities while still retaining 100% of our identity, self expression and signature style.

Why did you decide to go with Early Access? What can you tell us about bosses and enemies we’lll face in the game?

There are two main reasons why we think Early Access is the right choice for Hell Maiden.

Having worked alongside publishers for previous two titles, we’ve reached a stage in which we feel ready to follow our own path and release a game independently. As such, our fans’ support is now more essential than ever as we’re relying solely on our growing community to take AstralShift further.

In that same vein, working alongside our community is priceless to us and Early Access allows us to do just that by involving players in the development process to a certain extent. As independent developers we’ll be able to freely take in and implement feedback from fans and keep a closer relationship with everyone on our own terms.

As for the opponents you’ll fight throughout the game all we can say is that we hope you’re good at bullet hell games!

What’s your view on the gaming industry overall? Are you seeking a publisher for Hell Maiden, or will you self-publish it?

Our goal is to self-publish Hell Maiden for both the sake of independence and autonomy, but also for financial reasons.

Game development was never easy, but it has recently become even tougher to stand out even when we do our best every day and we’re very glad that AstralShift’s charm continues to reach so many people even in today’s climate.

Now more than ever we need our fans’ support to be able to further grow our studio and continue to deliver what’s expected from us and what we love doing the most — creating immersive, visually stunning and narrative-driven gaming experiences!

The post AstralShift Reveals More About Hell Maiden, Project Which Combines Anime and Vampire Survivors Gameplay first appeared on IndieGames.

In Hell Maiden, you play as Dante who inexplicably finds herself back in Hell after already reaching Paradiso, her memories completely wiped. Determined to claw her way back to Heaven and uncover the truth, she’s joined by the wise Roman poet Virgil and the saintly Beatrice. Your journey takes you through the nine Circles of Hell, where you’ll face swarms of fiends and towering bosses. You’ll build your arsenal by collecting, stacking, and merging tarot-inspired cards.

What sets Hell Maiden apart are the Poets of Limbo, legendary figures like Homer, Ovid, and Lucan, who lend their Blessings and Signature Weapons to your cause. Each poet offers unique perks, abilities, and ultimate attacks, letting you mix and match for unstoppable builds. The game’s visuals are amazing too, brilliantly merging nostalgic 2000s pixel art with a modern flair.

Hand-painted environments and dynamic 2D animation really make combat stand out, while the all-female cast, inspired by the charm of Touhou Project, adds a playful edge to The Divine Comedy’s themes. With multiple bosses, branching paths, and endless card combos, it’s a game built for replayability.

The post AstralShift Leaves Horror Behind for Hell Maiden, a Deck-Building Trip Through Dante’s Inferno first appeared on IndieGames.

The primary reason for its success is its endless replayability. With over 400 cards, 10 pilots, and interesting Chrono Tokens that let you rewind time, it cleverly blends elements from Space Invaders, Slay the Spire, and Into the Breach for endless fun. We had a chance to chat with the lead designer of StarVaders who revealed more about the game, its unexpected success, challenges they faced and what they think of the gaming industry in general.

You can also read our detailed review here. Additionally, don’t forget to support the devs by checking the game on Steam.

Can you introduce your studio and share how long StarVaders has been in development? 

Our team started out as friends long before we formed Pengonauts. We’ve worked on a slew of projects together in the form of game jams, discarded prototypes, and abandoned ideas before we decided to commit to StarVaders as our first commercial project.

StarVaders was started as a side project for all of us while we worked our regular day jobs. But thanks to the momentum it organically picked up, we were fortunate enough to be able to make the leap to full-time development in 2023.

Have you ever struggled while playtesting StarVaders, and what was the toughest challenge for you personally? 

It takes a lot of time to playtest. Especially in a game as varied with as many combinations as ours – there are more combinations of card pools than we can realistically play. What helped us a lot is having a large and dedicated group of beta testers help us refine the game.

What’s your vision for the ideal roguelite deckbuilder, and how close did StarVaders come to that goal? 

StarVaders completes the goal for us. We set out to create what we wanted to see in the genre, and there is nothing that was left on the cutting floor or that we couldn’t implement.

What inspired StarVaders’ concept, and how did you balance its difficulty levels to keep them challenging yet fair? 

The original concept was inspired by two boardgames, Bullet and Under Falling Skies. Balance – no idea honestly, it is very hard to balance a game and we kinda just went by feeling and intuition most of the time.

Can you share a key moment in StarVaders’ development where the team overcame a major obstacle? 

We had a lot of trouble marketing the game – it was tough to showcase how interesting the gameplay is without getting players hands on it. So we really focused on promoting and creating a very extensive demo for players.

With around 400 cards and artifacts in StarVaders, how did you brainstorm and design their unique effects? 

The sheer power of time, working almost 3 years on the project gives a lot of time to come up with ideas and effects. I always try to think of the wackiest effects we could add in the game, and then try it out to see if it’s possible.

Do you have data on which mech or character is the most popular among players? 

It’s hard to say at the moment because the characters unlock at different times during a playthrough – Roxy will be the most played pilot because she is the first one. I know many players love Stinger because of the melee ninja fantasy. Noel is also a fan favorite because of the characterization.

The Chrono Token mechanic feels unique, when was it added, and what inspired its inclusion? 

Very very early, we wanted a way to mitigate all forms of input randomness, for the player to have extra control over it. One of the worst feelings in a deck builder is when the “RNG” deals you a bad hand or gives you bad options, so we wanted players to have a resource to control that system.

How replayable is StarVaders, and what elements drive players to keep coming back? 

There are thousands and thousands of synergies and combos to discover in the game. Every time I play the game I still discover new synergies I hadn’t thought of before, even though I’m the lead designer and have played thousands of runs already. There’s a creative sandbox that allows players who want to explore the intricacies of the mechanics to really thrive.

What updates or content can players expect from StarVaders after its launch? 

We are working on new content, but nothing confirmed at the moment.

Do you view StarVaders as a success for your studio, and why? 

It has always been a success for us, but it’s really been amazing to see the reception from our playerbase, after release it has been a much bigger success than we could have ever originally imagined.

What’s your take on the gaming industry today, especially the indie game scene? 

It’s really really tough. I see a lot of studios just like us, with their first games, putting their passion and soul into their games and coming out with nothing. Even though our game is doing well, it could easily have been a financial failure if the players didn’t connect with it at the current level. It feels like, to succeed, you must be an exception or an outlier, and you can never really bet on that. Though maybe it always did take a little delusion and risk to make games.

The post Why StarVaders Succeeded? Lead Designer Shares Insights first appeared on IndieGames.

The thing that really makes Roulette Hero stand out is how it handles your team instead of using cards. You put together a team of animals on a cube-like circle, and each one has its own special skills. When you spin the wheel, only one animal gets to use its ability at that moment. The real strategy comes from setting up combos, if you line up your animals just right, you can trigger these game-changing moves, like a chain attack that hits harder or buffs that make your whole team stronger.

Unique concept that relies on luck

Battles are turn-based, and you’ll be going up against mechanical beasts that get stronger as you go through the random levels. Each beast has its own way of attacking, but because you’re relying on spinning that wheel to activate your animals, there’s definitely a luck factor involved. Sometimes, even if you have a good plan, the wheel just might not land on the right animal, which can be a bit frustrating. Also, if you’re expecting a really deep deckbuilding system like in some other games, this isn’t quite that.

I played a test version of the game on Steam, and while it had a tutorial, I found it a bit confusing trying to figure out how those animal combos worked. There also seemed to be some balance issues with how strong different things were. Plus, the playtest didn’t really do a great job of explaining stickers, you can apparently slap over 100 different power-ups on your animals or the wheel to make them stronger or add cool effects, but it wasn’t super clear how all that worked.

When you finish a run in Roulette Hero, you lose your current team, which is typical for a roguelike. But you do unlock new animals, stickers, or even different layouts for your roulette wheel that you can use in future runs. However, the levels themselves don’t change up that much visually, and there aren’t really different paths to take, so the runs can feel a bit repetitive, and honestly, it feels like luck plays a pretty big role.

Some of the bosses I faced were also really tough, and the game didn’t really give me a good idea of why I was losing, what my other stats were, or what exactly was happening with all the combos my animal companions were doing. But even with those issues, I have to say, the game was genuinely fun to mess around with. It has a cute, hand-drawn cartoon art style that’s colorful and whimsical, which is a nice contrast to the strategic stuff you’re trying to do. It definitely offers something different, and if they can iron out some of the problems, Roulette Hero has a real shot at being a truly unique and enjoyable game.

The post [PREVIEW] Roulette Hero – Autobattler spojen s igrama na sreću i kartama first appeared on IndieGames.

You might remember playing this card game in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It’s all about a mix of luck, thinking ahead, and knowing when to take a chance. You play as Queen Gwynevere in the world of King Arthur, but he’s been hit with some weird curse. Your job is to get the Knights of the Round Table back together and figure out what’s going on with the king.

The game is basically about rolling six dice and trying to get certain combinations that score points. Then you have to decide if you want to keep those points or roll again to try and get even more. But watch out, if you don’t score on a roll, you lose all the points you got in that turn. It’s a constant battle between being greedy and playing it safe.

Dicealot takes that classic Farkle game and spices it up with some cool ideas, like rules that can change as you play and some roguelike stuff that keeps things fresh. You can get special “power dice” and “quest dice” that work together to let you pull off some crazy combos and score a ton of points. here’s even a demo out on Steam that shows off the first part of the story, with some really nice-looking pixel art.

The post Yogscast Games to Publish Dicealot, A Medieval Twist on Farkle first appeared on IndieGames.

The demo introduces the narrative through two biomes: The Deluge, a dilapidated capital outskirts, and The Snarl, a lush forest filled with dangerous creatures. It also highlights a new playable hero, Fletch, a defense-focused character rooted in his peasant origins, who builds structures to shield allies. You can also control the Doberknight, a sword-wielding fighter who repositions enemies with kicks or unlocks fire-spreading abilities for area control.

Combat unfolds on 3D grid-based maps, where elevation and angles are critical, demanding precise positioning. The demo includes one-third of the full game’s cards, charms, and relics, allowing you to craft synergistic strategies. Five sidekicks, each with unique abilities like healing, magic, or archery, join the fight, but you can choose only two per run, making team composition vital.

Four bosses, including two new ones, challenge you with randomized encounters per biomes. The roguelite design, with permadeath and unlockable content, offers high replayability, while medals for fastest runs, lowest damage taken, and highest attack damage appeal to competitive players.

The post Shuffle Tactics launches in June on Steam, gets expanded demo first appeared on IndieGames.

In Shroom and Gloom, you play as a fungal forager diving into creepy, hand-drawn dungeons, armed with two card decks to outwit and outfight your foes. Your combat deck drives fast-paced battles, letting you hack, slash, or fry enemies with powerful card-based attacks. The explore deck shapes your path through the dungeon, helping you transform cards, unlock weapons, and pick up new skills.

Each trip through the dungeons throws up new challenges. The demo’s 26 unique tunnels show off the game’s slick combat, humor, and striking art style, echoing vibes from Inscryption and Slay the Spire. Early Access is expected to last about a year, with the hopes of getting the community feedback to add new cards, dungeons, and mechanics, with hints of multiplayer features teased on their Discord.

The post Devolver Digital Announced Shroom and Gloom, Roguelike Deckbuilder Set to Release on Steam Early Access in 2025 first appeared on IndieGames.

In a dark fantasy world, 9 Kings challenges you to build a thriving kingdom to outlast rival kings. From a nine-tile grid around your castle, you draw cards to construct buildings, summon troops, or cast spells. The trailer highlights battles with knights, warlocks, and sentient mushrooms, where you can drop rocks from your castle to smash foes. Each of the nine kings brings a unique starting deck, and looting rivals’ cards lets you craft wild, game-breaking builds.

Crafted by a small São Paulo and New York team, 9 Kings builds on Sad Socket’s success with Seraph’s Last Stand, which sold over 500,000 copies. Backed by Hooded Horse, known for polishing indie gems, 9 Kings will evolve through Early Access toward a full Q3 2025 release.

The post 9 Kings Trailer Reveals Roguelike Deckbuilder’s Early Access Launch Date first appeared on IndieGames.

Deck of Haunts is a solid game, flawed but surprisingly polished for a full release. Blending deck-building with roguelike progression and strategic depth, it shines in a 1970s American setting. You play as a sentient, malevolent 1920s art deco mansion, in other words, a haunted house with a pulsating stone Heart. Over 28 nights, you will have to lure humans, exploit their fears, and drain their essence to grow your power. During the day you construct new buildings for the mansion, and get news cards, while at night you haunt.

Starts strong, but falls flat as it progresses

My biggest problem with Deck of Haunts is that while it starts strong and hooks you, it grows frustrating and repetitive the longer you play. By day 15, it feels like you’ve seen 70% of the game. Every playthrough begins with the same house layout, cards, and fixed calendar of events. You can unlock or upgrade cards and rooms during a run, but these are too sparse to feel impactful or counter the steep difficulty spikes. When a run ends, you lose all progress, no upgrades, no new modes, just back to the same cards, layout, and calendar. Worse, every run forces you to replay the same stage-setting tutorial cards, which gets old fast.

In Deck of Haunts, the tile-based building system lets you create maze-like layouts with 10 room types: basic (guest, living, kitchen), special (Phobia, Mechanical, Sacrifice), and one unique. You can expand rooms by matching cards, like merging guest rooms, or use special ones like the Phobia Room to drain sanity or the Bell Tower to summon a Witch spirit.

The interface is user-friendly, with mouse-scroll rotation and a “show layout” button, but it lacks an undo option or merge warnings. Building does feel fun, but the small starting grid and fixed Heart room limit creativity. Upgrading rooms for bonuses, like a Mechanical Room boosting action points, adds strategy, but it’s underused, and larger rooms don’t always pay off. The biggest letdown is the lack of randomization and this basic system feels too simplistic.

Each night 2-5 humans (sometimes more) invade your mansion, with health, sanity, and traits like Pathfinder (faster movement) or Bleeder (more damage taken). You play 34 sinister cards to attack, drain sanity, or add Tension (enhancing insanity effects), using 3 action points (AP) per turn, which can grow through combos or rooms. Some cards hit lone humans, others affect rooms, and can also teleporting victims. Your mission is to block humans from reaching your heart.

“Tile-based building system lets you create maze-like layouts.”

Deck of Haunts struggles with weak mid and late-game progression

Humans include civilians, door-smashing police, priests (untouchable unless alone), and occult investigators wielding items like Pistols or Holy Books that shift their actions. Killing a human in front of others causes panic, making them flee but draining your essence. On paper, everything sounds great, but it lacks meta-progression beyond minor card unlocks. You can only swap cards at fixed points, and most upgrades are underwhelming, like a slight damage boost or a single cost reduction. Humans start with low health and sanity (8-9) but scale to the twenties, while your damage barely grows, making it feel underpowered.

The balance is all over the place too. The damage types are seriously unequal, the sanity damage is extremely fiddly and relies on you building ‘Tension’, but building tension fades after a single use except in rare circumstances, so you’re really better off just throwing lots of cards at the problem. On the flipside, physical damage offers a lot of control due to synergies with unique mansion rooms, making more strategic, easier to use, and outright better.

Beyond the issues mentioned, Deck of Haunts also struggles with weak mid and late-game progression. Building special rooms adds fun and combos, but there’s little room to experiment. When enemies grow stronger, the real challenge kicks in, forcing you to construct more rooms under tight action point limits, which can feel harsh. The game doesn’t hold your hand, but it also restricts your freedom too much.

The most frustrating part is the Pathfinder trait some humans have, letting them start in a random room instead of the entrance hall. Sometimes, that room is right next to your Heart Room, the one you’re desperately trying to protect by building a maze. If you get a few humans spawning nearby and lack cards to redirect them, you take damage through no fault of your own, making your choices feel pointless.

“The game doesn’t hold your hand, but it also restricts your freedom too much.”

The full game feels stagnant

Deck of Haunts has almost no narrative. no deep lore, campaign, hidden letters, or story elements to uncover. You just survive and move on. While you meet new humans from time to time, the experience feels bare-bones. The spooky atmosphere is decent, with passable graphics and generic horror vibes. The game leans on psychological horror through card effects, but without thematic depth, like possession or monster summons, it feels overly simplistic.

In the end, it’s a creative roguelike deckbuilder with a unique premise, but it doesn’t fully grab you. The demo impressed, but the full game feels stagnant. Its intuitive mansion-building and strategic card combos create a fun loop for deckbuilding fans, yet repetitive gameplay and generic horror vibes hold it back. Without a gripping narrative or chilling scares, it feels more like a passing title than a standout horror hit.

“Creative roguelike deckbuilder, but gets boring quite quickly.”

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.2

The post Deck of Haunts – Razočaravajući deckbuilder first appeared on IndieGames.

I love the roguelite genre, with its permadeath, randomized levels, and brutal difficulty, but so many games stick to the same old formula. Drop Duchy, though, feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s not just another die-and-retry loop, it mixes strategy, puzzles, and kingdom-building in a way that’s so clever and addictive, I can’t put it down.

You play as a medieval lord, building your kingdom by dropping terrain tiles such as plains, forests, and rivers onto a grid to collect resources like food, wood, and gold. The deckbuilding comes alive with special cards, like farms or bridges, that you add to your hand to shape your strategy. Want more food? Place a farm on a plain. Need gold? Link river tiles with a bridge. Every move feels like solving a fun puzzle, and the roguelite randomness makes each run new and unpredictable.

Drop Duchy really shines by blending easy-to-pick-up gameplay with surprising depth. The tile-dropping mechanic is super intuitive, and while it takes a bit to fully master the progression, it’s crafted well enough to keep you playing. Still, there’s plenty of complexity to dig into, picking which buildings to add to your deck or weighing the risk of hitting a combat node for bigger rewards brings layers of strategy that feel satisfying without being overwhelming.

Unlike roguelites that hammer you with constant combat, this game gives you room to breathe. Peaceful nodes let you focus on building your kingdom, gathering resources at your own pace, while combat nodes push you to outsmart CPU opponents using your terrain and troops. The preview build’s combat felt a bit rough, leaning too hard in the CPU’s favor, but the full release has ironed that out somewhat.

In a genre that can feel stale, Drop Duchy is a total game-changer. It boldly mixes Tetris-style puzzles with roguelite deckbuilding, and it nails the execution with flair. Whether I’m a roguelite veteran chasing the perfect run or a casual player craving something fresh, you won’t regret playing this game. It’s the kind of title that makes hours vanish as I plan my next move, watching my kingdom grow tile by tile.

The post Drop Duchy Brings New Life to the Roguelite Scene first appeared on IndieGames.