Become the Moon is a single-player deck-building auto-battler with roguelike elements, where you construct decks of minions, spells, and relics to battle enemies in automated turn-based combat. The game’s core loop involves drafting cards after each victory, optimizing board placement, and adapting strategies to overcome a gauntlet of foes. It draws clear inspiration from Hearthstone.

There are over 140 cards to experiment with

Fun fact, there are over 140 cards to collect for your deck, alongside multiple synergies like flying, exhaust, battle-focused spells, and one-time effects. On the other hand, relics provide passive buffs, such as giving flying units a bonus when they attack. The goal is to create powerful combos and reach the final boss. I’ve been experimenting a lot with flying cards; they have a 33% chance to dodge attacks and create interesting combos with quick attack cards, which allow an adjacent card to attack instantly.

However, the biggest problem is the high randomization of cards. You’re forced to take cards for your deck because skipping them costs health (only the first skip is free). This means you sometimes have to take cards or spells you don’t want or need. This system does balance the gameplay, meaning you can’t just pick cards randomly; you definitely need to think through your choices. Once you defeat all the cards on the board, the enemy hero takes damage from your remaining cards. If that doesn’t defeat them, your hero then battles the enemy hero directly, which can also deal significant damage.

As mentioned, combat is automated, with minions attacking from left to right and targeting random enemies on the opponent’s board. I found this sadly too chaotic; you’re never able to pinpoint what will happen. While this unpredictability can be a good thing, the random targeting also somewhat ruins the fun, as it introduces too much luck and prevents a truly prepared strategy.

“The goal is to create powerful combos and reach the final boss.”

Deck-building is solid, drawing inspiration from Hearthstone

Become the Moon offers 10 character classes, each with unique starting cards and bonuses, adding variety to playstyles. You’ll need to unlock these classes by defeating them within the game. There’s definitely a lot of content to explore; it takes several hours to fully grasp the cards, but once you do, you’ll see how fun it is. The cards themselves are well-designed; some are balanced, while others less so, which is common.

Your strategy typically involves placing and swapping minions before battles, and using spells, but the auto-battler format does reduce micromanagement In other words, analyzing the enemy’s board allows for certains adjustments, such as placing a high-health “taunt” minion to absorb attacks. Mechanics like shields (blocking one attack), taunt (forcing enemy focus), and deathrattle (effects upon death) mirror Hearthstone.

I particularly enjoyed consistently buffing minions on the field using multipliers and bonuses for health and damage. You can also pick spectral cards that persist throughout the game and can be used once, such as to gain extra mana or draw more cards. The game provides fun ways to tackle different challenges. While not revolutionary, it’s engaging and keeps you hooked.

“Your strategy typically involves placing and swapping minions before battles.”

Fans of the genre should definitely pick this one up

The roguelike features aren’t very evident in this game. My biggest issue is that enemies are predetermined; you can’t choose who you fight, which is a significant drawback. Every stage presents similar enemies with the same cards, and the “bosses” are no different. While fighting the same bosses might be understandable, having identical regular enemies truly harms the game’s replayability.

The graphics in Become the Moon feature a 2D cartoonish dark fantasy style with various colors and charming character designs. Minions are expressive, with detailed card art that adds to their personality, and smooth, visually appealing battle animations add flair to the auto-battler format. While the visuals prioritize readability over spectacle and aren’t groundbreaking, they’re engaging, though some card designs feel repetitive, slightly limiting variety.

In the end, Become the Moon is a solid deck-building game. It won’t waste your time, especially with its speed-up option, and the best part is undoubtedly the card-drafting phase. If you’re wondering whether it’s good, don’t hesitate; it’s a decent and well-crafted title, clearly made by developers familiar with similar games. While replayability might be a bit questionable, the numerous heroes available do help extend its life. If you’re already a fan of the genre, this one should definitely be in your library.

“You’ll face a variety of enemies: they start weak, but quickly become more deadly.”

Review copy provided by the publisher

4

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Get ready to jump into a whimsical, yet totally chaotic universe in DOG WITCH. You’ll be battling some truly odd enemies here, like grumpy Cat Ladies, Russian Dolls armed with guns, and even suspicious milk vending machines. The game takes inspiration from favorites like Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons, blending deckbuilding with dice rolls.

Every time you roll those dice, it helps you cast spells, kick off cool combos, and activate more than 150 different magical artifacts. The runs are pretty quick, usually lasting about 30 minutes, which keeps the gameplay feeling fresh and encourages you to try out wild new strategies and combos to outsmart your enchanted foes.

Customization is a big deal here, letting you truly make your Dog Witch your own. You can pick its fur, hat, how it barks, and even its “chonk” level. The game’s hand-drawn art style is inspired by the playful absurdity of shows like “Adventure Time”. If you’re curious, there’s a demo planned for Steam Next Fest in June 2025, which will give you about an hour’s taste of the first area.

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You’ll be drawing cards to see what kind of monster hordes you’ll be facing, and as you play, you’ll unlock new heroes, weapons, and encounters. The mysterious Dealer from the original games is back too, making things even more challenging. It’s like they took the deckbuilding from Hand of Fate and mashed it up with a top-down shooter where you’re dodging tons of bullets.

Get ready to build your deck to earn tokens and unlock more cards, so your arsenal keeps growing with each run. There are also text-based events and quests that can have surprising outcomes, and they can even give your weapons powerful buffs. From axes that set things on fire to crossbows that explode, you’ll be collecting and upgrading gear to unleash serious damage on enemy waves as you explore familiar and new places from the Hand of Fate universe.

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Willow Guard is a single-player, story-driven action RPG, set in the fantasy world of Tersa, a land of anthropomorphic animals abandoned by their gods. The game blends hack-and-slash combat, light deckbuilding, and choice-based interactive fiction. You play as Ghweros, a veteran Willowguard tasked with protecting sacred Willow trees and investigating monstrous invasions tied to the fallen Moon Goddess, Louksna.

Story Choices Outweigh Bland Combat

It is split between intense dungeon-crawling battles and slower, dialogue-heavy exploration in the village of Woikos, where choices shape the story and Ghweros’s personality. It offers a 10-20 hour campaign with a branching narrative, plus a story-free Dungeon Run mode for combat-focused play. The core combat is retro-inspired, real-time, but not so challenging. The game is built around slashing, dodging, and casting spells against over 10 enemy types.

However, no matter how different each enemy might be, Willow Guard’s combat quickly becomes repetitive, even after just two hours. The combat is neither unique nor imaginative, and the minimal animations ruin much of the fun. Watching the same basic slashes while enemies remain overly static genuinely ruins the experience. Likewise, the dungeon design feels bland, with a monotonous layout that quickly becomes tedious to navigate. The mini-map only indicates how many zones remain.

There’s little need to time dodges carefully, as enemy attack patterns become predictable after a short while. The game also includes a “Honeybadger Mode”, which slightly boosts stats after deaths to help newcomers, but in truth, it’s unnecessary. Healing plants and skills are plentiful, stamina for card abilities refills quickly, and dying is not punishable enough. The only real threat comes from accidentally stepping on traps, but even then, it’s not a true game over. Instead, you’re simply teleported to the start of the map, forced to redo everything.

As mentioned, the game features a card-crafting system where you equip and upgrade ability cards. While this mechanic is a welcome addition, it suffers from poor explanation, mostly leaving you uncertain how to optimize it properly. The shared resource pool also adds to the further frustration, as Focus is used both for crafting cards and scanning the environment for hidden clue.

Pixel Art Meets Deep Story

Progression is non-traditional: instead of leveling up, you upgrade gear and expand your deck using materials gathered from enemies, dungeons, or quests. But the biggest issue is the unpredictable loot system. Since materials drop randomly from enemies, progression is sometimes baed on luck. You might clear entire dungeons and walk away with almost nothing, only to later stumble into a windfall of rare materials by sheer luck. This inconsistency can leave you stranded, unable to upgrade cards or craft new ones simply because the game refuses to cooperate.

Outside of combat, Willow Guard does have its strengths. The game excels in accessibility, offering smooth and easy navigation as traversal remains effortless whether exploring by day or night. There’s a huge amount of animal NPCs like wolves, badgers, and foxes that you can properly meet through dialogue trees. The Inclination system tracks your choices across four philosophies (empathetic, creed-bound, instinct-driven, or detail-obsessed), shaping Ghweros’s personality and story outcomes. Maintaining good relationships with NPCs is crucial, as your affinity level directly impacts how they treat you. Higher affinity can lead to better rewards, including more gold and improved loot opportunities.

The clue-and-item gathering mechanic adds detective-like depth. You collect hints from conversations or environments to unlock new locations, characters, or secrets, making exploration feel rewarding. The narrative is lore-rich, weaving a tale of absent gods, uplifted animals, and eldritch horrors inspired by the Voynich Manuscript and Cthulhu mythos. However, the sheer amount of reading required may feel overwhelming. While the story itself is merely passable, not particularly gripping or worth investing much time in, it’s surprisingly well thought-out compared to the uninspired combat system.

Willow Guard boasts a hand-drawn, pixel-art style that’s both nostalgic and lush, reminiscent of 16-bit classics like Secret of Mana but with modern polish. However, the game struggles to impress in this department. The color palette often feels dissonant and unappealing, while environmental designs lack variety, many zones blend together with little to distinguish them from one another. The soundtrack is simple, uses chiptune-inspired melodies to set the mood, shifting from serene village themes to tense battle tracks which change from time to time.

Ending Thoughts

Ultimately, Willow Guard is difficult to recommend. In today’s saturated ARPG market filled with higher-quality alternatives, this title settles for being merely “good enough”. While the world-building shows promise outside of combat, the repetitive gameplay loops and underwhelming battle system drag the experience down. The boss fights offer some refreshing moments of creativity, but they can’t compensate for the good storytelling.

That said, genre enthusiasts looking for a authentic indie ARPG experience will find this a worthwhile purchase at its price point. Despite its flaws, Willow Guard offers substantial content; the art style grows on you, the deck-building mechanics reward experimentation, and the NPC relationships develop surprising depth for those willing to invest the time. While not without its rough edges, there’s enough content here to merit a spot on your wishlist for when you’re craving a story-driven adventure.

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.5

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In Decktamer, you explore the depths of the abyss, encountering creatures that have adapted to their environment. However, the deeper you go, the stranger and more dangerous the monsters become. The game’s core mechanic is “taming”, instead of simply collecting cards, you must tame enemies to add them to your deck. This also comes with consequences: if one of your creatures dies, the card is lost forever.

Each card in the game can be used once per turn, and the goal is to find the optimal strategy to win battles. The game’s full gameplay experience is showcased in the new trailer, so be sure to check it out below!

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In Crush the Industry, you take on the role of a new hire at a massive game studio. Your goal is to climb the corporate ladder by battling workplace challenges, managing your sanity, and building a deck of skills to overcome obstacles. The game features multiple playable characters, over 200 skills and talents, and an ever-changing schedule, ensuring that no two career runs are the same.

The game’s progression is challenging, with nine difficulty levels and the infamous “9 Circles of Corporate Hell” to conquer. As you achieve milestones, you unlock new content, including skills, talents, and characters. The latest update introduces 15 new character-exclusive skills, shop rerolls, discounted items, and four new talents. MacOS support has also been added, along with improvements to animations, enemy behaviors, and bug fixes.

We asked Travis and Kara to share their thoughts on the Early Access aspect of the game, whether it’s worth it, how it helps, what benefits it brings, and what developers can typically expect to gain from it.

Do you consider Early Access on Steam to have been useful, given that your game has been in it for two years?

Early Access increased our confidence for the full release clearing player expectations. It’s been helpful to have that feedback and extra time to refine.

Are you satisfied with how the game has been received so far?

We’re satisfied with it. The constructive negative reviews helped us make improvements, and we didn’t expect the game to land for everyone (particularly the satire of office work culture and crude humor). We’re happy to be north of 90% on Steam with the majority of players sharing positive experiences.

Looking back at the game two years ago compared to today, what’s the one game mechanic you’re still most proud of?

Expanding the “rolling health” mechanic popularized by Earthbound and fusing it with card battler gameplay. I think it makes our game stand out and play differently than anything else in the roguelike deckbuilder genre. We had some concerns early in development that it might feel too gimmicky, but it worked out way better than expected.

How valuable has player feedback been during development?

The players who took the time to offer detailed feedback were invaluable. There’s a lot of things they thought of that we wouldn’t have on our own.

An enemy most indie devs can probably relate to: the Game Designer Mole that tunnels too deep on new ideas. 🐿️#screenshotsaturday #gamedeveloper #indiedev pic.twitter.com/kqqZHlBjmP

— Travis | Crush the Industry dev (@CognogginGames) February 23, 2025

How frequently did you update the game, and did you ever feel it became repetitive or boring to continue working on the same project?

We’ve had 10 major updates and around 20 unannounced/small updates. It did become repetitive at points and the burnout was real. Grinding through the work required for localization was especially rough.

What were some of the key lessons or experiences you gained while developing this game?

The importance of early marketing comes to mind as a lesson. We learned to appreciate trimming down excess scope to focus solely on whatever makes the game fun to play. There were some overly ambitious features that had to be cut, like a minigame and casino node. Learning to avoid those scope creep pitfalls was just as important as speeding up our code/art turnaround times.

We would market earlier and wait on releasing our first demo until it was more polished. We’d also reconsider some of the full-screen visual effects and loosen up on staying faithful to retro console pixel resolutions.

How important has marketing been for the game’s success? Are there any statistics you’d be willing to share, such as wishlist numbers before and after launch? Have sales remained steady, or have they fluctuated over time?

Marketing was and is everything for us finding success. Steam’s Next Fest and some early youtube coverage gave us a nice initial boost. Right now our sales jump for discounted events and seasonal sales. I think a lot of players are waiting for it to exit Early Access at this point, and we’re almost there. We have ~20k wishlists right now and want to drive that number up in the coming months as we market for full release.

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In Wandering Monolith: Rogue TD, unlike traditional tower defense games, where players defend against waves of enemies, here you are the aggressor. You have to strategically place towers across procedurally generated battlefields, create custom decks to enhance your strategy, and defeat each world’s defenders to spread your influence.

The game draws inspiration from modern indie hits like Rogue Tower and Thronefall, blending classic tower defense mechanics with roguelike and deckbuilding elements. This fusion ensures that every playthrough is unique, offering endless replayability and fresh challenges. As you battle waves of enemies, you’ll also unlock powerful upgrades and rewards.

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Monster Train 2 builds on the foundation of its predecessor while adding a wealth of new content. The game’s vertical three-floor battle system returns, but now you must adapt to new environments and challenges beyond the Gates of Heaven. The game introduces five all-new playable Clans, each with unique strategic advantages and battle styles. With hundreds of new and familiar cards, including Room Cards, Equipment Cards, and fan-favorite Neutral Cards, players can experiment with countless synergies to build unstoppable decks.

The game also introduces new features like train customization, which grants buffs to enhance your gameplay, and an Endless Mode for players seeking an even greater challenge. Daily and Dimensional challenges, run mutators, and leaderboards add replayability and competitive depth.

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Pairs & Perils offers an intriguing twist on the roguelite deck-building genre, but its limited content holds it back from reaching its full potential. As a roguelite deck-builder, it lacks the proper replayable features you’d expect from the genre. However, its simplicity and strong first impressions are enough to keep you coming back. The gameplay is straightforward, combining memory-matching mechanics with deck-building elements in a charming fantasy world.

You can finish the game in under two hours if you focus solely on unlocking all five classes on normal difficulty, without attempting harder modes like hard or dungeon master. That said, the developers have promised future updates, and for its low price, the game offers enough to keep you entertained for short bursts of gameplay. This feels intentional, it’s not designed to be played for hours on end like Balatro. Instead, it challenges your memory and tactical thinking in shorter sessions.

At the start, you’re given a random starting deck, which you can reroll if you’re hoping for better cards. From there, you’ll face off against various enemies, from simple rats and golems to tougher mini-bosses. Each enemy has special effects that can impact you beyond their basic attacks, keeping battles dynamic. Can the game’s charm and strategic depth outweigh its limited replayability? That largely depends on your expectations going in.

A fun gameplay loop that lacks more meat

The core idea is that each enemy has a set number of turns before they attack. During your turn, you’ll draw cards from your deck, which are briefly turned face-up. You’ll need to memorize as many matching pairs as possible before the cards are flipped back over. Your goal is to correctly match pairs to attack the enemy or trigger effects. If you make a mistake, don’t worry, you usually have enough turns to correct it before the enemy strikes.

That’s essentially how you progress through the game, but there are additional mechanics to keep things interesting. You can upgrade your cards, remove them from your deck, purchase new ones in shops, and heal up. Additionally, there are items you can carry, such as bandages to heal after each round or items that reveal hidden cards. While you can hold multiple items, there’s a limit to prevent overuse.

The cards you use are quite interesting. For example, you can use a Warrior card for high damage, a Shield Maiden to grant shields, or a Thief to steal money every time an enemy dies. There are also elite cards, like the Knight, which offer stronger bonuses and higher damage but come with a higher price tag. However, one downside is that the cards can become repetitive over time. Even if you choose a different class, the pool of cards remains largely the same, which limits variety. Beyond attacking cards, you can also acquire utility cards that affect the battlefield, such as those granting lifesteal or delaying enemy attacks.

The main problem – lack of variety in cards

The bosses at the end of each playthrough are more varied and bring unique challenges. For instance, Medusa has an ability that blocks your view of the cards on the field, forcing you to guess and rely on memory. Thankfully, each class comes with a special skill powered by mana, such as dealing direct damage to enemies or granting yourself a shield. These abilities can be situationally useful and provide an extra layer of strategy during tough encounters.

My biggest gripe with the game is the lack of variety in the cards. While each playthrough is technically different, I found myself defaulting to the Warrior almost every time because of how strong he is compared to other options. The game could really benefit from better balance. For instance, why would I pick a Wizard card that gives me just one mana when there are far better options available? Additionally, the more cards you have in your deck, the more frustrating it becomes to memorize them all, as you need to keep track of what you’ve already chosen.

Another issue is the traps scattered across your deck. While they add an extra layer of challenge, they also require twice as much effort to avoid, which can become tiresome. That said, it wasn’t too difficult for me to keep track of useful cards. Personally, I focused on memorizing the cards I found most helpful while ignoring or revealing the others using utility cards.

Ending thoughts

On a more positive note, I really enjoyed the game’s graphics. They’re charming and simple, ensuring that the visual design doesn’t distract you from the gameplay. The fantasy setting also adds to the appeal. However, as mentioned earlier, while the gameplay loop is solid, the game feels lacking in content. I’m not expecting 20 hours of completely random cards across every class, but more variety in starting options and enemy types would have made the experience far more interesting.

Ultimately, Pairs & Perils delivers a bite-sized roguelite experience that excels in short, strategic bursts but leaves you wishing for a bit more variety. If you enjoy clever mechanics in charming fantasy worlds, this game is worth a shot, especially at its affordable price.

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.8

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In Death Howl, you take on the role of Ro, a grieving mother navigating a spiritual, Nordic-inspired world. Ro is on a heart-wrenching journey to reunite with her late son. Along the way, she faces relentless spirits and dangerous foes in a dark, ethereal stone-age setting.

The game’s battles are grid-based and turn-driven, requiring careful strategy and adaptability. To overcome these challenges, you must craft and refine your decks of cards, which serve as Ro’s tools for survival. Each new area introduces unique deck types and mechanics, and you can also enhance your decks with powerful shamanic totems to prepare for bosses.

Unlike traditional run-based deck-building games, Death Howl offers an open-world exploration divided into distinct biomes. Grim regions like the Forest of Howling Shadows and Meadows of Delusion not only challenge you but also reveal fragments of Ro’s story. These areas are rich with themes of love, loss, and resilience, unraveling Ro’s emotional journey while uncovering the forgotten lore of this mysterious spiritual realm.

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