Dungeon Deck by Incinious

The Rogue-like deckbuilder is officially here to stay, spurred on by the success of landmark titles like Slay the Spire and Monster Train.

Alongside its siblings in boomer shooters and Metroidvanias, it seems like it’ll be some time before indie audiences tire of this trend.

Enter something like Dungeon Deck, which is walking into a crowded marketplace, to put it lightly. Can it carve out its own niche amidst a sea of similar titles?

To Dungeons Deep

As a denizen of a medieval tavern full of colorful characters, you’re quickly brought into the world of Dungeon Deck. The in-universe card game that is. Can you become the champion everyone yearns to challenge?

Dungeon Deck (the video game) is likely to be comfort food for anyone who enjoys deck-builders. Every session starts with you building a deck out of randomly selected cards, doing your best to keep your choices synergistic with each other.

After that, it’s off to the dungeon, represented by a card deck full of encounters. Different dungeon themes bring different unique rules, and you’ll need to complete several in a row in order to win the game.

You’ll fight monsters by playing weapons, shields, and spells, and end up rewarded with a new card for your deck after each one. There are encounters that let you buy and sell cards, upgrade them, trade them for buffs, and even remove them to thin your deck. Each deck ends with a boss encounter, after which it’s off to the next deck of your choice.

Hands of Steel

As you’ve probably guessed by now, Dungeon Deck’s gameplay loop is very similar to that of its peers. However, there are a few things that make it stand out.

For starters, its charming, laid-back aesthetic invites more casual play and time investment. This is accented with little touches like being able to interact with objects on the table by your cards. It’s a charming addition that gives the game a lot of character (I personally love stacking my coins).

It’s also a streamlined experience that’s good for newbies and low-commitment players. The main choices are what cards to choose and which deck to approach after you finish the current one. If you’re someone who finds the micro-management of other deck-builders overwhelming, this might actually be a good fit for you.

The Verdict

Dungeon Deck doesn’t reinvent the genre, and it might be a hard purchase to justify if you’re already waist-deep in this kind of game. However, between its charming aesthetics and still genuinely fun, streamlined approach, I think it absolutely has a spot at the deck-builder Rogue-like table.

It may not blow your mind, but I guarantee it’ll make you smile, and sometimes that’s all we need.

Dungeon Deck is available via Steam and Itch.io.

Watch the trailer for Dungeon Deck below: