Summary
Balatrois a fun and funny innovative roguelike based on poker that throws away every pretense of being anything like poker after the second round. In reality,Balatroshares much of its DNA with other deck-builder roguelikes, especially those based onother traditional card gameslikeVoid Tyrants.
But not all games based on traditional cards will feel likeBalatro. For example, another game that shares the same willful disregard for traditional cards while still nominally using them is themodern tabletop card game,Regicide. Even then, the two are nothing alike. Much closer to the spirit of the first are some roguelike dice games. Even if they can’t really be called deck-builders, players new to the genre would be surprised as to how close those two play.
7Void Tyrant
Deck-Building Inspired By Blackjack
Void Tyrantis a deck-builder roguelike with light Blackjack inspirations. The player draws cards, filling an attack bar that goes up to 12. While they can choose to stop at any moment if they ever go over 12, their turn is skipped, and the enemy gets a free attack. If the player stops before hitting 13, they deal damage to the difference between their attack and the enemy’s.
Just likeBalatrobuilds on classic Poker,Void Tyrantuses this quasi-Blackjack gameplay loop to create a complete roguelike with special items, characters, and different enemies.Void Tyrantused to be available only on a mobile, but it has since received an excellent PC port.
6Slice & Dice
A Roguelike Dungeon Crawler With Customizable Dice
Slice & Diceis an excellent roguelike dungeon crawler based on customizable dice. The heart of the game is in the progression. Like the excellent board gameDice Forge, the different dice are upgraded by switching out some of their faces for better effects. Occasionally, an entire die can be switched for another, representing a character leveling into a new class.
Byadding together RPGs, deck-builders, and dice,Slice & Dicecreates a unique mix that straddles the line between the familiar and the innovative. The game comes with a generous demo and an inexpensive price tag. WhileSlice & Diceisn’t on Steam yet, a Windows version is available on the game’s Itch.io page.
5Dark Mist
A Punishing Deck-Builder All About Survival
Dark Mistis adifficult roguelike deck-builderabout fighting larger and larger waves of enemies. More than any other card-based roguelike, this one will see players barely scraping by every encounter. AlthoughDark Mistappears to only be on mobile, it is also available through Steam under the nameBlood Card 2: Dark Mist.
Dark Mist’s more interesting addition to the genre is that enemies deal damage by stealing cards from the deck. If cards run out, it’s game over, and the only way to take them back is to knock down the enemy who stole them.
4Night Of The Full Moon
Story-Focused Deck-Building
Night of the Full Moonis quite unique among deck-building roguelikes, if nothing else because it has a story. It arguably has multiple stories, all vaguely based onLittle Red Riding Hood. That said, players coming to this game for the story might be left a little disappointed.
The gameplay ofNight of the Full Moon, when compared to its premise, looks almost basic. In reality, the different game modes make for a very replayable experience. For example, the story/mode Memory in the Mirror is played, but it doesn’t use cards like the rest of the game, playing instead more like an auto battler.
For a time, many seemed to think thatInscryptionwas the best thing that ever happened tocard-based roguelikes. That time ended when those players finished Act 1 of the base game and realized the rest of it wasn’t a roguelike at all; it was a story-driven horror game tied together by a strong metanarrative, not gameplay.
Kaycee’s Modmight be the game many players hopedInscryptionwould have been. Unlike what the name seems to imply, this is not a mod; it’s a free expansion added to the game after its release. This alternative game mode turns Act 1 ofInscryptioninto a proper deck-builder roguelike, competing with challenge runs and seemingly endless unlockables.
Slay the Spireis one of the most popular card-based roguelikes ever released, as well as one of the most successful roguelike games in general. The game is very well-known now, but when it came out in 2019, roguelike deck-builders were still relegated to the unflattering world of mobile gaming.
As is to be expected for one of the greatest examples of the genre,Slay the Spirehas different playable characters with unique abilities and suitability, challenge runs, and endless variation. This last element might be what gave this game so much staying power. Even compared to thenumerous Joker cards ofBalatro,Slay the Spire’s collection is without equal.
1Dicey Dungeons
A Dice-Based Roguelike With A Sense Of Humor
Dicey Dungeonshas everything a player might expect when coming fromBalatro. It has emergent gameplay based on rolling adorable dice, a way to control and harness this randomness, and plenty of variation. It also features challenges, unique bosses, super varied enemies, and so on.
One thing that might surprise players is the dice. Indeed,dice are not cards. But this information shouldn’t be taken out of context. If anything,Dicey Dungeonsfeels less random thanBalatro. This is because the player interacts with the dice only after they have been rolled. This makes the dice function more like the cards inBalatroand less like, say, rolling attack damage inDungeons & Dragons.
