Next is a game that isn't about collecting cards, but rather collecting misfits, and it's called Darkest Dungeon. It's a bit easy for a deck builder, and incredibly easy compared to some other roguelikes, but the art style, unique mechanics, and the emphasis on tactics make it easily worth a look to be sure. For example, Bears are a tanky wall, Weasels are all about DoT effects, Rabbits focus on moving allies and enemies around, and Wolves are all-rounders. Each race of animal, from wolves to rabbits and so on, has its own gimmicks and reasons for being used in a squad. RELATED: Magic The Gathering's Showcase Alternate Card Frames, Rankedīut, where Banners of Ruin heavily differs from Gordian Quest and where its identity is entirely focused is on the anthropomorphic animals groups rather than specific characters and classes. The closest comparison to it is Gordian Quest, a title a bit further down on this list, as both games focus on multiple units in combat and placement plays a big role in battles. But, to a large majority of roguelike fans, this is more of a plus than a negative.īanners of Ruin is another interesting game that takes the classic Slay the Spire format, which made the genre so popular in the first place, and twists it a bit. The only big drawback of Roguebook is in its story, which is all but non-existent. And while the runs are a bit on the short side with only three playable maps, there's a ton of depth to these randomly generated maps, as well as a huge amount of replayability with the NG+ mode. The combat itself is different enough, introducing a "Swapping" mechanic between the front and back characters, as well as a host of other game-specific status effects that may take beginner players a bit to get used to. Instead of a 2D map, players instead reveal more and more of the hex-grid using brushes and inks in an attempt to discover as many beneficial events or battles as possible. There are four playable characters, with the player picking their main and their secondary each run as they advance through a series of hex-grid levels. Roguebook is about as "like Slay the Spire but different" as they get, and that's genuinely not a bad thing. The only complaint a longtime deck builder veteran might have, if any, is that the combat starts to get pretty easy pretty quickly as long as the classes are played optimally, even on the harder difficulties. Plus, the narrative is literally built around the replayability aspect of roguelike deck builders, so it all feels like one neat package.
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Designing the game this way does a lot to add to the atmosphere, and all the different classes in the game are fantastically unique in their play style. Tainted Grail is basically like any deck builder roguelike in that players steadily progress through a map, fighting mobs, leveling up, getting new cards or passive abilities, and encountering random events with a series of choices.īut, as opposed to a standard game where players just click on the next area on a map, Tainted Grail has the player walking around these 3D maps.
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Outside of those few things, the games are radically different, of course. Its hyper-dark fantasy setting based around the concept of an apocalyptic mist called the Wyrdness is memorable, the atmosphere is dour and nihilistic, and there's even a torch-management system that heavily impacts combat. First up is Tainted Grail Conquest, and it's the type of deck builder a fan of something like Darkest Dungeon would love.