Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Style: Card-Based Roguelike
Publisher: Goblinz Publishing
Developer: Thorian Games
Release: Expected to release Q4 2025
I love a good card-based roguelike. I also love a dark, unsettling gothic landscape. Much to my surprise and enjoyment, Decks of the Damned blends the two into something that’s pretty damn enjoyable. My time with the game starts and ends with the tutorial, which doubles as the demo. As far as tutorials go, it does a solid job of teaching you the basics but doesn’t seem to cover all the fundamental components of the games. This left me, much like a vampire, in the dark – though not in a bad way.
Decks of the Damned is a strategic roguelike auto-battler in a card-based simulation format. The demo doesn’t give us much to work with in terms of the story, but it does introduce the world and vampires, which you’ll be playing as. You begin in a shadowy, empty forest surrounded by trees. Suddenly, you hear movement, a rabbit. You pounce, leaving behind only its blood and bones. Combining those remains along with nearby wood, you form an altar- the first step in raising your army.
From here, the game guides you through your first few nights in the forest, and very quickly the gameplay loop of Decks of The Damned emerges: Gather materials, craft soldiers and weapons, collect enough blood to make it through the day, and go to sleep before dawn while your troops defend your coffin during daytime. You do this through the placement and combination of the cards, drag one card over another enemy card to initiate combat. Combining specific cards and moving them to the altar would allow you to craft units or equipment. Sounds simple enough but slowly, the game introduces more and more materials and loot that you can then equip to your troops to make them stronger, the upgrades will quickly become a necessity as the enemies that hunt you grow stronger too. It’s a satisfying gameplay loop. It being the tutorial, I did find it rather easy to get through each night, but I can imagine this easily being resolved by making nights shorter or materials more scarce. It is worth noting, the tutorial only introduces you to the first area of the map, and the very brief glimpse of the second zone , resource scarcity does start to creep up, which gives me the impression that steeper challenges await.
I mentioned beforehand that equipment and troops are introduced slowly, and when I say slowly I mean it. There were portions of the tutorial where I was unable to complete portions of a quest due to specific items not dropping from foes I slayed. I think I went five nights before I got my second iron ingot, which I needed to craft a sword. Perhaps I just got unlucky, but I did find this to be annoying, it made me feel like I was wasting my night in order to collect items.
I felt like Decks Of The Damned really hit its stride once it introduces a secondary and tertiary vampire to help gather materials. These vampires can then be upgraded into specialists, one allows you to tame beasts and recruit them into your army, another a shaman that helps you heal (rest in peace – and pieces – to all the skeletons that I lost before the tutorial introduces the shaman). The way to gather these vampires was clever too. You’d set out traps and quickly go from becoming hunted to hunter. Catching an enemy gives you the chance to feed on them, and once awakened, turn them into a creature of the night.
I’ve written quite a bit without even touching on the visuals and audio, which are genuinely charming in their own haunting way. Each card features unique pixel art, and the combat is brought to life with simple yet impactful animations. The music leans eerie in the best way, adding to the game’s atmosphere. The only visual hiccup I noticed was during the day-to-night transitions, where everything briefly stops moving and it feels like the game freezes for a split second. It’s a minor complaint though since after the first couple of nights, you become used to the funky transition Overall, the visuals and audio really enhance the experience without ever getting in the way.
The combination of all these elements makes for a fun and surprisingly complete tutorial. I emphasize ‘tutorial’ because, as noted in the title, I’m still left with several questions about how Thorian Gamez handles the rest of the game. Additional vampires really expanded the troop management and resource gathering aspect of the game, and I’m curious as to just how many vampires we’ll be allowed to have in other zones of the game (It’s currently capped at three). Going from zone to zone also left me intrigued, as you’re only allowed a set amount of cards (both troops and materials) in each wagon. Will we be allowed to make multiple wagons? Are some resources zone-specific and if so, can we revisit these zones anytime to gather more of them? Gold is introduced in the tutorial but players aren’t allowed to do anything with it, so that begs the question, what types of items and upgrades will be available to purchase? These are genuine questions that I hope to find out in the near future when Decks of The Damned is released.
Players who enjoy resource-gathering are going to feast on Decks of The Damned. The game does a great job of getting the player into the mindset of preparing for each night, and seeing your vampires slowly grow in strength and influence is a real treat to watch unfold. I’m excited to keep a sharp eye (and fang) on what Decks of The Damned does next.
You can check out and download Decks of The Damned here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2159900/Decks_of_the_Damned/
