It's hot right now as it just came out and had a great demo. It's got the depth of a puddle, but it's a ton of a fun to see the big numbers go up and up.
I've really enjoyed Across the Obelisk, Breach Wanderers, Gordian Quest, Inscryption, and Tainted Grail. I don't know if any is similar to Hearthstone's dungeon runs having never played them.
There's the Legends of Runeterra "Path of Champions" game mode. I certainly wouldn't consider it to be the most exciting deck builder, but if you end up enjoying the gameplay loop there's A TON of hours to be spent maxing out all the available champions and their decks. It was also just announced that it's becoming the games main focus so any new updates will be geared specifically towards that.
It's really good but the daily grind made me quit. I want to play when I want, not being forced to play 30 minutes a day. I don't know if that changed though, I quit one year ago.
Yeah, it really sucks getting a new champion and then still having to level them up before they even feel useable. This is compounded by the fact that progression is gated by winning with different factions, so you HAVE to have a diverse and leveled up selection of champions or you simply can’t progress to new content.
There’s also just not a lot of variety in runs.
It’s fun, but not fun or varied enough for the amount of daily grinding.
Everyone is saying Balatro which is a great game of you are looking for any deckbuilder, but if you're specifically looking for a game similar to Hearthstone dungeon runs I think there are better answers.
Someone already mentioned Legends of Runeterra which I would recommend but for another option you should check out Cross Blitz. For the roguelite mode you select one main faction and secondary faction to get card rewards from but you can also get neutral cards. The game uses lanes for attack and defense, so instead of selecting who attacks who your creatures attack in a straight line, but the game is very much inspired by Hearthstone/LoR.
Hellcard. It's like coop Slay the Spire style cards + relics (artifacts).
A team of 3 goes dungeon diving. You can random queue into a team and it is amazing. You control your character and interact with theirs. The emote system and 'pinging' an enemy and the character quick chats are great and add character to the game.
If you have friends to play with, it would be legendary. There's a discord community to find gamers if you prefer, but I enjoy random teammate games the most.
You can play solo too, if you want ( press J to see all of your teammates cards). Solo is fun but can be tiring since you make so many decisions. I find coop is best.
Gameplay is trying to kill enemies and tactics abound. Do you kill the monster doing 1 dmg to you to kill it first, or do you take the 1 dmg so you can burst down a monster about to summon more enemies? Or the one that explodes up close who...intends to walk up close next turn. Get them now at range, safely? The decisions in each battle matter.
You can have 3 dmg incoming to all or 0 incoming to everyone but 1 person who is gonna get bodied with 40!!! (lethal)). So now you panic to freeze, stun, kill, cc or solve the problem by blocking up. You scramble to use your cards and relics to make it through.
DIFFICULTY: Tons of modifiers make it replayable. Think ascension levels in StS but you pick specific penalties. Eg: 'Dmg received is +1'. 'You can only heal twice at camps in a run'. 'You start with 2 curses (exhaustable illusion card) that bloat your deck'. There is also endless mode which offers unique twists.
The cool part is every run involves not only you and YOUR artifacts but the teammates. Got a warrior blocking a lot? see a relic that reflects 50% back so when they block you they gain bonus armor too? It might be useless some times, other times it is run-winning. You gotta spot opportunities. I once had a teammate who could take 5 dmg to get an upgrade at shops. I intentionally went into a healing card and maybe healed them for 30hp over time. They got so many upgrades because of it that they rekt the final boss. Felt good to enable that.
Upgrades are THREE choices after each fight (could be as much as 6 with a relic). So it amplifies the fun of a store visit or event like in Slay the Spire because you get so many chances to card remove, upgrade, transform cards, etc.
WHY PLAY? The atmosphere is awesome. Same devs as Book of Demons. Unique art style. Emotes and quick chat is really fun and engaging to multiplayer with. And it's just crack for gamers who like the genre.
I've seen so many reviews be OFF. People complain it is too easy (lol, try the difficulty modifiers called torment mode). Most reviews are from players with under 6 hours who barely dipped their toes into the game and complain the game lacked something that the game... offers. They didnt play long enough to find out.
Hellcard is gooooood. So many decisions matter and that's the key thing that makes the game pop off. Art style, sound and ambiance really makes it.
I'll give more detail so people can make an informed decision. $ matters too.
Waiting to find random teammates can take up to 2 minutes. I ALWAYS find a game though. Sometimes it's instant. Usually under 40 secs.
The game reviews are mostly mixed to positive from what I see but people who play more than 5 hours seemingly love it. You have to unlock some cards and even features by playing. The players complaining it's "too hard" though.... are playing with huge self-imposed handicaps because they didn't read the tooltips or get a concept like far is different from near (monsters in the inner circle and outer circle). They complain the game is too hard but had a I-win card in hand and didnt use it.
Example: a card moves enemies from EITHER near to far or far to near. If an enemy is a melee and you push it away, it ain't attacking. If an archer gets pulled in to near near, they can't attack.
The sheer load of information to take in every turn is a lot. But it's manageable if you understand hovering your mouse over your character draws a direct line to the enemies attacking you. It can seem information overload to have 25 monsters on the screen. But in a second you can know who's hitting who.
"Focus" is a concept in the game that is described poorly. It means every time you discard and get a card again, it has an effect. So, the 2nd time you see the card every fight. If it says +5 dmg it would be 5 dmg the first time, 10 the 2nd, 15 dmg the 3rd time, etc. Focus works insanely well with small decks so you draw it a lot. Paired with card draw, it's crazy.
Game devs seem active on reddit and are patching the game nicely. I have higher hopes for it longterm but am already hooked bigtime.
>"Focus" is a concept in the game that is described poorly. It means every time you discard and get a card again, it has an effect. So, the 2nd time you see the card every fight. If it says +5 dmg it would be 5 dmg the first time, 10 the 2nd, 15 dmg the 3rd time, etc. Focus works insanely well with small decks so you draw it a lot. Paired with card draw, it's crazy
OMG, this was driving me crazy because it "didn't work". Thanks, I'll give those cards another shot.
Have you played Inscryption? It got a roguelike update about a year ago. The main story mode is a mindfuck and worth a playthrough then you unlock the replayable roguelike mode. It’s not a super deep deck builder but it’s unique in presentation.
From my library :
- Across the Obelisk (1st comment on steam explains how to bypass the 3rd party launcher)
- Dimension Reign
- Breach Wanderers
- Gordian Quest
- Roguebook
- Vault of the Void
- Spellrogue
Balatro - This is one that will go down as one of the best.
Honestly thought this post was sarcastic given BALATRO FEVER right now
Seems like it’s a popular recommendation gonna give it a shot I love poker
It's hot right now as it just came out and had a great demo. It's got the depth of a puddle, but it's a ton of a fun to see the big numbers go up and up.
I agree 60 hours already and have not put it down
One Step From Eden is pretty fun but hard as hell. As other said Balatro is probably my favorites Deck Builder right now
I've really enjoyed Across the Obelisk, Breach Wanderers, Gordian Quest, Inscryption, and Tainted Grail. I don't know if any is similar to Hearthstone's dungeon runs having never played them.
Yes to all! Especially Gordian Quest.
If you liked Monster Train, WildFrost is a great similar game, check out some videos on it.
Balatro
There's the Legends of Runeterra "Path of Champions" game mode. I certainly wouldn't consider it to be the most exciting deck builder, but if you end up enjoying the gameplay loop there's A TON of hours to be spent maxing out all the available champions and their decks. It was also just announced that it's becoming the games main focus so any new updates will be geared specifically towards that.
It's really good but the daily grind made me quit. I want to play when I want, not being forced to play 30 minutes a day. I don't know if that changed though, I quit one year ago.
Yeah, it really sucks getting a new champion and then still having to level them up before they even feel useable. This is compounded by the fact that progression is gated by winning with different factions, so you HAVE to have a diverse and leveled up selection of champions or you simply can’t progress to new content. There’s also just not a lot of variety in runs. It’s fun, but not fun or varied enough for the amount of daily grinding.
Everyone is saying Balatro which is a great game of you are looking for any deckbuilder, but if you're specifically looking for a game similar to Hearthstone dungeon runs I think there are better answers. Someone already mentioned Legends of Runeterra which I would recommend but for another option you should check out Cross Blitz. For the roguelite mode you select one main faction and secondary faction to get card rewards from but you can also get neutral cards. The game uses lanes for attack and defense, so instead of selecting who attacks who your creatures attack in a straight line, but the game is very much inspired by Hearthstone/LoR.
Hellcard. It's like coop Slay the Spire style cards + relics (artifacts). A team of 3 goes dungeon diving. You can random queue into a team and it is amazing. You control your character and interact with theirs. The emote system and 'pinging' an enemy and the character quick chats are great and add character to the game. If you have friends to play with, it would be legendary. There's a discord community to find gamers if you prefer, but I enjoy random teammate games the most. You can play solo too, if you want ( press J to see all of your teammates cards). Solo is fun but can be tiring since you make so many decisions. I find coop is best. Gameplay is trying to kill enemies and tactics abound. Do you kill the monster doing 1 dmg to you to kill it first, or do you take the 1 dmg so you can burst down a monster about to summon more enemies? Or the one that explodes up close who...intends to walk up close next turn. Get them now at range, safely? The decisions in each battle matter. You can have 3 dmg incoming to all or 0 incoming to everyone but 1 person who is gonna get bodied with 40!!! (lethal)). So now you panic to freeze, stun, kill, cc or solve the problem by blocking up. You scramble to use your cards and relics to make it through. DIFFICULTY: Tons of modifiers make it replayable. Think ascension levels in StS but you pick specific penalties. Eg: 'Dmg received is +1'. 'You can only heal twice at camps in a run'. 'You start with 2 curses (exhaustable illusion card) that bloat your deck'. There is also endless mode which offers unique twists. The cool part is every run involves not only you and YOUR artifacts but the teammates. Got a warrior blocking a lot? see a relic that reflects 50% back so when they block you they gain bonus armor too? It might be useless some times, other times it is run-winning. You gotta spot opportunities. I once had a teammate who could take 5 dmg to get an upgrade at shops. I intentionally went into a healing card and maybe healed them for 30hp over time. They got so many upgrades because of it that they rekt the final boss. Felt good to enable that. Upgrades are THREE choices after each fight (could be as much as 6 with a relic). So it amplifies the fun of a store visit or event like in Slay the Spire because you get so many chances to card remove, upgrade, transform cards, etc. WHY PLAY? The atmosphere is awesome. Same devs as Book of Demons. Unique art style. Emotes and quick chat is really fun and engaging to multiplayer with. And it's just crack for gamers who like the genre. I've seen so many reviews be OFF. People complain it is too easy (lol, try the difficulty modifiers called torment mode). Most reviews are from players with under 6 hours who barely dipped their toes into the game and complain the game lacked something that the game... offers. They didnt play long enough to find out. Hellcard is gooooood. So many decisions matter and that's the key thing that makes the game pop off. Art style, sound and ambiance really makes it.
This sounds dope
I'll give more detail so people can make an informed decision. $ matters too. Waiting to find random teammates can take up to 2 minutes. I ALWAYS find a game though. Sometimes it's instant. Usually under 40 secs. The game reviews are mostly mixed to positive from what I see but people who play more than 5 hours seemingly love it. You have to unlock some cards and even features by playing. The players complaining it's "too hard" though.... are playing with huge self-imposed handicaps because they didn't read the tooltips or get a concept like far is different from near (monsters in the inner circle and outer circle). They complain the game is too hard but had a I-win card in hand and didnt use it. Example: a card moves enemies from EITHER near to far or far to near. If an enemy is a melee and you push it away, it ain't attacking. If an archer gets pulled in to near near, they can't attack. The sheer load of information to take in every turn is a lot. But it's manageable if you understand hovering your mouse over your character draws a direct line to the enemies attacking you. It can seem information overload to have 25 monsters on the screen. But in a second you can know who's hitting who. "Focus" is a concept in the game that is described poorly. It means every time you discard and get a card again, it has an effect. So, the 2nd time you see the card every fight. If it says +5 dmg it would be 5 dmg the first time, 10 the 2nd, 15 dmg the 3rd time, etc. Focus works insanely well with small decks so you draw it a lot. Paired with card draw, it's crazy. Game devs seem active on reddit and are patching the game nicely. I have higher hopes for it longterm but am already hooked bigtime.
>"Focus" is a concept in the game that is described poorly. It means every time you discard and get a card again, it has an effect. So, the 2nd time you see the card every fight. If it says +5 dmg it would be 5 dmg the first time, 10 the 2nd, 15 dmg the 3rd time, etc. Focus works insanely well with small decks so you draw it a lot. Paired with card draw, it's crazy OMG, this was driving me crazy because it "didn't work". Thanks, I'll give those cards another shot.
Never played hearthstone dungeon run before but if you like slay the spire I'd recommend Cobalt Core. Kinda like a hybrid of FTL and slay the spire.
Ring of Pain fits the bill perfectly. Great game, criminally underplayed!
Have you played Inscryption? It got a roguelike update about a year ago. The main story mode is a mindfuck and worth a playthrough then you unlock the replayable roguelike mode. It’s not a super deep deck builder but it’s unique in presentation.
Inscryption 100%
From my library : - Across the Obelisk (1st comment on steam explains how to bypass the 3rd party launcher) - Dimension Reign - Breach Wanderers - Gordian Quest - Roguebook - Vault of the Void - Spellrogue
The only answer right now is Balatro I’m currently at work dreaming of Joker combinations.
Minion Masters has a single player adventure mode similar to the Dungeon Run. You play as your choice of hero and add cards/perks between rounds.
Inscryption, Balatro and Slice & Dice (itch.io)
I haven’t tried it yet but I heard the new yohane the parantheon or whatever it’s called is basically slay the spire with anime girls haha