But if you want to know more about how all this works, well, here are the basics: At the start of each run, you-an anthropomorphic die (don’t ask) with a classic dungeon delving class like warrior, thief, or robot-enter a deadly game show hosted by Lady Luck. The game has an excellent tutorial that introduces its concepts slowly, and its unlockable classes naturally progress in complexity, so if everything I’ve said above sounds good to you, then trust me and dive in. Its playful character designs and head-bopping, earworm-filled music go hand in hand with the game design to help turn the genre into something more approachable. Most importantly, it isn’t just hiding an excess complexity behind a twee aesthetic. It’s bright, it’s colorful, it’s stylish, it’s inviting, and it doesn’t have anything you would point to and describe as a “card.” And yet, Dicey Dungeons is also filled with the satisfying, mechanical interactions that make me love deckbuilders. Finally, designer Terry Cavanaugh ( VVVVVV, Superhexagon), artist Marlowe Dobbe, and composer Chipzel, have given us Dicey Dungeons, a roguelike deckbuilder that looks nothing like the phrase “roguelike deckbuilder.” Take a look for yourself: Well, finally, we have an ally in our struggle to evangelize the good word. Sure, these games might have cool character designs, but if you don’t have a lot of experience managing mana and putting together card combos, I understand why they might be overwhelming. In each of the above games, you have to learn the ins-and-outs of unique combat systems, build a well balanced, Magic the Gathering-like deck of cards every time you play, and then execute on your deck’s (hopefully coherent) strategy. These games are intimidating to newcomers. While the fans of this genre have done our best to sing the praises of these games, the roguelike deckbuilder somehow hasn’t blown up to become the next autochess. As you decide which of those cards to add to your deck, you slowly build out a character in an RPG-like fashion. (If you’re still reading, thank you.) For the uninitiated: These games (like Slay the Spire, Nowhere Prophet, Griftlands, and the influential, but underappreciated Dream Quest) start you out with a very basic deck of Magic the Gathering style cards, toss you headfirst into some sort of unexplored map where you face off against a bunch of enemies (sometimes with their own decks), and reward you with new cards when you win. That’s a problem, because while I love them, I know that seeing the phrase “roguelike deckbuilder” absolutely caused some non-insignificant percentage of readers to close this tab.
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