Amazing concept with a fantastic visual style, Deck of Haunts' only flaw currently is that there's simply not enough of it. Once you identify the handful of strategies that work nicely, there's not a ton of variety to be found in its builds and decks. Similarly, the UI is straight up adversarial, and I've failed turns and lost runs to the absurd layout of information that should be large, obvious, and extremely straightforward to interpret, instead of hidden away in corners and edges as it stands.

Much like a skeleton jumpscare, it's got great bones. Everything is made with a ton of love and has obscene potential if there's just a few more additions to its various tools. I'd love to see the devs go back to the drawing board and work out what major and obvious archtypes of deck, as well as houses, they'd like to see you capable of. As it stands, the library for both is so slim that it's hard to really theorise on any new strategies beyond raw output.

Similarly, there's this great, flexible building system to put down elaborate labyrinths and weird little corridors and hallways but- again- as it stands, there's really no reason to do anything beyond essentially pixel art with your rooms, peppering them here and there without hesitance and without thought. Until you notice this critical flaw, the game really is quite enjoyable.

So, why would I recommend it? Because it's fun! And I'm enjoying it! And I really do want to see all of the excellently conceptualised ideas in this game flourish with a few additions and a little bit of added depth.

I'll be coming back to this review in some time to see how much of this stuff has been followed up on. As it stands, I'm hopeful, and if Deck of Haunts ends up being a beautiful (albeit unrewarding) handful-of-hours game rather than the next Slay the Spire, I'll edit to reflect that.

Amazing concept with a fantastic visual style, Deck of Haunts' only flaw currently is that there's simply not enough of it. Once you identify the handful of strategies that work nicely, there's not a ton of variety to be found in its builds and decks. Similarly, the UI is straight up adversarial, and I've failed turns and lost runs to the absurd layout of information that should be large, obvious, and extremely straightforward to interpret, instead of hidden away in corners and edges as it stands. Much like a skeleton jumpscare, it's got great bones. Everything is made with a ton of love and has obscene potential if there's just a few more additions to its various tools. I'd love to see the devs go back to the drawing board and work out what major and obvious archtypes of deck, as well as houses, they'd like to see you capable of. As it stands, the library for both is so slim that it's hard to really theorise on any new strategies beyond raw output. Similarly, there's this great, flexible building system to put down elaborate labyrinths and weird little corridors and hallways but- again- as it stands, there's really no reason to do anything beyond essentially pixel art with your rooms, peppering them here and there without hesitance and without thought. Until you notice this critical flaw, the game really is quite enjoyable. So, why would I recommend it? Because it's fun! And I'm enjoying it! And I really do want to see all of the excellently conceptualised ideas in this game flourish with a few additions and a little bit of added depth. I'll be coming back to this review in some time to see how much of this stuff has been followed up on. As it stands, I'm hopeful, and if Deck of Haunts ends up being a beautiful (albeit unrewarding) handful-of-hours game rather than the next Slay the Spire, I'll edit to reflect that.