If you’ve ever stumbled through a spooky survival horror mansion and wished you were the one inflicting the scares, Deck of Haunts is for you. This turn-based strategy game from Mantis casts you not as some hapless everyman, but as a haunted mansion, charged with devouring the souls of anyone who passes through your doors.
If that’s got you twirling an imaginary mustache, you’ll be happy to hear that Deck of Haunts has a demo out right now, and I’ve been absolutely hooked ever since I downloaded it.
You view your rooms from a top-down perspective and, night by night, fools wander in through the door, thinking they have a hope of surviving your haunted halls. But instead of unleashing hordes of horror game zombies upon your visitors, Deck of Haunts allows you to take a more subtle and satisfying approach.
During the day you expand your layout, pondering which rooms are most likely to erode your visitors’ sanity. Build a bell-tower, for example, and you’ll have a spectral witch roaming your corridors. Plus, you can crush people with the bell, which is a neat, bloody bonus.
Then, when night falls, the foolhardy explorers step through your doors and, with the aid of several special cards, you eat away at their sanity and their physical health. Play ‘Shifting Hallways’ and they’ll suddenly find themselves in an entirely different room. Use ‘Phantom Raking’ and a mysterious, invisible hand will claw their flesh.
Your visitors aren’t particularly vocal, so I had to imagine what was going through their ravaged minds. But it’s such a joy to be dishing out jump scares instead of being on the receiving end.
Want to experience Deck of Haunts’ delights yourself? You can download the Steam demo and the full game is set for a Q1 2025 release.
Looking for another way to occupy yourself during the holidays? Take a look at the best indie games and best single player games?
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