The beautiful thing about deckbuilding roguelikes is how much variety there is in the genre. Balatro proved that you can even take a classic like poker and turn it into a whole new thing, but sometimes you might want something a little more out there, and Deck of Haunts does just that. Right off the bat it’ll remind you of tabletop games like Mansions of Madness, where you’re trying to navigate a haunted house, except in this time around you are the haunted house. Neat twist! And it just got a beefier demo ahead of Steam Next Fest.
In Deck of Haunts, you become a haunted house with the express goal of trapping humans inside of you as you attempt to “play on their fears, and drain their very essence to expand your dark influence.” There’s two parts to the core loop: a daytime section where you design how your mansion is laid out, and a night-time section, which is where the roguelike deckbuilding elements shine. Here, you can use your cards to summon spirits, move hallways around, or even just bring out an owl to go on a killing spree. In turn, you can steadily unlock more cards and new rooms to use on your next batch of prey.
This new demo has added in a bunch of improvements too, with the building system getting a revamp to discourage clustering small rooms together, and rather than all turning up at once, humans can now arrive in waves, adding some unpredictability to each night. There’s some new card and room types available too, and it’s a bit longer than the previous demo thanks to the addition of two more nights, so if all of this sounds appealing to you, you can check out the demo on Steam right here.
If the demo for Deck of Haunts puts you in the mood for some more scares, then you should definitely check out our list of the best horror games to keep the mood going. Alternatively, if you’re someone that loves games like Balatro, then our best card games guide is the one for you.
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