I’ve been a fan of cyberpunk for as long as I can remember, and despite the fact that we now basically live in the corporation-run, tech-drenched dystopia nigh-on predicted by William Gibson and his contemporary writers, it’s still a genre that I enjoy immersing myself into. So much so that when the opportunity to review the Early Access version of cyberpunk deckbuilder, Into The Grid, arose, I jumped at the chance. Let’s check it out!

What is Into The Grid?

Currently in Early Access on Steam, which means that the version available will be refined and added to until the “full” launch, Into The Grid is a digital, roguelike deckbuilding game. Even if you’re not a fan of the genre, it’s unlikely to have escaped your notice that there have been a lot of roguelike deckbuilding games to have launched in recent years.

Yet there’s also a remarkable level of invention, diversity and innovation in many roguelike deckbuilding games, which can often feature surprising mechanics and playing styles to the basic formula of going out on randomly generated “runs”, upgrading and buying cards for your deck as you progress.

Into The Grid is no exception; it has a strong cyberpunk aesthetic, along with plenty of terminology and elements that’ll be familiar to fans of anti-corporate hacking and shadowy, tech-powered conspiracies.

Combat encounters are handled with you choosing attacks, defense and bonuses from cards in your hand, drawn from a deck that you’ll upgrade between fights. It all sounds like fairly standard stuff, when described, but Into The Grid does have plenty of elements which help it to stand out in the increasingly growing crowd of roguelike deckbuilding games. One of its most satisfying and original elements, for example, is the Virtual Memory (or VIM) system, which builds up special commands as you play cards, ensures that you can make the best of bad hands and functions as a separate resource in its own right.

Is Into The Grid Fun to Play?

Though the lore isn’t integrated yet, there’s a robust framework of systems here already. Isometrically exploring “nodes” in real time as a replacement to the usual “points on a path” you find in many roguelike deckbuilding games feels immediately intuitive, with a helpful tutorial run to guide you through terminology which can feel a little esoteric to those unfamiliar with more than just the neon and chrome of cyberpunk.

Combat sequences feel like turn-based, fully 3D first person fights. The power and buff system, as well as the cards themselves and the typical insight into what your enemy (or enemies) are planning to do next, are integrated thematically, with tons of cyberpunk flair and flavor.

The Early Access version only has two characters to choose from, with more planned as the game is further developed on the road to its full release. As mentioned, despite lacking in a few areas, Into The Grid still feels pretty fully featured, with robust deckbuilding, great enemy design and impactful combat, with the cyberpunk vibe being deeply interwoven with the mechanics. The isometric exploration of nodes and gateways feels very much like cyberpunk/fantasy mashup Shadowrun, and I get the impression from the overall aesthetic choices that the creators of Into The Grid would definitely not mind that comparison at all.

Add in a fantastic soundtrack, and all of the elements are here for a superbly satisfying game of hacking and high tech, jacked-in combat; if this Early Access version is anything to go by, the full release is going to be something very special indeed.

The Card Gamer Verdict

Given that this is an Early Access release, we’ll hold off giving Into The Grid our standard ratings; it still has plenty of time, and room, to be refined. Yet I have absolutely loved diving into the systems of Into The Grid, which mashes up two of my favorite ever interests: cyberpunk and card games. It’s a brilliantly constructed game, with a strong sense of its own identity and, considering it’s made by such a small team, it has an incredibly slick audiovisual style too. Despite its Early Access status, we can highly recommend checking out Into The Grid, and we look forward to seeing it evolve into an even more impressive experience.

You can buy Into The Grid from Steam using the button below:

Check out our other reviews of roguelike deckbuilding games, such as Into the Restless Ruins and Out of Hands.