In Deck of Haunts, the new roguelike deckbuilder by Mantis Games and published by DANGEN Entertainment, you play as a cursed mansion, fighting back against humans in the war on haunted houses. Think of a spooky The Sims expansion crossed with your favorite card game of choice.
With a top-down view which provides an overview of every single room, you have pure and utter control over the fate of all the intruders who want to know what goes bump in the night.
Deck of Haunts‘ Day and Night Cycles
By day, you take on a The Sims-like interface of adding and moving rooms. You can add unassuming kitchens and eerie living rooms, but you can also install a Weapon Room which doubles damage, or a Sacrificial Altar where you can sacrifice a card to ensure additional draws for the following turns. Best of all, you can establish a Bell Tower to summon a spectral witch to curse trespassers – or crush them with the bell itself.
When the night falls, intruders finally wander into your rather welcoming home, with the possibility of discovering the sinister mass that keeps you alive – a living, beating heart. Once they stumble upon the heart, you take damage and lose when you run out of life. To win, you must survive ten nights of disturbances.
Eliminating Humans in Deck of Haunts
You combat them via a hand of cards which can physically hurt people via Damage, or torment them mentally through Drain until they spiral into insanity. You can also cast status conditions like Tension on specific humans or on rooms themselves – or even set traps for unsuspecting wanderers which trigger when they step into the room.
After you deplete the life or sanity of a unit, you harvest their essence, usable on the succeeding day to buy room upgrades, or pay for upkeep to keep your mansion alive.
Humans Fight Back!
Being the foremost enemy, humans may possess various traits which can aid or hamper them in their nighttime journey. Bleeder, for instance, ticks damage every turn after being damaged. Soothing, however, decreases the tension on other humans in the same room.
Pathfinders are extremely dangerous; they enter through side entrances and have a shorter route to the heart. But the most annoying ones are Stone Masons, magic users who will beeline straight to the heart. Make sure you can dispose of them immediately!
Deck of Haunts Tips and Tricks
The demo still has limited mechanics, but I’ve found the following approaches let me enjoy the game so much more.
Build Horizontally
Since Pathfinders enter the side entrances, building rooms sideways means they have a longer path before they encounter the heart. Regular humans can also wander into a labyrinth of rooms, getting lost and buying us time to dispose of more urgent threats.
Damage is Key
While the Drain mechanic is strong, it’s much harder to pull off. Humans usually have more sanity than health, so even just straight up damaging high-value targets keeps the heart undisturbed.
Mislead Your Visitors
Cards such as Shifting Hallways teleports any human to any random room. When they’re near or next to the heart, you have nothing to lose by sending them elsewhere to stall them out.
Special Rooms Delay Intruders
By establishing special rooms such as the Weapon Room, any visitor who stumbles upon this will stay for a turn to investigate. This delays them for one more turn.
Plan Out Your Turns
Like any other card game, planning is still key. Hovering over each unit lets you see their planned path for next turn. If they aren’t hovering close to the heart, you can dispose of others who may threaten your life first.
The Card Gamer Verdict on Deck of Haunts
With a unique proposition of playing as the villain, Deck of Haunts carves a niche in the roguelike deckbuilding scene like no other. Coupled with foreboding visuals and a disturbing soundtrack, it just needs optimizations to further flesh out the game. But the soul (or shall we say essence) of the game is already there.
The Deck of Haunts demo is available on Steam.
Looking for more digital deckbuilding content? Check out our article on the recent, and controversial, beta release of The Bazaar.
