Avoiding Slay the Spire Clones
I play a lot of deck builder games, and I’ve also played a ton of Slay the Spire clones. Slay the Spire is certainly a great a game that led to the genre being as popular as it is today. I, however, prefer to play games that put a unique spin on the formula, rather than copy it wholesale. I’ve thrown together a list of 10 deck building games that aren’t Slay the Spire, literally and metaphorically.
You can find a video version of this article on YouTube!
Let’s get started.
Roguebook
At first glance, Roguebook looks a lot like Slay the Spire, but it does some very cool things with the concept. The first is that you pair up two characters out of five and build a deck that consists of cards from them both. This spices up the concept of dealing and blocking damage, as cards also tend to swap the positioning of the characters, and the one in front is usually the one that takes the damage.
What really makes Roguebook unique is the way you explore the maps and find encounters in the first place. You see, winning battles doesn’t actually grant you cards, you earn ink instead. You use ink to make paths along the pages of a book that can lead you to rewards such as cards, combat encounters and random events. It works really well and makes the game really engaging between battles.
You also have a lot of ways to customize individual cards in Roguebook, and each character has a skill tree that serves as a form of meta progression. While I don’t feel like the characters have the same degree of personality compared to the ones in Slay the Spire, I do enjoy attempting to master its unique systems.
You can find my review of Roguebook here!
Tainted Grail Conquest
Tainted Grail Conquest is a grimy and dark deck builder based on the legend of King Arthur. Its card play is similar to Slay the Spire, in concept, but the mechanics of how each of the 9 classes play varies wildly. For example, each class has an ultimate ability that charges up in a different way. It’s a very strategic game, and one that offers an absolute ton of variety when it comes to characters and builds.
The meta progression has an evolving story similar to Hades, you build up a town of reoccurring characters you speak to after each success or failure. Building up the town and trying to decide what to focus on during a run for the town makes for an interesting decision space.
Like Roguebook, you roam around the world openly, deciding where to go and what to interact with. You use Wyrdstones to stave off the fog and have to manage your consumption of them carefully. There is lot of decision making about how far to push your luck in the fog for more rewards, versus playing it safe. The blood-soaked aesthetic and gross creatures made me a little uncomfortable, but Tainted Grail Conquest is to this day one of my favorite deck building games.
You can find my review of Tainted Grail Conquest here!
Deep Sky Derelicts
Deep Sky Derelicts is a deck building game that splices in a tiny bit of X-COM and Darkest Dungeon. You choose three characters that are split between various classes, each of which comes with their own cards. I really liked the concept of having characters that I could name and customize in a deck builder, especially since they can die. It adds a level of tension most deck-building games don’t have.
In addition to the combat, the exploration is also turn based as you travel around a very thematic radar style grid while managing your energy reserves. You have to choose between rushing around quickly to conserve energy and risking an ambush or take your time sneaking around at the cost of more energy.
Deep Sky Derelicts is an excellent take on the genre. It’s been a few years since I’ve played, and the only thing holding back was a number of annoying bugs. Hopefully they have been patched by now, because genre blend worked really well for it.
You can find my review of Deep Sky Derelicts here!
Circadian Dice
Circadian Dice is one of those games that really shows me how much luck plays a part in how successful a game is. Take Balatro for instance, Balatro is excellent, and it made serious waves for becoming popular enough to be a game of the year nominee. The thing is, I’ve been playing Balatro quality games for years, it’s just that no one knows about them. Circadian Dice is one such game.
In Circadian Dice, you deck build the faces of several 6 sided dice that you use in battle. These faces can do simple things like dealing or blocking damage, granting coins or power up special attacks and spells. There are several classes, all of which have their own quirks and ways they interact with the dice.
It’s simple in concept, but absolutely full of depth. You choose when to keep your rolls or re-roll of them, and every single decision you make matters. I like to say that Circadian Dice isn’t about luck mitigation, it’s about luck mastery. It’s a dice game where I’ve never felt like I failed because of luck, I failed because of the decisions I made.
You can find my review of Circadian Dice here!
Madcap Mosaic
Madcap Mosaic is one of the most unique deck builders I’ve ever played. Your deck is a Mosaic of tiles that you move around on to battle. However, the tiles start hidden and the entire Mosaics layout is randomized. You reveal nearby tiles and then choose how to path yourself through them, activating the ones you step on. Various tiles allow you to deal damage, defend against attacks and a wide variety of other effects.
Building out your deck of tiles is likewise unique. You are given a randomized lattice that you must travel around, unlocking new tiles space by space in order to travel to, and unlock other ones. It very much rewards long term planning, while the fights themselves require moment to moment adaption.
Madcap Mosaic is another game that I feel gets overlooked due to its simplistic graphics. It’s a shame, because it’s an Incredibly unique, deep and strategic deck builder. Using a Mosaic is such a strange idea, but it works exceptionally well. It’s the type of innovation you only seen in Indie games and I wish more people got to experience it.
You can find my review of Madcap Mosaic here!
Fights in Tight Spaces
Fights in Tight Spaces is a game that manages to take those cool John Wick style action scenes and make them into a turn-based game while still looking awesome. You build out a deck of attacks, defenses and maneuvers, and use them to win close quarters fights. Unlike a lot of deck building games, positioning is a core mechanic here, where you are, where you are going, and where your enemy is all matter.
You could for example, step out of the way of a gunshot so it hits an enemy behind you. Kick another guy into a wall and the block an attack coming from a third enemy. Each battle is a tactical dance, an ever-changing puzzle of feet and fists, and it works incredibly well.
I reviewed Fights in Tight Spaces back when it was in early access, and one of my main takeaways is that it didn’t feel like an early access game. It has since had its full release and is an even better game with more content. It also has a sequel called Knights in Tight Spaces, and I look forward to playing it as soon as I can.
You can find my old early access review of Fights in Tight Spaces here!
Ratropolis
Ratropolis is a crazy real time deck builder where you are building and defending a settlement from waves of enemies. It is a game that will turn your entire way of thinking about the genre upside down, and in a good way. Playing cards in real time to battle monsters while also managing your economy and suite of abilities is hectic, but no less strategic than any other deck builder.
You have to carefully craft your deck and play your cards at the right times. Furthermore, there are 6 leaders that drastically alter how you interact with the game. I remember being staggered at just how varied the game was despite the fact that it was played in real time.
There is a lot to unlock and master in Ratropolis, and the real time element seems like it shouldn’t work on paper, but it absolutely does. Ratropolis serves as a great example of what can be done with the deck building concept. It’s clever, novel and most importantly a very fun spin on deck builders.
You can find my review of Ratropolis here
Monster Train 2
Monster Train 2 is a mini tower defense deck builder where you plop down monsters to stand in the way of enemies while casting spells. As a whole, Monster Train feels like more of an evolution of Slay the Spires formula, rather than a spin off. Many of the same concepts are present, but iterated on in new ways
A big thing with Monster Train is how you merge multiple play styles together. There are 10 factions, and you choose 2 of them to splice together each run, and it makes for an absurd number of potential card combos. It’s also a game where you find what feels like game breaking combos almost every run, and the game keeps pace with those combos to show you they aren’t game breaking at all.
Monster Train 2 is a game packed full of variety and is polished to a mirror sheen. It’s an improvement over the first game almost entirely, largely in part because it took the most meaningful content from the first game and included it in the second, the factions themselves.
You can find my review of Monster Train 2 here!
Dungeon Clawler
Dungeon Clawler is still in early access but for the most part it feels like a complete game to me. In Dungeon Clawler, your deck building fills up a claw machine with items such as swords, shields and potions. In battle, you use a claw to try and scoop up a number of those items, which are then used on your turn.
It’s an incredibly cool idea and adds an element I haven’t seen in another deck builder, physics! The physics of the objects and how you grab them with the claw matters. Fill your machine with water, and lighter items float to the surface. Another example is how an item called Sticky Honey causes multiple items to stick together so you can grab a bundle of them at once.
I already feel like Dungeon Clawler is worth the money in early access. However, it receives very frequent updates and I’m looking forward to seeing how it evolves over time. I’m a sucker for claw machines and Dungeon Clawler really grabbed me.
I’ll be sure to publish a review of Dungeon Clawler when it makes it’s 1.0 release!
Mahokenshi
Mahokenshi combines deck building with a hex based board game. The two elements are intertwined together at its core, and it makes Mahokenshi extremely unique. You use cards to actually move around the board in addition to fighting enemies, who also move across the board according to their own mechanics.
The terrain on the board matters, and each mission has a variety of modifiers that affect the whole run with missions and points of interest. There are four characters with distinct play styles and you build your deck as you play each mission. You never have the time to do everything, so you have to make tough decisions about what to prioritize each time.
The only bad thing I can say about the game is that I want more of it. Unlike most deck builders, Mahokenshi is not a procedural rogue-lite. It has a number of scripted missions, which means it has less replay value than other games in the genre. However, that hand sculpted nature does give it a unique quality, and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring every inch of it.
You can find my review of Mahokenshi here!
Ending Note
There has certainly been a flood of deck builders in recent years, but among them there are many unique gems that really push the envelope on what a deck building game can be. This list consisted of 10 that I’ve found and really enjoyed, but I’m sure there are many more out there just waiting to be found. I hope you found a new game to enjoy among this list. Bringing together people with games they might like is a big motivator for me to make this type of content in the first place.
Until next time, happy gaming!
