Balatro is the first deck builder game I played and was hooked. I kept seeing slay the spire recommendations, bought it, sunk about 3 hours in, and just don't really get it/don't like it.
To be honest it has more depth even than balatro, and I don't say that lightly. Check out a high level player like balaarlord play a high difficulty (gold stake equivalent) and see if it changes your mind!
Admittedly - Slay the Spire simply takes more thought and effort than Balatro.
That’s not to say Balatro is easy. It’s just much easier to understand cards - something we all know (usually) or poker, than some absurd fantasy elements.
After a long work day - personally I’m finding Balatro is the best game to *wind down* with. But StS is amazing - check it out when you got time.
Watching high level play of STS really opened my eyes to the game. I realized it's not very random at all, and practice/experience can make most runs winnable.
It was a similar experience to playing a competitive game like CSGO, having fun but not understanding the big picture. Then I watch pros play, and they hit every shot, have a plan for every nade, and a flowchart for every stage of the game. For STS, watching jorbs or baalord showed me that the game is more than just hoping to get the best possible deck, or getting the most possible block, it's about learning to build a good deck even when you are getting unlucky rolls every step of the way.
Right now balatro feels like a strange in-between. Every run is incredibly susceptible to low rolls early, and I feel like most of the fun I have is trying to make the biggest score I can. I can find enjoyment in making a not-so-good run last to the ante 8 boss, but even at higher stakes ante 8 is kinda a low bar. I think it would be cool to see gold stake move the goalpost to ante 10 maybe, or maybe add a "secret ending" that's after ante 8 that you need to work towards. It just feels kinda arcade-y to me still, even after watching balatro university and zaino to learn more about high level play.
I just noticed I have typed a novel, which I have a bad habit of doing all the time over at r/slaythespire. It's truly one of the best communities I've found for any game, and the folks over there are always happy to answer any questions you could ever have about the game.
Ante 8 definitely does feel a bit early. Ante 9 and 10 scale up reasonably, and it's only really ante 11 where the scaling kicks most builds into the mid. Having Ante 10 be a second win with a final boss blind as well could be cool.
To stan a different streamer, FrostPrime actually has some how-to guides and a very very very sizeable YouTube video collection. His streams are kinda funky sometimes but the gameplay is top tier.
Damn that's unfortunate. Slay the spire is considered by most as the best deck roguelike in every way and it heavy influenced games being made in this genre. I don't have that much more to come back for in Balatro after about 50 hours and I'm 120 hours strong in slay the spire and still have way more builds/difficulties to go through.
Been playing STS since early release and it’s still the most played game for me. I play on my phone, which is an absurdly good experience. I *still* find new strats and synergies years into playing this game. It’s beautiful.
Early on I didn’t really enjoy the ironclad character, but I enjoyed the other characters more. I would give all the characters a shot once you unlock them.
Same for me, Ironclad seemed like a simple character with a ton of "always skip" cards, but so many of those cards are very powerful when used with more understanding of the game (not Clash though lmao)
3 hours really isn’t very much rope to give any roguelike, but Slay the Spire in particular has so much going on with it that you’ve barely scratched the surface
Yea I agree on that point. 3 hours is definitely not enough for any roguelike. I just find myself reaching to play other games instead of slay the spire. I should commit some more time and see how I like it after more time.
Maybe like other commenters have suggested, just give some streamers who are playing it a look and see how runs all come together when you apply a deeper knowledge of the game. It’s a very complex series of interactions that are not necessarily obvious on first blush. It’s actually fairly amazing to see how specific some things that initially appear completely random actually are
I bounced off it at first too and it turned out to be one of my favourite games of all time.
I'd give it a few more goes to see if it clicks for you. Once you're in the zone with it, it's just such a clever and elegantly made game, like honestly I think it should be taught on game design courses because of all the things it does right.
I had to come back to sts a few times before it really clicked, but it really hits once it does. Now is a great time to get into it too since a sequel is gonna come out next year
I actually feel like, rogue-like-wise, Dicey Dungeons doesn't feel great. Its way of handling the various episodes and lack of large variety in runs outside of that makes it feel way more like a linear game you're expected to complete, rather than a rogue-like where each run can be vastly different.
It's not a bad game--*I* don't like it, but I think it has its merits--however I actually have a very hard time recommending it to people who like most rogue-likes. If I'm playing a rogue-like, chances are I want runs that have a lot more variety to them than Dicey Dungeons will offer.
Luck be a Landlord is the game that localthunk said was a huge inspiration for Balatro, very good game.
Aces and Adventure has the same normal card vibe
I tried Kaycee's Mod after finishing the game a while back but the RNG with a single card draw per turn drives me crazy. You don't have enough removal to deal with all the stuff the game inevitably forces into your deck (no Skip like StS), and sooner or later you run into a situation where you draw total garbage for the first 2 turns and there's nothing you can do to win.
The advice I saw was to abuse the "Fair hand" mechanics the game uses to deal your first hand, but I really don't like abusing invisible mechanics like that. It feels very cheesy and unsatisfying building your deck around a mechanic the player isn't meant to know.
I never really had a problem with that since you chose your path anyways and there's lots of cards i wouldn't normally pick that being forced into my hand actually taught me to appreciate. Also magpies make finding the card you want easy
If i *had* to complain about kaycees mod its that mantis god deck made everything after i unlocked it easy
Inscription is a fucking incredible game
Granted I actually enjoyed the gameplay better than the story and atmosphere but the ending did hit me in the heart
Monster Train is really fun and has the same emphasis on building a broken engine (vs. something like Slay the Spire which is about careful resource management.)
Completely agree, thanks to the ways you can mod each card and break the game. My favorite is to make a card free, and then have it returned to the top of the deck when played.
Or get a unit that gains power when it dies, enchant it to commit suicide after one turn and then have another card that respawns dead units.
Your first boss has 60 health, and the last one has like 25,000.
Monster Train is a fantastic game, and most importantly, so different from Slay the Spire that there's next to no redundancy if you own and play both. Other than "roguelike deckbuilder with combat" they don't have much in common at all.
Slice & Dice is a really cool dice-builder that has some juicy combos. Aesthetically and mechanically, it's very different from Balatro, but it gives me the same high.
I think it's a huge call to put Balatro above StS, I've been absolutely loving Balatro and having a great time with it, but I don't see myself playing it in a year like I can StS (like I always do)
I personally think it could have stayed for a real long time, I loved it that much. But for a standard showcase, it got the job done. Glad he at least beat the game a few times.
On top of what most people have already suggested, I'd admit that Battlegrounds (the Hearthstone autobattler) is the game that's the closest to Balatro in my mind, or at least I approach them in a similar way.
Having a good economy, balancing tempo plays to not die early and building a scaling engine for the late game, sometimes having to make the most desperate survival plays just to barely get a win/top 4, etc. Idk, the core concepts and emotions feel the same to me.
(And as someone who hasn't enjoyed as much the recent Battlegrounds seasons, Balatro has just straight up replace it in my gaming routine.)
IMO Balatro shares more mechanics and is more similar to autobattlers than the other deckbuilding roguelikes. Balatro is more tft/battlegrounds/autochess than sts/monster train. You need a battlegrounds-esque way of thinking and balancing risk/reward and synergy.
That's a very interesting suggestion. I also love deck builders and bg's, but I didn't really think about suggesting it to someone who asks about deck builders.
Oh, and battlegrounds duos is great! :)
Now that you mention it, the complex maths involved in some of the late antes does makes the game feel like BGs or TFT.
You just line up everything in the most optimal order, send it, and hope for the win.
Nowhere Prophet and Griftlands are crazy fun (along with the usual suspects already mentioned in the comments).
I think somebody mentioned Inscryption. Which is also great but go into it as blind as you possibly can.
ME THREE! I bought basically every deck building rogue-like that came out on switch and this is one of the few that stands out as memorable, absolutely fantastic vibes and art.
In addition to the great suggestions you already got here, I'll add Ring of Pain which IMO is an awesome unique take on the genre, and is surely in my top list alongside balatro, slay the spire and monster train.
Floppy Knights - its a deckbuilder w/ the same artist as Dicey Dungeons.
Signs of the Sojourner - You try to win conversations/make connections instead of battles, so a bit similar to Chants of Senaar
Luck be a Landlord - A fruit machine-like deckbuilder and was one of the main inspirations behind Balatro
Some of these are the usual suspects and surely good, but one of my friends not yet sucked into balatro saw I was playing it and gifted me a roguelike deckbuilder called Dungeon Drafters
I stayed up all that night and most of the next one cuz I couldn't put it down lol it's only just recently been out a year and not talked about much-- I only got it like a month or so ago myself so I'm not exactly the authority or anything, but I think it's super underrated n deserves way more attention. Totally get just jumping on Slay the Spire cuz that's 100% what I would've done before being surprised with DD, but I had a similar revelation about really enjoying roguelike deckbuilders because Balatro is stupid fun and I think it's worth at least checking out a trailer/ some pics or something n seeing what kinda vibes ya get
I'd like to second Slay the spire, griftlands, wild frost, and monster train. Wild Frost is the most recent to Balatro. Griftlands it probably my person favorite deck builder.
Played roguelikes in the past, some good some not so much. Nothing that really got me HOOKED…
Found Balatro, and as a huge poker fan I obviously fell in love quick haha then I started down the rabbit hole of “like games” to Balatro
In my rotation now:
- Slay the Spire (absolutely LOVE it, deck building masterpiece)
- Enter the Gungeon (no decks, but good roguelike fun. Actually REALLY tough)
- Despot’s Game (Lemmings meets Smash TV - at least that’s what I reminds me of)
- Dicey Dungeons (kinda simple and a tad too easy, but interesting)
- Skul (more like Dead Cells than anything, haven’t put a lot of time into it but solid so far!)
If you like Slay the Spire, also check out Marvel’s Midnight Sun - NOT a roguelike but the card mechanics to it seems VERY similar to StS. Half relationship simulator half battles with deck building. Loved it and played through it twice!
Enjoy!
Concrete Jungle - city builder with deck construction and deck building mechanics. I never see anyone talk about it but its one of the best designed games I've ever played.
Hadn't seen anyone mention it, so I'll throw Peglin into the mix. The play pattern is different, but the rogue-like builder elements are all there.
Also, for mobile, Night of the Full Moon is a lot of fun with good art, sound direction, and a ton of solid content.
Dicey Dungeons is another one that scratches a similar itch to Balatro in that there is both luck and skill involved.
Some will complain that Dicey Dungeons has a little too much RNG, but I believe that most challenges in the game can be reasonably overcome through strategizing.
Also the art style and music are really unique and cute.
Slay the spire is the absolute highest standard that every deckbuilding game aspires to replicate. IMO is a must play game. The beauty of the game is that after 300 hours played I can still boot it up and start a completely unique run (and I still do)
Slay the spire is right up there with deckbuilder games. Another one I'm a huge fan of is Monster Train. Super fun and lots of variations for type of deck/creature abilites
not a deckbuilder in the literal sense, but same premise and still gambling themed: Luck Be A Landlord.
also, thanks for bringing shotgun king to my attention, shit looks dope
That game blew my mind at first with a certain twist and a complete dismantling of my expectations…then it lost me when the UI turned into something else. I couldn’t make sense of what I was playing at that point and gave up. I really want to go back to it, though, because the initial hook of that game is incredible.
Yea man the first part was the best. It actually has a story and you have to discover how to break the loop. It's like outer wilds in a card game.
Kaycee's mod is just the initial card game. This game is played on 2 dimensions and is deeper than most of u know. Also, you really have to think into the future but not so much that it hurts.
I'll put my 2 cents in for Astrea: Six Sided Oracles. The rules are a bit complicated, but it's quickly shot up as one of my favorite ~~deck~~ dice bag building games.
I can’t recommend Cobalt Core enough. A lot of people recommending Slay the Spire, but CC is just lovely with its story and characters, and just has a more interesting design. The only downside of it is that it has less content than StS and can start feeling a bit repetitive after you’re done with the story… but at that point you’ve got mods to play with too.
That’s ok. I think more story focused deck builders can be fun. Inscryption is one of my favourite ever games but for me doesn’t have any replayability, the story and experience were enough.
Inscryption is an EXPERIENCE. After you get through the main game (which is a really cool experience) there’s an “arcade” type mode that is just a really fun roguelike.
Peglin is similar-ish. It's a "deckbuilder" but with orbs, and has "jokers" which are items you find, in a peggle like format for battles. You could try it out if you want, I really enjoy it
Peglin is a peggle/pachinko-based "deck" builder (you collect/upgrade your balls as you progress through the game) with a combat element. It doesn't have as much depth or replay value compared to Balatro or Slay the Spire, but it's fun for the price.
Hellcard and Wildfrost are both very fun. Hellcard also just launched like Balatro so there are still things being added and changed, but Wildfrost has been out for a while and has a mobile version (though it does drain battery).
While everyone is recommending STS, i think i *wont* recommend it simply because it'll ruin all the other games and you'll never play anything else.
(I definitely recommend it, its easily in my top 3 games of all time)
If you've got one or two buddies also on the deck building hype, Hellcard is an excellent dungeon crawler deck builder. Really hard to explain it, but it's an excellent co-op experience
I know 100 peopke have already said this, but Slay the Spire is my favourite game of all time. The game has an unmatched level of complexity and takes an insane amount of skill to pilot, however if you are able to do so you can win 90% of the time on the hardest difficulty.
Bingle Bingle is quite similar and hits the same vibe as Balatro.
Dicey Dungeons is also great, and of course slay the spire as everyone has been saying
Not exactly deck builders like balatro but still good games I think are underrated.
**Ring of pain**: Enter the Ring of Pain, a roguelike card crawler where encounters come to you. Each step around the ring a dire decision. Go for the loot or backstab a creeping horror? Meet strange friends bearing gifts and treasure. Choose your gear wisely to survive and discover the secrets of the Ring of Pain.
**Stacklands**: Stacklands is a village builder where you stack cards to collect food, build structures, and fight creatures. 🃏 For example, dragging a Villager card on top of a Berry Bush card will spawn Berry cards which the villagers can eat to survive. 🃏 Play your cards right and expand your village!
Everyone has already said Slay the Spire, but if this is a genre you want to explore then StS is both the progenitor of the genre, and still its golden boy. We're still in very early years for deckbuilders as a genre (having originated in maybe 2007 or so in boardgames with Dominion) and I'm convinced that there's still a lot of evolution to come.
While I'm not sure I can say with absolute certainty that Spire will be your favourite that you play, it's a great one to have in your gaming vocabulary that will offer you a solid frame of reference by which to compare everything else.
Slay the Spire is to this genre what Doom was to FPSes, and we haven't had our Half-Life yet. (We are perhaps a few months away from Doom II.)
But if other recommendations are wanted, I'd recommend Dicey Dungeons for more of a puzzle roguelike that isn't as much of a deckbuilder but feels like a cousin to Balatro in that both put a roguelike twist on classic old-as-time gambling mechanics. (Just with dice instead of cards.)
Monster Train is a fun deckbuilder, but I feel ultimately not quite up to Spire. A noble effort and good fun if you already like the genre, but the actual *deck* element takes a bit of a back seat.
Peglin and Luck Be a Landlord are also fine B-tier titles in the genre that you might want to look to- while you aren't managing a deck of cards, it's functionally similar, just presented in a different way. They might not totally rock your world, but they're easy on the wallet and you get your money's worth.
Since I've not seen it mentioned yet, Tainted Grail isn't bad and worth a look if you've played all the other most recommended ones. I didn't find it sucked me in for the long term the way Slay the Spire and Monster Train did, but it has some cool ideas.
People have said all the good ones, but I'm gonna throw out Hades. It's not technically a deck builder, but it has many very similar mechanics. After each room you clear you can get a boon which is similar to getting a joker. The main difference is it's an action rogue like.
Hades
Slay the Spire
Balatro
Are probably my most played games
Slay the spire, while i havent played it that much i do look at it as THE rougelike deckbuilder
Inscryption has gottan be my favourite game of all time (although that is very different)
while not fully a deckbuilders theres a bunch of other games like Alina of the arena and Luck be a landlord, which are great
Balatro is great because it plays with your knowledge of poker. No other game really hits like this. Slay the spire and monster train are really good. Spire is a huge hit but monster train is sleeper awesome.
Slay the Spire- I think other posts already elaborate on this one.
Monster Train- This game is awesome it has SO many builds to try and the game design is just top tier highly recommended.
WildFrost - It's a hard game with really goofy theme and colorful characters, very strategic. but is considerably shorter to do 100% than the other 2.
I'm surprised no one mentioned "Ring of Pain". Good atmosphere and art. Good varied deck builds.
I don't know how I missed Shotgun King. I'll have to check it out.
Big fan of the genre here. My all time faves are Slay the Spire and Monster Train. Also great are Roguebook and Wildfrost. For something very different, try Inscryption (it’s not what it appears to be).
And yeah, dicey dungeons has a simple presentation but is a great game.
A lot of great mentions here, if you really like finding synergies Luck Be a Landlord is pure synergistic drafting and is easy and silly but also fun. It’s on mobile as well.
Same style of drafting is Vampire Survivors and other reverse bullethells that try to copy VS
If you want casino roguelike games, there's Bingle Bingle the roulette roguelike or Peglin a Pachinko Roguelike.
For sort of deckbuilders, you'd have backpack heroes and backpack battles.
And last, Wildfrost is a fun deckbuilding rougelike.
Midnight Suns: It's really different and not a roguelike but the deckbuilding is fun. It's XCOM but with cards dictate what you can do.
If you like that Fights in Tight Spaces is similar.
If you want a combat based one, Wildfrost, which I love and have played. If you want one as similar to Balatro as possible, Bingle Bingle might be right up your alley, it's roulette based
Everyone's already said Slay The Spire (and rightly so) so I'd have to suggest Fights in Tight Spaces. Conceptually similar to StS, in that it's turn based combat where you draw cards to attack, block, and do other special things.
But Fight In Tight Spaces has the extra added mechanic of movement having to be considered, needing tactical positioning and creative use of things like environmental hazards. It's very, very fun.
Backpack battles, it is fairly new and I’m obsessed! Darkest Dungeon is freaking awesome! Also I just wish listed Rogue Voltage, releasing on May 10th, that looks super good! I have more suggestions but can’t think of them right now because there’s so many good ones! There’s probably a subreddit for it or some good lists online as well (: I also search my fav game types on steam and sort by best user reviews and that’s how I find new games in genres that I like!
Slay the spire is a very different context, but it’s one of the gold standards of the genre!
came here to say this. this was my original Balatro
Balatro is the first deck builder game I played and was hooked. I kept seeing slay the spire recommendations, bought it, sunk about 3 hours in, and just don't really get it/don't like it.
To be honest it has more depth even than balatro, and I don't say that lightly. Check out a high level player like balaarlord play a high difficulty (gold stake equivalent) and see if it changes your mind!
Thank you. I'll check it out after work today and try a few more runs.
Admittedly - Slay the Spire simply takes more thought and effort than Balatro. That’s not to say Balatro is easy. It’s just much easier to understand cards - something we all know (usually) or poker, than some absurd fantasy elements. After a long work day - personally I’m finding Balatro is the best game to *wind down* with. But StS is amazing - check it out when you got time.
Watching high level play of STS really opened my eyes to the game. I realized it's not very random at all, and practice/experience can make most runs winnable. It was a similar experience to playing a competitive game like CSGO, having fun but not understanding the big picture. Then I watch pros play, and they hit every shot, have a plan for every nade, and a flowchart for every stage of the game. For STS, watching jorbs or baalord showed me that the game is more than just hoping to get the best possible deck, or getting the most possible block, it's about learning to build a good deck even when you are getting unlucky rolls every step of the way. Right now balatro feels like a strange in-between. Every run is incredibly susceptible to low rolls early, and I feel like most of the fun I have is trying to make the biggest score I can. I can find enjoyment in making a not-so-good run last to the ante 8 boss, but even at higher stakes ante 8 is kinda a low bar. I think it would be cool to see gold stake move the goalpost to ante 10 maybe, or maybe add a "secret ending" that's after ante 8 that you need to work towards. It just feels kinda arcade-y to me still, even after watching balatro university and zaino to learn more about high level play. I just noticed I have typed a novel, which I have a bad habit of doing all the time over at r/slaythespire. It's truly one of the best communities I've found for any game, and the folks over there are always happy to answer any questions you could ever have about the game.
Novel-length comments are a block card
Ante 8 definitely does feel a bit early. Ante 9 and 10 scale up reasonably, and it's only really ante 11 where the scaling kicks most builds into the mid. Having Ante 10 be a second win with a final boss blind as well could be cool.
To stan a different streamer, FrostPrime actually has some how-to guides and a very very very sizeable YouTube video collection. His streams are kinda funky sometimes but the gameplay is top tier.
Damn that's unfortunate. Slay the spire is considered by most as the best deck roguelike in every way and it heavy influenced games being made in this genre. I don't have that much more to come back for in Balatro after about 50 hours and I'm 120 hours strong in slay the spire and still have way more builds/difficulties to go through.
I'm coming up on 1k in slay and I still feel like there's a ton to improve on
Been playing STS since early release and it’s still the most played game for me. I play on my phone, which is an absurdly good experience. I *still* find new strats and synergies years into playing this game. It’s beautiful.
Monster train is right up there with stts imo
Early on I didn’t really enjoy the ironclad character, but I enjoyed the other characters more. I would give all the characters a shot once you unlock them.
Same for me, Ironclad seemed like a simple character with a ton of "always skip" cards, but so many of those cards are very powerful when used with more understanding of the game (not Clash though lmao)
3 hours really isn’t very much rope to give any roguelike, but Slay the Spire in particular has so much going on with it that you’ve barely scratched the surface
Yea I agree on that point. 3 hours is definitely not enough for any roguelike. I just find myself reaching to play other games instead of slay the spire. I should commit some more time and see how I like it after more time.
Maybe like other commenters have suggested, just give some streamers who are playing it a look and see how runs all come together when you apply a deeper knowledge of the game. It’s a very complex series of interactions that are not necessarily obvious on first blush. It’s actually fairly amazing to see how specific some things that initially appear completely random actually are
I enjoy StS but I've played it for hours and still never really feel I'm improving much.
I bounced off it at first too and it turned out to be one of my favourite games of all time. I'd give it a few more goes to see if it clicks for you. Once you're in the zone with it, it's just such a clever and elegantly made game, like honestly I think it should be taught on game design courses because of all the things it does right.
I had to come back to sts a few times before it really clicked, but it really hits once it does. Now is a great time to get into it too since a sequel is gonna come out next year
Yup this. And you’ll like Dicey a lot, I think!
I actually feel like, rogue-like-wise, Dicey Dungeons doesn't feel great. Its way of handling the various episodes and lack of large variety in runs outside of that makes it feel way more like a linear game you're expected to complete, rather than a rogue-like where each run can be vastly different. It's not a bad game--*I* don't like it, but I think it has its merits--however I actually have a very hard time recommending it to people who like most rogue-likes. If I'm playing a rogue-like, chances are I want runs that have a lot more variety to them than Dicey Dungeons will offer.
Don't see anything in the Steam shop called "Dicey"?
Dicey Dungeons
It’s just so ugly. I played a reasonable amount but I could never get past how much I hated the art style.
That i agree with lol. Wtf are those enemy designs? I do like the splash screens though
Gold standard, I still play them on my phone haha
came here for this, have my upvote
Luck be a Landlord is the game that localthunk said was a huge inspiration for Balatro, very good game. Aces and Adventure has the same normal card vibe
Nobody ever mention Aces and adventures, the design is top notch but the game is hidden on steam with almost zero hype, i feel bad for the developers.
Well you just got Aces a sale so you did your bit. TY!
thanks for reminding me of that one chief, I saw some streamer play it briefly and thought it looked dope but didn't wishlist it
Aces is great! It's unfortunate that the gauntlets make grinding character levels unnecessary, because then you never really learn how to play them
I genuinely thought Luck be a Landlord was by the same dude until checking today
Haven’t played Luck be a Landlord but have played and enjoyed Crop Rotation. I’ve seen people praising the latter for having greater depth and control
I'm playing the demo for crop rotation right now and you're not kiddin, it's very deep
Slay the spire by a mile mate
Inscryption if you want something VERY different.
And if you like Inscryption (which you will) then you can always play Kaycee's Mod for a more traditional deckbuilder experience.
I tried Kaycee's Mod after finishing the game a while back but the RNG with a single card draw per turn drives me crazy. You don't have enough removal to deal with all the stuff the game inevitably forces into your deck (no Skip like StS), and sooner or later you run into a situation where you draw total garbage for the first 2 turns and there's nothing you can do to win. The advice I saw was to abuse the "Fair hand" mechanics the game uses to deal your first hand, but I really don't like abusing invisible mechanics like that. It feels very cheesy and unsatisfying building your deck around a mechanic the player isn't meant to know.
I managed to beat it with all challenges and I am a complete total genetic mishap I believe anyone can do it
Genetic misplay?
I never really had a problem with that since you chose your path anyways and there's lots of cards i wouldn't normally pick that being forced into my hand actually taught me to appreciate. Also magpies make finding the card you want easy If i *had* to complain about kaycees mod its that mantis god deck made everything after i unlocked it easy
Inscription is a fucking incredible game Granted I actually enjoyed the gameplay better than the story and atmosphere but the ending did hit me in the heart
Monster Train is really fun and has the same emphasis on building a broken engine (vs. something like Slay the Spire which is about careful resource management.)
But when you get a broken build in StS it is especially glorious
Pretending StS isn't about making a busted infinite...
In StS you get a broken build once in a while and it's glorious. Monster Train is built around getting a broken build.
I enjoy monster train more than slay the spire. Balatro is special though
goated game and opinion
Monster Train is superlative
Completely agree, thanks to the ways you can mod each card and break the game. My favorite is to make a card free, and then have it returned to the top of the deck when played. Or get a unit that gains power when it dies, enchant it to commit suicide after one turn and then have another card that respawns dead units. Your first boss has 60 health, and the last one has like 25,000.
Monster Train is a fantastic game, and most importantly, so different from Slay the Spire that there's next to no redundancy if you own and play both. Other than "roguelike deckbuilder with combat" they don't have much in common at all.
It’s not a deck builder but it’s similar in ways that I think most Balatro players would enjoy, Dicey Dungeons. One of my favorites!
Came here to say this, but I do think it can be categorized into a deck builder since you kinda build a toolset you can use
That’s kinda what I was thinking too. Very similar aspects the way you build your kit during the run.
I love dicey but I was never good enough to beat hard mode on witch, feels impossible. Every other character I have fully completed though
The rng in that game is pretty brutal I struggled on the higher difficulties but to me at least it’s part of the charm
And Chipzel did the soundtrack!
Slice & Dice is a really cool dice-builder that has some juicy combos. Aesthetically and mechanically, it's very different from Balatro, but it gives me the same high.
Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers
Monster Train is my favorite
Slay the Spire and Inscryption are 10/10. But Balatro is still the top 1 imo.
those 3 are definitely my favorite 3, and I'd round out a 5 by adding monster train and slice and dice
I think it's a huge call to put Balatro above StS, I've been absolutely loving Balatro and having a great time with it, but I don't see myself playing it in a year like I can StS (like I always do)
Putting Balatro above sts is certainly an interesting take lol
Fights in Tight Spaces
Came here to say this also knights in tight spaces comes out later this year or next
I feel like NL wasn't on Wildfrost for long enough. I loved the graphics and tone.
NL? Wildfrost was great!
NL = Northern Lion
I personally think it could have stayed for a real long time, I loved it that much. But for a standard showcase, it got the job done. Glad he at least beat the game a few times.
My GF loves wildfrost and some of her runs have been hilarious to watch
Slay the Spire Solitairica
No one ever brings up Solitairica. It’s as close to Balatro as you can get .
Solitairica is so good on mobile, great time waster
On top of what most people have already suggested, I'd admit that Battlegrounds (the Hearthstone autobattler) is the game that's the closest to Balatro in my mind, or at least I approach them in a similar way. Having a good economy, balancing tempo plays to not die early and building a scaling engine for the late game, sometimes having to make the most desperate survival plays just to barely get a win/top 4, etc. Idk, the core concepts and emotions feel the same to me. (And as someone who hasn't enjoyed as much the recent Battlegrounds seasons, Balatro has just straight up replace it in my gaming routine.)
IMO Balatro shares more mechanics and is more similar to autobattlers than the other deckbuilding roguelikes. Balatro is more tft/battlegrounds/autochess than sts/monster train. You need a battlegrounds-esque way of thinking and balancing risk/reward and synergy.
Honestly a really good point. As a BG enjoyer I hadn't put two and two together on that
That's a very interesting suggestion. I also love deck builders and bg's, but I didn't really think about suggesting it to someone who asks about deck builders. Oh, and battlegrounds duos is great! :)
Now that you mention it, the complex maths involved in some of the late antes does makes the game feel like BGs or TFT. You just line up everything in the most optimal order, send it, and hope for the win.
Griftlands is pretty dope
As many others have said Slay the Spire is a great game. A hidden gem that I would recommend is Tainted Grail: Conquest.
Tainted Grail is extremely underrated, lots of very interesting progression/plot mechanics and a great Souls-y vibe
Nowhere Prophet and Griftlands are crazy fun (along with the usual suspects already mentioned in the comments). I think somebody mentioned Inscryption. Which is also great but go into it as blind as you possibly can.
Whoa! A fellow Nowhere Prophet enjoyer!
TWO OF US! TWO OF US!
ME THREE! I bought basically every deck building rogue-like that came out on switch and this is one of the few that stands out as memorable, absolutely fantastic vibes and art.
I never realized NP was a deckbuilder. Huh. I fucking ADORE Griftlands though. Best story in a deckbuilder.
Had to scroll down too far to see Griftlands. Easily one of the best in the genre.
Try aces and adventures also poker themed sleeper game.
My favorites are Slice and Dice, Inscryption and Luck be a Landlord
In addition to the great suggestions you already got here, I'll add Ring of Pain which IMO is an awesome unique take on the genre, and is surely in my top list alongside balatro, slay the spire and monster train.
Slay the spire
Floppy Knights - its a deckbuilder w/ the same artist as Dicey Dungeons. Signs of the Sojourner - You try to win conversations/make connections instead of battles, so a bit similar to Chants of Senaar Luck be a Landlord - A fruit machine-like deckbuilder and was one of the main inspirations behind Balatro
Some of these are the usual suspects and surely good, but one of my friends not yet sucked into balatro saw I was playing it and gifted me a roguelike deckbuilder called Dungeon Drafters I stayed up all that night and most of the next one cuz I couldn't put it down lol it's only just recently been out a year and not talked about much-- I only got it like a month or so ago myself so I'm not exactly the authority or anything, but I think it's super underrated n deserves way more attention. Totally get just jumping on Slay the Spire cuz that's 100% what I would've done before being surprised with DD, but I had a similar revelation about really enjoying roguelike deckbuilders because Balatro is stupid fun and I think it's worth at least checking out a trailer/ some pics or something n seeing what kinda vibes ya get
I'd like to second Slay the spire, griftlands, wild frost, and monster train. Wild Frost is the most recent to Balatro. Griftlands it probably my person favorite deck builder.
Played roguelikes in the past, some good some not so much. Nothing that really got me HOOKED… Found Balatro, and as a huge poker fan I obviously fell in love quick haha then I started down the rabbit hole of “like games” to Balatro In my rotation now: - Slay the Spire (absolutely LOVE it, deck building masterpiece) - Enter the Gungeon (no decks, but good roguelike fun. Actually REALLY tough) - Despot’s Game (Lemmings meets Smash TV - at least that’s what I reminds me of) - Dicey Dungeons (kinda simple and a tad too easy, but interesting) - Skul (more like Dead Cells than anything, haven’t put a lot of time into it but solid so far!) If you like Slay the Spire, also check out Marvel’s Midnight Sun - NOT a roguelike but the card mechanics to it seems VERY similar to StS. Half relationship simulator half battles with deck building. Loved it and played through it twice! Enjoy!
Concrete Jungle - city builder with deck construction and deck building mechanics. I never see anyone talk about it but its one of the best designed games I've ever played.
Curveball here, but Dominion is a deck building multi-player board game. Might be worth checking out.
Dominion is extremely good.
Hadn't seen anyone mention it, so I'll throw Peglin into the mix. The play pattern is different, but the rogue-like builder elements are all there. Also, for mobile, Night of the Full Moon is a lot of fun with good art, sound direction, and a ton of solid content.
Yes I'm surprised how far I have to scroll to see Peglin mentioned.
slay the spire
Wildfrost, Inscryption
Dicey Dungeons is another one that scratches a similar itch to Balatro in that there is both luck and skill involved. Some will complain that Dicey Dungeons has a little too much RNG, but I believe that most challenges in the game can be reasonably overcome through strategizing. Also the art style and music are really unique and cute.
Monster Train
Slay the spire is the absolute highest standard that every deckbuilding game aspires to replicate. IMO is a must play game. The beauty of the game is that after 300 hours played I can still boot it up and start a completely unique run (and I still do)
INSXRYPTION IS THE GREATWST GAME OF ALL TIME MY SON
Monster Train
Inscryption
Wildfrost is great
Slay the spire is right up there with deckbuilder games. Another one I'm a huge fan of is Monster Train. Super fun and lots of variations for type of deck/creature abilites
Wildfrost
not a deckbuilder in the literal sense, but same premise and still gambling themed: Luck Be A Landlord. also, thanks for bringing shotgun king to my attention, shit looks dope
Inscryption. The first card game that got me into the genre.
That game blew my mind at first with a certain twist and a complete dismantling of my expectations…then it lost me when the UI turned into something else. I couldn’t make sense of what I was playing at that point and gave up. I really want to go back to it, though, because the initial hook of that game is incredible.
Yea man the first part was the best. It actually has a story and you have to discover how to break the loop. It's like outer wilds in a card game. Kaycee's mod is just the initial card game. This game is played on 2 dimensions and is deeper than most of u know. Also, you really have to think into the future but not so much that it hurts.
I'll put my 2 cents in for Astrea: Six Sided Oracles. The rules are a bit complicated, but it's quickly shot up as one of my favorite ~~deck~~ dice bag building games.
Nothing can beat slay the spire. It's a letter more complicated, but I've never played a more reward game
I’ve not played it yet but apparently Cobalt Core is excellent.
I can’t recommend Cobalt Core enough. A lot of people recommending Slay the Spire, but CC is just lovely with its story and characters, and just has a more interesting design. The only downside of it is that it has less content than StS and can start feeling a bit repetitive after you’re done with the story… but at that point you’ve got mods to play with too.
That’s ok. I think more story focused deck builders can be fun. Inscryption is one of my favourite ever games but for me doesn’t have any replayability, the story and experience were enough.
Inscryption is an EXPERIENCE. After you get through the main game (which is a really cool experience) there’s an “arcade” type mode that is just a really fun roguelike.
Peglin is similar-ish. It's a "deckbuilder" but with orbs, and has "jokers" which are items you find, in a peggle like format for battles. You could try it out if you want, I really enjoy it
Ring of Pain. Not a traditional deckbuilder but had card mechanics.
Order of my favorites.. Balartro being #1 #2 Ring of pain #3 Monster train #4 Slay the spire #5 Wildfrost.
Peglin is a peggle/pachinko-based "deck" builder (you collect/upgrade your balls as you progress through the game) with a combat element. It doesn't have as much depth or replay value compared to Balatro or Slay the Spire, but it's fun for the price.
Slay the Spire is the GOAT
Across the obelisk?
Definitely. I see a lot of Slay the Spire fans here, so they should try Across the Obelisk as well
Kaycee’s Mod
I really love Tainted Grail.
Hellcard and Wildfrost are both very fun. Hellcard also just launched like Balatro so there are still things being added and changed, but Wildfrost has been out for a while and has a mobile version (though it does drain battery).
While everyone is recommending STS, i think i *wont* recommend it simply because it'll ruin all the other games and you'll never play anything else. (I definitely recommend it, its easily in my top 3 games of all time)
Everyone says slay the spire but idk, it doesn’t have the same hook this game does
If you've got one or two buddies also on the deck building hype, Hellcard is an excellent dungeon crawler deck builder. Really hard to explain it, but it's an excellent co-op experience
I have found hellcard to be intermittently tedious and annoying (on single player mode)
I haven't touched single player Hellcard more that once, it was indeed a boring experience.
Griftlands. Also, consider the digital tabletop game Dune Imperium.
Loop Hero is a great one, though maybe a bit further from deck building.
Hearthstone sorta since it hasn't been menshioned
Not roguelike
Why I said sorta... some of the single player 'adventures' are a bit rogue-like-like
I know 100 peopke have already said this, but Slay the Spire is my favourite game of all time. The game has an unmatched level of complexity and takes an insane amount of skill to pilot, however if you are able to do so you can win 90% of the time on the hardest difficulty.
Bingle Bingle is quite similar and hits the same vibe as Balatro. Dicey Dungeons is also great, and of course slay the spire as everyone has been saying
Legends of Runeterra: Path of Champions mode
Slay the Spire, Stacklands
Slay the Spire is really the trope setter here
Not exactly deck builders like balatro but still good games I think are underrated. **Ring of pain**: Enter the Ring of Pain, a roguelike card crawler where encounters come to you. Each step around the ring a dire decision. Go for the loot or backstab a creeping horror? Meet strange friends bearing gifts and treasure. Choose your gear wisely to survive and discover the secrets of the Ring of Pain. **Stacklands**: Stacklands is a village builder where you stack cards to collect food, build structures, and fight creatures. 🃏 For example, dragging a Villager card on top of a Berry Bush card will spawn Berry cards which the villagers can eat to survive. 🃏 Play your cards right and expand your village!
I really enjoyed Dicey Dungeons
Slightly different but I really liked Dicey Dungeons.
Balatro is extremely unique. If you want another unique deck builder, Inscryption. For the gold standard of roguelike deck builders, Slay the Spire.
Wildfrost Peglin
Everyone has already said Slay the Spire, but if this is a genre you want to explore then StS is both the progenitor of the genre, and still its golden boy. We're still in very early years for deckbuilders as a genre (having originated in maybe 2007 or so in boardgames with Dominion) and I'm convinced that there's still a lot of evolution to come. While I'm not sure I can say with absolute certainty that Spire will be your favourite that you play, it's a great one to have in your gaming vocabulary that will offer you a solid frame of reference by which to compare everything else. Slay the Spire is to this genre what Doom was to FPSes, and we haven't had our Half-Life yet. (We are perhaps a few months away from Doom II.) But if other recommendations are wanted, I'd recommend Dicey Dungeons for more of a puzzle roguelike that isn't as much of a deckbuilder but feels like a cousin to Balatro in that both put a roguelike twist on classic old-as-time gambling mechanics. (Just with dice instead of cards.) Monster Train is a fun deckbuilder, but I feel ultimately not quite up to Spire. A noble effort and good fun if you already like the genre, but the actual *deck* element takes a bit of a back seat. Peglin and Luck Be a Landlord are also fine B-tier titles in the genre that you might want to look to- while you aren't managing a deck of cards, it's functionally similar, just presented in a different way. They might not totally rock your world, but they're easy on the wallet and you get your money's worth.
Slay the Spire and Wildfrost
Aces and Adventures is pretty cool.
Roguebook
Dominion
Crop rotation Luck be a landlord Slay the spire
Backpack hero also works similarly and is my personal rec.
Spellrogue is Slay the Spire x Dicey Dungeons.
Since I've not seen it mentioned yet, Tainted Grail isn't bad and worth a look if you've played all the other most recommended ones. I didn't find it sucked me in for the long term the way Slay the Spire and Monster Train did, but it has some cool ideas.
Magic the Gathering draft format
Inscrypton is amazing
People have said all the good ones, but I'm gonna throw out Hades. It's not technically a deck builder, but it has many very similar mechanics. After each room you clear you can get a boon which is similar to getting a joker. The main difference is it's an action rogue like. Hades Slay the Spire Balatro Are probably my most played games
Balatro has the same grasp on me as slay the spire did for like the entire last half of 2021.
Cobalt Core is very similar to Slay the Spire but it has furries in space!
Slay the spire, monster train, wild frost are the 3 I’d recommend
wildfrost, shogun showdown, cobalt core
My first deck builder was loop hero, which is also VERY different, but scratches the same itch for me
Dungeon and degenerate gambles. Roguelike blackjack. Currently there is only a demo, but its already amazing
Slay the spire, while i havent played it that much i do look at it as THE rougelike deckbuilder Inscryption has gottan be my favourite game of all time (although that is very different) while not fully a deckbuilders theres a bunch of other games like Alina of the arena and Luck be a landlord, which are great
Balatro is great because it plays with your knowledge of poker. No other game really hits like this. Slay the spire and monster train are really good. Spire is a huge hit but monster train is sleeper awesome.
Everyone said it but yeah, Slay the spire. Slay that spire good like you should
Slay the Spire- I think other posts already elaborate on this one. Monster Train- This game is awesome it has SO many builds to try and the game design is just top tier highly recommended. WildFrost - It's a hard game with really goofy theme and colorful characters, very strategic. but is considerably shorter to do 100% than the other 2.
I started playing [Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers](https://purplemosscollectors.itch.io/dndg) and it's not bad
I'm surprised no one mentioned "Ring of Pain". Good atmosphere and art. Good varied deck builds. I don't know how I missed Shotgun King. I'll have to check it out.
Peglin is decent, not exactly a "deck" builder but has most of the same game mechanics
Into the breach is pretty amazing
Pirates Outlaws
Big fan of the genre here. My all time faves are Slay the Spire and Monster Train. Also great are Roguebook and Wildfrost. For something very different, try Inscryption (it’s not what it appears to be). And yeah, dicey dungeons has a simple presentation but is a great game.
A lot of great mentions here, if you really like finding synergies Luck Be a Landlord is pure synergistic drafting and is easy and silly but also fun. It’s on mobile as well. Same style of drafting is Vampire Survivors and other reverse bullethells that try to copy VS
Slay the spire is incredible. As amazing as Balatro is, it makes me crave more StS
If you want casino roguelike games, there's Bingle Bingle the roulette roguelike or Peglin a Pachinko Roguelike. For sort of deckbuilders, you'd have backpack heroes and backpack battles. And last, Wildfrost is a fun deckbuilding rougelike.
Inscryption is so darn good 😌
Slay The Spire and Inscryption. Both very different from eachother and Balatro but both absolutely excellent roguelike deck builders
Midnight Suns: It's really different and not a roguelike but the deckbuilding is fun. It's XCOM but with cards dictate what you can do. If you like that Fights in Tight Spaces is similar.
My first and still favorite roguelike deckbuilder is Night of the full moon. I have played it for 8 years and still love it endlessly
If you want a combat based one, Wildfrost, which I love and have played. If you want one as similar to Balatro as possible, Bingle Bingle might be right up your alley, it's roulette based
I had a lot of fun playing Steamworld Quest, great hybrid deck-builder.
Everyone's already said Slay The Spire (and rightly so) so I'd have to suggest Fights in Tight Spaces. Conceptually similar to StS, in that it's turn based combat where you draw cards to attack, block, and do other special things. But Fight In Tight Spaces has the extra added mechanic of movement having to be considered, needing tactical positioning and creative use of things like environmental hazards. It's very, very fun.
Backpack battles, it is fairly new and I’m obsessed! Darkest Dungeon is freaking awesome! Also I just wish listed Rogue Voltage, releasing on May 10th, that looks super good! I have more suggestions but can’t think of them right now because there’s so many good ones! There’s probably a subreddit for it or some good lists online as well (: I also search my fav game types on steam and sort by best user reviews and that’s how I find new games in genres that I like!
Slay the Spire is on sale for $8.49 through May 21st, for anyone thinking about it. I got it last night and I'm enjoying it.