Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

In a deckbuilding game, you start out with a basic set of cards, then upgrade it over time, seeking synergies and compounding effects. Roguelikes are games where death happens quite often, but each randomized "run" unlocks options for the future. In both genres, and when they're fused together, the key is staying lean, trimming your deck and refining your strategy so that every card and upgrade works toward unstoppable momentum.

“Lean” does not describe the current scene for roguelike deckbuilder games, but they certainly have momentum. As of this writing, Steam has 2,599 titles tagged by users with “ deckbuilding ” and 861 with “ roguelike deckbuilder ” in all languages, more than enough to feed a recent Deckbuilders Fest . The glut has left some friends and co-workers grousing that every indie game these days seems to be either a cozy farming sim or a roguelike deckbuilder.

I, an absolute sucker for deckbuilders for nearly five years, wanted to know why this was happening.

Enlarge / These symbols might not mean anything to you now. But give it a few runs, and you might lose a few minutes strategizing this ship's ideal next turn, based on this image alone. (credit: Brace Yourself Games)

Games come and go through my Steam and Nintendo Switch libraries: a twitchy, grim action epic , then a metaphysical puzzle-platformer , and maybe a boomer shooter or turn-based tactical along the way. I try hard not to get stuck in one style or mindset—both for my enjoyment and my writing.

But there is always one type of game that is installed and ready to go for the next trip or idle couch moment: a roguelite deck-builder. Cobalt Core is the latest game in that slot, and it's on Steam for Windows (and definitely Steam Deck) and Switch . It's the most fun I've had in this particular obsession since Monster Train . Cobalt Core stretches into other genres, like perfect-knowledge turn-based tactics and space battle, but it's cards and randomness down to its electric-blue center.

A few years ago, I didn't know what a "roguelike deck-builder" was or what either of those compound phrases meant. Then, one day, there was a sale on Slay the Spire . That 2019 game refined the fusion of two game mechanics: constant failure against randomized encounters (a la Rogue , but with a "lite" gradual progression) and the refining of a deck of combat-minded cards (as in Magic: The Gathering, Dominion, and Netrunner ). You attack and defend against increasingly tough enemies with your cards, you gain and upgrade and ditch cards as you go, you lose, and then you get slightly better tools on your next do-over.

Enlarge / No bugs, or even weapons beyond a pistol, are seen in Rogue Core's initial screenshots. But you get the sense that it's a more cavern-like, combat-minded experience.

A lot of things can go wrong during a Deep Rock Galactic mission. Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core , a new roguelite spinoff from the makers of the cult co-op shoot-and-mine game, suggests that something has gone even more deeply, terribly wrong on Hoxxes IV. Now you, your friends, and a Processor Drone have to figure out what.
​
And you'll die—a lot, probably—then try again with new gear and lessons learned, if the title and announcement trailer are anything to go by.

​
You can wishlist Rogue Core on Steam now, and the game will launch in Early Access, which is anticipated to last for 18–24 months, in November 2024. Closed alpha tests will be announced on the game’s Steam page and fan Discord . Deep Rock ’s developer, Ghost Ship Games, promises “updates on the game’s direction right from the very earliest stage of development” and will be “adding new features to the game based on feedback and observations of how our community is playing it. Each feature will be tweaked, balanced, and polished as it is added.”
​
Mikkel Martin Pedersen, co-founder and game director at Ghost Ship Games, said in a press release that the company intends to keep fans in the loop, as “our process of open development helped Deep Rock Galactic be the game it has become.” The developer also emphasized that support for the original game will continue.
​
The game’s teaser trailer provides only a minimum of context for the plot. It’s heavy on the Ridley Scott Alien touches, right down to a Lego brick of a ship coasting toward a planet where the corporation has lost contact with workers who were mining near the planet’s core. Your “Reclaimers” team has to reestablish the dig. That's about all we know for now.

• 

  A dusty (or snowy?) piece of the abandoned core mine on Hoxxes IV. Your job is to keep moving through it. [credit: Ghost Ship Games ]

​
Then again, the plot of Deep Rock Galactic itself, while certainly peppered with lore, is essentially “We need these minerals, these bugs are in the way, sorry if they kill you.” Rogue Core will have the same fully destructible environments, procedurally generated levels, co-op interplay, and greedy corporations, but with a focus on getting farther into a run each time.
​
Your means of success is through customizing and upgrading your weapons and Phase Suit, using salvaged gear and Expenite, “a new wonder-mineral.” You complete tasks, find stuff, go deeper, and get stronger, until you inevitably fail and start again. Given the roguelite framing, you can expect some upgrades to stick with you from session to session. But R ogue may differ significantly from the far more casual, dig-by-dig nature of its foundation, if the claustrophobic, abandoned-station screenshots and trailer are any clue.

Enlarge / Kill monsters, pick up XP gems, upgrade character.

If you’re a fan of roguelites and haven’t heard of Vampire Survivors , let me be the first to welcome you to your new obsession.

The “gothic horror casual game with roguelike elements,” as its developer calls it, has been taking the indie world by storm over the past year, racking up over 120,000 “overwhelmingly positive” reviews on Steam and capturing effusive praise from critics. And until today, it was still in Early Access.

The game has even spawned a new sub-subgenre, with games of its ilk incorporating ideas from bullet-hell shoot-em-ups, roguelites, and timed horde-survival games. These games are almost all in Early Access, and every last one is curiously cheap—$5 seems to be the price cap. But while many pretenders to the throne have arisen, Vampire Survivors still reigns supreme. It was the second real game of its kind, after the 2021 Android-exclusive Magic Survival .