Roguebook (2021)

In an increasingly-popular subgenre, deck-building games need to find a way to stand out more than ever. Does Roguebook deal a winning hand?

Roguebook offers enough unique takes on gameplay to create a compelling experience for those highly interested in deck building games and a fun experience for those who aren't quite as familiar with the genre. The dual hero system and presentation truly makes Roguebook stand out. However, the usual issues with the deck building game remain. It's the random luck of the draw as to whether you're given good enough cards to succeed in battle. Otherwise, you have to grind your way around to find useful cards or upgrades to help you. It might not be a game for everyone, but Roguebook is definitely worth checking out.

Roguebook is essentially a roguelike- deckbuilder game, with the cards, gems and relics being the loot that players will have to blend into a perfect strategy to escape. While each of the characters will start with a default deck that will be upgraded as they level up; most upgrades players receive will be lost upon death. These games depend on having a tight replay, fun and consistent replay loop and with Roguebook, Abrakam has succeeded here.

Roguebook certainly needs some adjustments, between long wait times on cards being played and scaling of difficulty in the later chapters. Those issues aside, however, there’s a lot to love in here. It has some great ideas, beautiful art design, and some fun gameplay… when it decides to run properly. Roguebook has the potential to replace Slay the Spire in this style of game, it just needs some tweaks.

While were to the point where there are quite a number of roguelike deckbuilders on the Switch, it's nice to see that newcomers to the space like Roguebook have still tried to keep introducing new elements to the mix...