After Brotato addiction I found this gem of a game, right before the sequel announcement it seems. It’s such a perfect game for the Deck at least for me - you have time to think, the controls just work and you can just put the game down and continue your run later.
Do yourself a favor and try it out even though your first runs will probably be a disaster. The core game mechanic is so tight and well done it’s a pleasure to play loop after loop. 50 hours later I still want to do ‘one more run’.
Tossing out other deck favorites here, (sorted by length of name as it appears on my phone screen, because duck it why not)
Hades
Griftlands
Dead cells
No man’s sky
Monster train
Hollow Knight
Disco Elysium
Dave the diver
Wizard of legend
Backpack battles
Hero of the arena
Vampire survivors
Skul the hero Slayer
All of these I’ve sunk dozens of hours into on the deck
Satisfying sort order
Thanks. Hades and Disco Elysium were on my list but you had many listed that I’ve never heard of. Much appreciated.
Hades and disco Elysium are both incredible experiences. Hades when you’re feeling reflexive on point and rogue lite with a hell of a story and development, disco Elysium when you want a long story driven narrative branching and repeatable.
If you want another game, with equally great story, on the entirely opposite end of replayability and gameplay (and equally highly regarded by most critics) add return of the obra dinn to your list, it also works great on the deck!
@Donjuanme
Great hints! Thanks! Just bookmarked this!
@Kruulos @steamdeck
They announced a sequel coming in 2025 squeals excitedly
Steam … Deck? You mean the Balatro machine, right?
Ours went from the po(bro)tatoe machine to the backpack (battles) machine. I’m thinking about getting a 2nd (3rd, already got my mom one of her own) so I can use it some times.
Or just get a divorce. Whichever is cheaper.
I know I’m in the minority here, but I’m just not a fan of rogue-likes. The game itself is amazingly fun, but it always feels like I’m starting back from square 1
That’s why rougue-lite exists. Each run gets a bit easier, though you start getting new and harder tasks. If it’s done well, the repeatability is immense.
I completely agree!
Once you’re done with slay the spire, you can start the cycle again and play Vampire Survivors and Balatro 😁
I started Brotato after some serious Vampire Survivors. I want to know what the heck is the genre of Brotato and VS and find more games like them.
Heard only positive about Balatro. I need to keep my addiction to one game at the time hehe. You know any (roguelitish?) games that are off the radar or more obscure? They seem to be my jam.
Check out Cobalt Core. Great game in that and vein.
I’ve heard them referred to as “survivor-likes” (I believe Magic Survival was the first) or “bullet heaven” (you are the one creating the bullet hell)
Both are great games. I saw someone recommend Deep Rock Galactic Survivors as a followup to Brotato, and I would like to second that recommendation.
Some of my favorite games that are somewhat similar to Slay the Spire are Slice & Dice, Dicey Dungeons, and Card Quest. All of them also have phone versions.
Slice & Dice is amazing, I’ve been playing it for literal years. The mix of risk taking with the dice rolling and being able to combine different characters and items to break the game is incredibly satisfying.
Dicey Dungeons is by the same guy who made VVVVV and Super Hexagon. It’s another Dice based crawler, much simpler in mechanics than Slice & Dice but still super fun with really catchy music. It’s a testament to how good Slice and Dice is that this isn’t the best Dice game available.
Card Quest has the lowest art/etc budget of all the games listed, but makes up for it with really smart game play. At first it seems absolutely brutal, but it’s that you’re not being smart enough with your moves. Unlike other deck builders, you’re expected to figure out how to chain your cards to take zero damage every turn. But the interplay of balancing multiple resources, card draws, and more. It’s the kind of game where every single action you take feels like a miniature puzzle to be solved. I actually played this before Slay the Spire, and it made StS turns feel really low option/low complexity in comparison.
