Card-Based Games on Steam Suggestions

[AimLow]

Hey all,

I'm looking for suggestions on a card-based game that I can get on Steam. It's a genre I don't have a whole lot of experience with and am looking to broaden my horizons a bit.

Exceptions:

Magic the Gathering - already familiar with it/played it quite a bit off and on over the years

Slay the Spire - Played it and didn't really care for it


They don't necessarily have to be (mechanically) like the typical card game, and in fact, I welcome suggestions that incorporate a card system in unique ways.

If you could, please also provide a blurb/elevator pitch as to why you recommend it

 

[OhMyZach]

Shadowverse is fun, basically an anime version of MTG, with a couple of unique twists.
If you're looking for another card game with a meaty campaign, Yu-Gi-Oh Legacy of the Duelist Link Evolution has a lot of content, in depth deck building, and 5 campaigns to battle through, with an online multiplayer component to boot

 

[Yerffej]

Griftlands is great. Still in early access, but I've been playing on and off ever since it came to Epic and then migrated to Steam not to long ago.There's a sparse story, but the interactions in their varying degrees, and the dialogue combat on top of the regular combat, and how that can modify encounters is a really nice addition to the genre for me. Like all card games, I set dialogue, travel and action to the quickest speeds allowed, so everything flows real quick.

 

[karnage10]

Why didn't you like slay the spire?

I like monstter train and griftlands. However they play similarly like slay the spire so i don't know if they would be a good fit.

 

[Musubi]

There is always Gwent if you like stuff from CDPR/ The Witcher Universe.

 

[lukas3428]

maybe Hand of Fate 2 or Talisman?

 

[Shinrou]

Monster Train
Griftlands
Gordian Quest

All of them are great.

 

[Dinskugga]

I like the WW2 card game "Kards"

 

[AimLow]

Shadowverse is fun, basically an anime version of MTG, with a couple of unique twists.
If you're looking for another card game with a meaty campaign, Yu-Gi-Oh Legacy of the Duelist Link Evolution has a lot of content, in depth deck building, and 5 campaigns to battle through, with an online multiplayer component to boot

Click to shrink...

For Yu-Gi-Oh, if I'm not familiar with the anime or its universe, will I still be able to get into it?

Griftlands is great. Still in early access, but I've been playing on and off ever since it came to Epic and then migrated to Steam not to long ago.There's a sparse story, but the interactions in their varying degrees, and the dialogue combat on top of the regular combat, and how that can modify encounters is a really nice addition to the genre for me. Like all card games, I set dialogue, travel and action to the quickest speeds allowed, so everything flows real quick.

Click to shrink...

I've heard a lot of buzz about Griftlands lately. Early access does concern me, but apparently it's still doing something right.

Why didn't you like slay the spire?

I like monstter train and griftlands. However they play similarly like slay the spire so i don't know if they would be a good fit.

Click to shrink...

My main problem with StS was that it was a bit too RNG-based. The strategy to it seemed to extend only as far as the hand you were dealt from battle-to-battle. I played it pretty regularly for about two weeks, and I never able to make it very far. Sure, you could build a deck to a degree, but if you kept getting bad deals, you were basically screwed. Also, I never really overall liked the skills/card effects they gave you.

There is always Gwent if you like stuff from CDPR/ The Witcher Universe.

Click to shrink...

I actually kinda liked Gwent, and I totally forgot they made it stand alone.

 

[Ishmae1]

Not on steam, but Phantom Dust is free on Xbox and Win 10 store - it's an arena combat game that relies on deckbuilding for your arsenal of attacks. It's completely unique. Takes a while to get going, but well worth it.

On Steam, Monster Train is great.

 

[Ra]

My main problem with StS was that it was a bit too RNG-based. The strategy to it seemed to extend only as far as the hand you were dealt from battle-to-battle. I played it pretty regularly for about two weeks, and I never able to make it very far. Sure, you could build a deck to a degree, but if you kept getting bad deals, you were basically screwed. Also, I never really overall liked the skills/card effects they gave you.

Click to shrink...

I feel like this will be a running issue with most every game which you are recommended.

StS is the gold standard these days.

 

[Lashley]

You didn't like Slay the Spire?

I'd recommend Monster Train still, but not sure if you'd like it.

 

[AimLow]

Not on steam, but Phantom Dust is free on Xbox and Win 10 store - it's an arena combat game that relies on deckbuilding for your arsenal of attacks. It's completely unique. Takes a while to get going, but well worth it.

On Steam, Monster Train is great.

Click to shrink...

Free is definitely a "selling point," so I don't mind popping over to the store and checking it out.

P.S. - Your avatar rules. One of my favorite childhood movies.

I feel like this will be a running issue with most every game which you are recommended.

StS is the gold standard these days.

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately, based on what I am seeing when I look up these suggestions, you appear to be correct. Oh well, never hurts to look into them though, I may be pleasantly surpsied.

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

If you want something that does "a card system in a unique way", check out Thea: The Awakening (and possibly the sequel, The Shattering, though I haven't played that yet). It's kind of a semi-roguelike story-driven settlement management RPG sort of thing, where your different settlers have a great variety of stats and have to face occasional events that, FTL-style, you can choose responses to and may get good or bad outcomes (or special outcomes, if you have appropriate skill levels or items).

But, if you are ever in a conflict situation, be it a battle, a negotiation, or some other challenge against an opposing force, your settlers become cards, that you play a card battle with against that opposition. The cards have preset stats that are sort of familiar, like power/toughness, a couple different attack types and special abilities, etc. But what those stats and abilities are, is derived from the multitude of stats of your settlers (and their enemies).

So for a battle, the HP and armor of a settler becomes toughness, their melee skill and weapon power add up to power, and their Perception skill becomes a tactical ability to make the opponent discard their highest-level unplayed Tactical card up to the level of the skill; whereas for a hunting event check, the Gathering skill becomes power, their natural Health (sans armor) is added to the Animal Kinship skill to determine toughness, and the Perception skill is instead used as a tactical ability to move the last played ally card of same or lower lever to the front of the initiative stack.

It's not very complex, and the different challenge types may occasionally catch you flat-footed (any given group of settlers you have out exploring will typically not have a very broad set of skills across everyone), but it's certainly kinda unique, and the rest of the game isn't bad either.

 

[Killthee]

Card Hunter is still available on steam apparently. It doesn't really play like a typical card game so might be what you're looking for. It's a F2P dungeons and dragon themed strategy card rpg.

 

[Archmage]

You might like Sentinels of the Multiverse. It's a card game based on a team of super heroes fighting a super villain.

It's on sale at the moment.

 

[EloKa]

Dicey Dungeons isn't your typical card game (in fact it doesn't have a single card) but its a unique and pretty good take on the system.
But it's a rogue-light game like Slay the Spire and you didn't like that already. So dunno. One of the best games of 2019 but maybe not exactly your flavor.

 

[Xterrian]

Based off your misgivings with StS, I wouldn't recommend any rogue-likes. Even if you can set the seed so you know what'll happen, random events are very commonplace in the genre.

I'd recommend Legacy of the Duelist Link Evolution. Lots of single player content, there's a draft mode, just got updated to the newest rules (so certain monsters can be placed anywhere) and over 9000 cards.

Baten Kairos is also really good. It's battle system is card based, but the rest of the game is a well-done jrpg.

 

[ZZMitch]

I like the WW2 card game "Kards"

Click to shrink...

This looks really cool I should check it out.

 

[misho8723]

Thronebreaker : The Witcher Tales is absolutely fantastic game.. maybe not as deep as many other card games, but the writing, story, characters, dialogs, hard choices & consenquences, atmosphere, MUSIC, voice acting, artstyle, puzzle battles, etc. are all top-notch and one of the best in the last decade

 

[Remachinate]

Monster Hunter Train is great, and this is coming from someone who kind of bounced off of Slay the Spire. It's more forgiving to start, runs are shorter, and it gives you better control of the direction of your deck. I'd highly recommend giving it a shot even if StS didn't do it for you. I'm currently at the 10th difficulty level while I couldn't be bothered to even try ascending once in StS.

Griftlands is also amazing--it's dynamic narrative layer is a really great addition to the card battles itself. Its beta status is more indicative of being content incomplete rather than being rough design-wise.

Both games are defeinitely worth your time.

 

[Meriadock]

For Yu-Gi-Oh, if I'm not familiar with the anime or its universe, will I still be able to get into it?

Click to shrink...

Yes you will. It's more like an anime about a card game and not a card game about an anime.

 

[Mukrab]

Not on steam, but Phantom Dust is free on Xbox and Win 10 store - it's an arena combat game that relies on deckbuilding for your arsenal of attacks. It's completely unique. Takes a while to get going, but well worth it.

On Steam, Monster Train is great.

Click to shrink...

Why is phantom dust not on gamepass? Its free anyway. I didn't know this existed until recently which i would if it was on gamepass. How does Microsoft have this free game and not put it on gamepass? Its increasing gamepass value for free. Regardless of how minor the value improvement is, i cant imagine a counter argument on why not to have it on gamepass.

 

[Chromie]

I started this a bit. It's very fun and marketed as a narrative driven card-game. I think that fits. It takes place during the 1920's and it's about unlocking secrets of the occult.



Another I've tried but haven't bought. It's fluid, fast, and the closest thing I get to experience MegaMan Battle Network.

 

[AimLow]

Lots of good recommends, thanks all - I have a ton to check out. I'm trying out Shadowverse so far, and although I am not a fan of anime generally speaking, the art in this game is fantastic!

 

[Tagyhag]

I'd also recommend Thronebreaker, especially if you liked Gwent, there's a lot less RNG.

Also, feel free to try out Monster Train at least for an hour since you might end up liking it.

With Steam, as long as you play any game for under 2 hours, you can always refund it automatically so don't be afraid to try something that you're not sure about.

 

[discotheque]

Griftlands is great. Still in early access, but I've been playing on and off ever since it came to Epic and then migrated to Steam not to long ago.There's a sparse story, but the interactions in their varying degrees, and the dialogue combat on top of the regular combat, and how that can modify encounters is a really nice addition to the genre for me. Like all card games, I set dialogue, travel and action to the quickest speeds allowed, so everything flows real quick.

Click to shrink...

Yup Griftlands is incredible.

 

[Shinrou]

Monster Hunter is great...

Click to shrink...

I think you meant to say Monster Train? ;)

Monster Hunter is absolutely awesome of course, but for all the different reasons!

 

[Moose]

Gwent is on Steam now and is quite fun, it's also very generous in crafting, packs, etc and you don't have to spen money to be competitive.

 

[chrominance]

This one's a left-field one but I can at least guarantee you it won't be anything like Slay the Spire.




Card City Nights is a deck-building game that isn't a roguelike and allows you to actually build a deck over time that you get to keep. The combat system is based on linking cards together in specific patterns on your board (dictated by the arrows on the sides/corners of your cards) to activate attacks and guards. It's cheap, so if you don't like it at least you're not out of pocket much, and I found it surprisingly engrossing. I haven't played its sequel yet, and I heard they changed up some stuff in ways that might not be better, but worth looking into as well if you're into this one.

The characters in the game are from other games made by the same developer, but you don't need to have played any of their other games to enjoy this one--I haven't played any other Ludosity games and it worked great for me.

 

[Tizoc]

Monster Train. It's hella addicting too XP

 

[souppboy]

Race for the Galaxy is awesome. Its can be kind of mind boggling at first but after things click its awesome. There are CPU opponents or multi-player against pc and phone players.

 

[Hadok]

IRIS AND THE GIANT:

a roguelike card game with some nice little twists and a cool art direction.
It's great.They added a lot of new stuffs recently in the game.

Save 75% on Iris and the Giant on Steam

Iris and The Giant is a fusion of the CCG, RPG and roguelike genres. You play as Iris, who must brave her fears in her imaginary world. Dive into a melancholic and gripping adventure, filled with cute monsters and buried memories. Ready to face your inner demons?

store.steampowered.com

 

[Toma]

Card Hunter is still available on steam apparently. It doesn't really play like a typical card game so might be what you're looking for. It's a F2P dungeons and dragon themed strategy card rpg.

Click to shrink...

This is still the best card based tactical game.

 

[Soy Bob]

I got System Crash in this Steam sale and I've only played about an hour so far. I'm not too sure if I'm enjoying it yet as I've run into an issue a couple of times where I can't/don't play any cards on a turn because there's nothing to do. It just turned into a waiting game until one of my units dies so that I can replace them with another. Hopefully it becomes more interesting soon.

I keep hoping that there would be a game on PC like the Arkham Horror card game, but nothing has come out yet. It seems like most singleplayer card games are either a series of bot matches or roguelike deckbuilders.

 

[RiOrius]

I played Cardpocalypse on EGS and really enjoyed it. It's a single-player card game campaign, where you wander around school challenging friends, getting new cards, trading, etc. The AI is bad but typically gets better cards than you, so it stays somewhat interesting (although not actually difficult, IMO). And because it's single player they can get away with silly stuff like using stickers to permanently buff your cards, or plot-driven opportunities to fundamentally change the rules of the game (eg start at 3 mana, or pick a card to always have in your opening hand).

The card game itself plays 95% the same as Hearthstone, if that matters. And the story/tone is very silly, elementary school kid stuff. It's available now on Epic Games Store, and is coming to Steam... sometime this year, in theory.

 

[Santini]

If you're looking for card battling games that are similar to CCGs and focus more on pre-game deck construction (i.e., Magic: the Gathering) than in-game deck building (e.g., Slay the Spire), here are some titles that haven't been mentioned yet.

Eternal

Spellweaver

Hex: Shards of Fate

The above are all F2P CCGs that were influenced by MtG, but with their own spin on the CCG genre. They all have some form of single-player mode and challenges.

Here are some games that are not card games, but utilize card game staples such as card collecting and deck construction.

Etherlords II

Faeria

Forced Showdown

Etherlords II is a turn-based strategy game in the vein of Heroes of Might and Magic. Faeria is a turn-based strategy game (this was also given away on the Epic Games Store some time ago) . Forced Showdown is a rogue-lite action game.

 

[Deleted member 1594]

You didn't like Slay the Spire?

I'd recommend Monster Train still, but not sure if you'd like it.

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For what its worth, I didnt like Slay the Spire but I loved Monster Train.

I feel like Monster Train is more forgiving if you don't get the best RNG.

Beat covenant 25 in Monster Train but I struggled hard in STS.

 

[ZeroX]

My main problem with StS was that it was a bit too RNG-based. The strategy to it seemed to extend only as far as the hand you were dealt from battle-to-battle. I played it pretty regularly for about two weeks, and I never able to make it very far. Sure, you could build a deck to a degree, but if you kept getting bad deals, you were basically screwed. Also, I never really overall liked the skills/card effects they gave you

Click to shrink...

Man this is just fully not true lol. Top players can have extremely high win rates and your card/shop choices and pathing arguably matter more than how you play hands. You just didn't know how to play.

Monster Train may feel less RNG based to you, but that's a game where how you play the hand really matters

 

[Ra]

Griftlands is also amazing--it's dynamic narrative layer is a really great addition to the card battles itself. Its beta status is more indicative of being content incomplete rather than being rough design-wise.

Click to shrink...

I'm buying Griftlands as soon as it comes out of Early Access. Game looks so exceptional and I want to play if freshly when it's complete.

Man this is just fully not true lol. Top players can have extremely high win rates and your card/shop choices and pathing arguably matter more than how you play hands. You just didn't know how to play.

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This is 100% true, I just wasn't gonna poop on OP in their own thread.

In non-10+ Ascension I don't think I can lose to "card RNG". I'm not the most godlike player, but I like choosing cards/relics that add tons of chance, over optimal builds. Maximum fuckery gives me enjoyment.

 

[Astarte]

I'm going to recommend:

Library of Ruina

and

Chrono Ark

both korean made games, but both are very lovely.

Library of Ruina is a card game with a lovely aesthetic (the issue being if you're interested in being invested in a plot it's a very heavy handed sequel to a game called Lobotomy Corporation, which isn't a card game in any capacity. It's an SCP simulator; think Cabin in the Woods).

Chrono Ark is basically a roguelike that more or less reminds me of Etrian Odyssey, down to the characters you can keep in your party with their own skills and decks.

 

[super-famicom]

Man this is just fully not true lol. Top players can have extremely high win rates and your card/shop choices and pathing arguably matter more than how you play hands. You just didn't know how to play.

Monster Train may feel less RNG based to you, but that's a game where how you play the hand really matters

Click to shrink...

Agreed. It takes a while to fully understand Slay The Spire. Conquering RNG in high Ascensions and trying to make the most of what you're dealt with is a big part of the fun for me. High level players like Jorbs plan like 5 moves and 3 acts ahead of where they currently are. I consider losing in StS like dying in Dark Souls; I consequential, but a way to learn and improve on my game.

 

[Qvoth]

trials of fire

Save 75% on Trials of Fire on Steam

A Tactical, Deck-Building Roguelite. Choose 3 Heroes and adventure into a post-Cataclysmic wasteland. Engage enemies in a unique meld of card-play and tactical, positional combat. Level up and scavenge what you can to customise your decks and build a party to take on any challenge!

store.steampowered.com

gordian quest

Gordian Quest on Steam

An epic deckbuilding RPG inspired by old-school classics like Ultima and D&D, using modern gaming concepts like roguelite elements and turnbased strategic combat. Lead and nurture parties of heroes. Forge bonds and discover new skills among them. Guide them to unravel the curses laid upon the lands.

store.steampowered.com

i haven't played griftlands in a while so can't comment on it, it seemed pretty decent

edit: oh yeah chrono ark is pretty cool

 

[TortadeJamon]

There is always Gwent if you like stuff from CDPR/ The Witcher Universe.

Click to shrink...

Also, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, an RPG that uses a modified version of Gwent in its combat system.



And somehow I missed the post further up the thread... 😖

 

[OhMyZach]

For Yu-Gi-Oh, if I'm not familiar with the anime or its universe, will I still be able to get into it?

Click to shrink...

Sorry for late reply, but you won't have to know the anime or universe, the campaigns actually take you through the story