Deck of Haunts

Deck of Haunts delivers an original take on the deck-building experience. It gives players the dual task of building a deep maze of scary rooms while putting together an effective set of cards to take down nighttime invaders. I like the snippets of lore revealed by the cards and events, but the world-building isn’t impressive. The title’s biggest issue is the limited meta-progression. Players unlock new cards when they finish a run but, after winning a few, the motivation to start over diminishes. Deck of Haunts has good ideas and good execution but might struggle to hold the players’ attention in the long term.

Deck of Haunts is a quick and fun deck-building roguelike. Building out the haunted house is the most fun part. Just know that this is also one of those games where you will be at the mercy of the RNG, where failing to get a specific card you need to save your run may lead to your demise.

Deck of Haunts provides a solid deckbuilding roguelite experience combined with horror you inflict. It's fun to come up with ways to prevent intruders from reaching the heart of your haunted house. There are some balance issues and that does make the experience feel repetitive quickly. But for a solid roguelite deckbuilder, Deck of Haunts delivers a successful twist on a familiar formula.

It is certainly fascinating for those seeking a shift in perspective within the horror genre: no longer victims or hunters, but the very embodiment of architectural evil. Its strength lies in an original narrative concept, a dense atmosphere, and an aesthetic consistent with its dark world. However, behind the originality of the idea lurks a certain structural repetitiveness: the nights follow one another with mechanics that, although varied in detail, tend to repeat the same cycle of fear and defense. The house lives, yes, but at times it seems to dream the same nightmare over and over again.

If you have a taste for horror, you'll be right at home with Deck of Haunts. This deckbuilder may be light on story, but how many other games can you say cast you as a haunted house? Its core game loop of dispatching hapless intruders will have you grinning.

Deck of Haunts has a solid foundation, but I feel as though it fails to fully deliver on its own promises. The deckbuilding gameplay is solid, if repetitive, and the game doesn’t do much to capitalize on its unique identity as a haunted house simulator, leaving this reviewer severely disappointed.

A haunted deck that's as likely to throw you a royal flush as it is sell you down the river, Deck of Haunts satisfies in its creative cards, wickedly evil fantasy power trip and a delightfully vile concept. Its best demonic forces are kept at bay thanks to a lack of real campaign or structure and some underdeveloped room expansion. Even so, if this were a haunted house at Universal Studios, you'd be disappointed to miss it, even if it's not the main attraction.