Why there are 861 roguelike deckbuilders on Steam all of a sudden

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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.

What is so appealing to developers and players about single-player card games made for screens? How do developers differentiate their deckbuilders? And how do you promote a title in a niche but crowded field?

Seeking these answers, I spoke with a bunch of roguelike deckbuilder developers, and I read interviews and watched conference talks from others. Some common themes and trends revealed themselves. Like a well-honed deck, each element fed into and bolstered the others.

But let's first go back to the beginning, to perhaps the most powerful single element of roguelike deckbuilders’ success: two college friends in their 20s, tired of working QA jobs.

Slay the Spire’s starting point

Slay the Spire marked what was arguably the start of modern, single-player roguelike deckbuilder video games. Some games may technically have combined combat-oriented deckbuilding with the procedural generation and die/improve/repeat nature of roguelikes, but the 2019 game was the first to crack the formula and build a big audience around it. Slay the Spire also broadly boosted enthusiasm for single-player card games on computers in general—games other than Windows’ Solitaire, at least.

Video directed by Justin Wolfson, edited by John Cappello. Click here for transcript.

In a video interview with Ars Technica, and at Game Developer Conference (GDC) talks in 2019 on marketing and balancing, developers Anthony Giovannetti and Casey Yano told the game’s story. Giovannetti and Yano had met in college and made some one-off games, then graduated and got jobs. Giovannetti was a card game and tabletop enthusiast, even briefly managing a game store. He was certainly familiar with deckbuilding pioneer Dominion, but his main game was Netrunner—he still maintains the community site StimHack. Yano worked at Amazon, where he said he picked up the company’s “customer obsession” mentality.

In mid-2015, the two reconnected and went all-in on making their genre-melding concept, initially named “Card Crawl.” Starting with stick-figure drawings, a procedurally generated progression scheme cribbed from FTL, and input from some advanced Netrunner playtesters, they worked until the game was ready for early access on Steam. Chief among their in-development discovery was broadcasting enemy intents to the player and simplifying visuals and indicators until they were readable at a glance, even in a foreign language.

Slay the Spire launched in Steam’s Early Access after more than two years of development in November 2017. It sold 200 copies on day one, 300 on day two, and 150 on day three, declining from then on. The developers had made trailers, sent more than 600 emails to press and other outlets, and in the critical first two weeks of release, they had only sold 2,000 copies.

Things looked grim, but eventually, some of the 200 keys they sent to streamers led to some live play. An influential Chinese streamer’s Slay session garnered more than 1 million views, which nudged the game up the top seller list, leading to further sales, which sparked more streams, and so on. Grateful for their second wind, the team released new patches every week and used statistical feedback from early sessions to further tune the game. They took care not to remove "overpowered" strategy discoveries because they understood the joy of "a well-powered Rube Goldberg machine."

Despite critical raves, a 99 percent positive Steam review rating, and more than 1.5 million sales by September 2019, Yano told the GDC crowd that “we never really improved how to, like, sell the game. I would say it’s still really word-of-mouth. But it’s been doing well that way, so I think we’re gonna keep going that way.”

Multiple developers I spoke with cited Slay the Spire as inspiration; one had more than 1,000 hours in it. The game’s design and success have compounded a few times over, creating new starting points. Balatro's developer claimed to have not played deckbuilders before making his own, but he was fascinated by streams of Luck Be a Landlord. That slot machine roguelike was, per its developer's blog, heavily influenced by Slay the Spire. Even if you don't know it, you probably know it.

Battle screen from SpellRogue — *SpellRogue*, from a two-person team, has cards, but you use them by rolling dice and fitting the results into the cards' slots (Yahtzee!). Credit: Guidelight Games/Ghost Ship Publishing

Deckbuilders have a lower overhead and efficient assets

SpellRogue is a deckbuilding roguelike, but it also has dice. It’s from a two-person development team who has been working on it for more than three years. Every hour and dollar spent by Guidelight Games—that is, Tim Skafte and Thorbjørn Nielsen—has to be efficient. That’s easier in deckbuilding roguelikes than in most other genres.

In more traditional single-player games, “You can spend months working on one-off content, like some really big set pieces for your game, and the player never sees it again,” Skafte said. With a deckbuilder, a single new ability, artifact, enemy, or other element has a network effect on the game as a whole. A new enemy can be mixed in with other enemies, giving players multiple new challenges against their strategy in different zones.

Another game, Dev_Hell, is about managing the resources, time, skill, and office politics to get coding done, and a deckbuilder was the best way to explore those themes. The developers have certainly given some thought to the genre’s efficiencies (and that inherent irony). “Deckbuilders allow for quick prototyping and development of mechanics that let you represent ambitious concepts with significantly less overhead,” wrote Don Westendorp, game director at Unhinged Studios. “They create very stable data structures less prone to bugs than real-time systems and, when well-designed, offer countless strategies.”

Wildfrost’s designer and artist, Gaziter, wrote that from an artist’s standpoint, a deckbuilder let the team come up with more character and monster designs because they didn’t have to spend as much time on detailed rendering and animations.

That's not to say you have to be efficient with every deckbuilder piece. Cobalt Core’s lead designer, John Guerra, estimates that “about 5 percent of all development time went to the finale,” with unique music, art, and dialogue. Most players will only see it once, but it was worth it. “We wanted to end on a singular high note on a bespoke scripted experience instead of a looser set of systems to play with.”

Four different Twitch streamers playing Balatro live. — This spring's hottest streaming game looks like people playing poker on a CRT with 30 different numbers on-screen. It's called *Balatro*. Credit: Twitch

Deckbuilders are “incredible for streamers” (who are great for devs)

The creators of Slay the Spire and Luck Be a Landlord consider game streamer coverage (as on Twitch or YouTube) to be crucial to their success. The deckbuilding genre often lacks frenetic action, rich visuals, and intriguing narratives (with some exceptions for all of those), so it’s hard to translate to video trailers or single screenshots. What the genre does have is new content continuously being doled out to the player through both game updates and successive runs and difficulties.

“This kind of game is incredible for streamers and YouTubers since they can play it for long periods of time and still see new content in the game,” wrote Luck Be a Landlord’s creator, Dan DiIorio, in a blog FAQ. “I also found streamers returned to the game after significant updates were added in Early Access, which I of course emailed them about when they released.”

Slay the Spire’s Yano—who titled one of his GDC slides “Trailers for card games: impossible?”—gave game streamers credit for essentially saving his game after its disastrous early reception. Slay the Spire was very difficult to market, but the game itself had marketability, Yano said at GDC, and streamers helped unlock it.

Dev_Hell screenshot showing card placed on code review app on laptop — *Dev_Hell* gives you code review, misplaced commas, and disruptive coworkers, but in a way that keeps you coming back (not just for a paycheck). Credit: Unhinged Studios

The virtuous cycle of replayability and Steam recommendations

As with Google’s search results, the algorithms behind Steam’s recommendation system are not known to those outside the company. The system involves a number of variables, but one of them is definitely “the playtime histories of millions of Steam users.” Deckbuilding roguelikes, with their near-infinite strategy combinations, multiple “runs,” and often regular content pushes, may be better at staying buzzy than more traditional narrative games.

Slay the Spire’s Yano noted that while a popular stream was his game’s first break, showing up on the service’s Most Popular list was even more crucial. Gamers who have started playing card-based games or roguelikes would start getting the game recommended to them. The more people played, the more the game was recommended, and the engine grew like… well, a deckbuilder engine.

“Steam is especially good at surfacing the best games, so if someone puts out quality content, people will likely see it,” Dev_Hell’s Westendorp wrote. “Games with a high degree of replayability tend to do very well in terms of sales,” noted Acolyte of the Altar’s founder, designer, and programmer Cameron Reid.

Cobalt Core screenshot — Every action in *Cobalt Core* has opportunity cost, and you have perfect knowledge of what you're about to do (or mess up). Credit: Brace Yourself Games

They’re the epitome of Sid Meier’s “Interesting Decisions” ethos

Civilization creator Sid Meier once said that games are a series of interesting decisions. Great games force players to make trade-offs, balance risk and reward, and shift from short-term to long-term decisions, all while ensuring that players are informed about each choice. Done right, deckbuilding roguelikes are an absolute feast of all these kinds of decisions.

Journalist Jason Schreier noted this Meier/deckbuilder connection in an episode of the Triple Click podcast about Balatro, and he wasn't alone. Justin Gary, a former Magic: The Gathering junior champion, creator of Ascension, and now co-creator of deckbuilder SolForge Fusion with Magic's Richard Garfield, noted the “vast sea of choices and strategies” that deckbuilders contain, starting with simple cards but expanding exponentially as you pick and upgrade. Guerra from Cobalt Core called this aspect out, too. “Deckbuilders just naturally lend themselves toward that—lots of interesting choices, all slightly unique.”

“You end up in this space where no two turns are ever exactly the same, so players get to keep figuring out new optimal solutions. But even though the options are always huge, they're made up of pretty simple building blocks, so it's not overwhelming. And that's very satisfying.”

Screenshot showing a forged hero in SolForge Fusion — Choose your Forgeborn hero in *SolForge Fusion—*for a good deal less money than you might spend on physical cards. Credit: Stone Blade Entertainment

They’re easier, more affordable card games for card game lovers

I loved Magic: The Gathering as a teenager, and I’ve enjoyed my time with a friend’s expansion-pack-stuffed Dominion set. I’m just not likely to get back into them now due to limited time and more complex budget needs.

Players like me are definitely one of the targets for deckbuilder games. SolForge Fusion’s Gary knows this firsthand. “Many of us are busy and strapped for cash. Playing a traditional trading card game is expensive in terms of time and money. Deckbuilders, especially roguelike ones, offer much of the same fun without the same commitment,” Gary wrote.

SolForge Fusion is distinct in offering online matchmaking, in part to scratch the itch of competitive play for some folks. The game also provides “a massive amount of content,” with its unique Forged decks (more on that later). Good roguelike deckbuilders are not only cheaper; they’re far faster to set up and get into. There’s something to be said for letting a computer do your shuffling.

Wildfrost screen showing a creature ready to eat your cards — Much like *Wildfrost*'s Monchi, roguelike deckbuilder fans are often hungry and will sometimes take what they can get. Credit: Chucklefish

Surprisingly, deckbuilders are still an underserved market

You never know when you’ve reached the peak of a trend, but deckbuilders seem like they’re not quite there yet. Games-Stats tracks 527 roguelike deckbuilders, and Dev_Hell’s Westendorp suggests their higher-than-average revenues, wider revenue spread, and demand make them “relatively underserved as a market.”

“The games market is hyper-competitive as a whole, and many indies, ourselves included, are doing heavy genre research before diving into building a game,” Dev_Hell's Westendorp wrote.

Then there’s PC gaming reaching a wider audience in general due to some combination of streamers and YouTubers, the pandemic, Steam, the Steam Deck, console market confusion, and the maturation of an audience that grew up with PC strategy games. Deckbuilders have also only had a few years to develop and feel saturated compared to more mature genres like first-person shooters, platformers, or fighting games.

In other words, a trove of relatively affordable, engaging, non-action titles may just be finding their natural audience. “Games that rely on strategy and choice in general are more popular right now as games begin to reach wider audiences,” wrote Acolyte of the Altar’s Reid.

Creative constraints and creator expression

Grow and refine your deck, battle enemies, choose the best synergies and strategies, and die a bunch of times. What else? Roguelike deckbuilders give developers a stable and player-attracting mechanic to build on, then lets them flex their own best ideas.

Most of the games we're looking at today break from the genre’s core design in some way. Breachway adds sci-fi space factions, crew management, and in-depth ship customization to its decks and battles. Acolyte of the Altar minimizes deck-trimming card removal through “round-bellied Tiny Disciples” that automatically replace themselves with new cards and transmuting old cards into new ones. SolForge Fusion, as its name implies, promises lots of card meshing and deck melding. And Dev_Hell does something almost no other deckbuilder does and forgoes fantasy and sci-fi entirely, instead pinning its card battles to an immersive office experience and tech industry battle.

Pick up, put down, keep learning

After I had written the majority of this article, I received an email reply from Slay the Spire’s Yano to a broad question: Why are roguelike deckbuilders taking off?

“I think the genre has taken off because it's a game that you can pick up and put down at any time and there's a good sense of learning [the game and its mechanics],” Yano wrote. “Card games also lend well to discussing strategy and analysis, which is just card game stuff, and we see that with Magic, Hearthstone, etc.”

I bought Slay the Spire when it went on sale in November 2019. My hunger for the dopamine hits of random draws and compounding strategies then took me through Dicey Dungeons, Monster Train, Griftlands, Inscryption, Inkbound, Marvel Snap, and, most recently, Balatro. I’ll almost certainly head next into a bunch of the games whose developers I interviewed here.

Yano’s answer is one of many, but it’s the closest to the reason I played all those games and wanted to write this article. Roguelike deckbuilders are games that respect your time, reward curiosity, and improve as you dig into them. To me and a growing number of others, they are gaming pared down to only the most useful elements, each hitting one after another.

Listing image: Aurich Lawson

Kevin Purdy Senior Technology Reporter

Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering open-source software, PC gaming, home automation, repairability, e-bikes, and tech history. He has previously worked at Lifehacker, Wirecutter, iFixit, and Carbon Switch.

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