Games Like Slay the Spire: The 9 Best Roguelike Deck-Builders

Ever found yourself lost in the strategic depths of Slay the Spire, pulling off that perfect combo, or barely surviving a boss fight with a sliver of health? If you’re anything like us, that unique blend of roguelike challenge and deck-building mastery is incredibly addictive. It’s a game that redefined a genre, making us crave more of its particular brand of turn-based brilliance.

But once you’ve scaled the Spire countless times, where do you go next for that same fix? The good news is, the world of indie games has truly embraced this formula, offering a fantastic array of games like Slay the Spire that capture its essence while bringing their own fresh twists to the table. Get ready to discover your next obsession!

Quick Look: Your Next Roguelike Deck-Builder

Found yourself addicted to the strategic depth of Slay the Spire? This list of alternatives captures that unique blend of roguelike challenge and deck-building mastery. Each game offers a fresh twist, from a vertical battlefield to a party-based adventure, ensuring you’ll find your next obsession.

• For a Unique Gameplay Twist: If you’re looking for a game that shakes up the formula, these titles are a perfect fit. Monster Train is a vertical, tower-defense style deck-builder where you defend a multi-floor train. Inscryption is a genre-bending blend of deck-building with psychological horror and puzzles. Dicey Dungeons adds a playful, chaotic element where cards are powered by the dice you roll each turn.
• For Deeper Strategy & Storytelling: These games go beyond simple card battles with rich narratives and strategic layers. Griftlands uses a dual-deck system for both combat and negotiation, with choices impacting your character’s story. Gordian Quest and Across the Obelisk challenge you to manage a party of heroes, master their individual decks, and use synergy to survive.
• For a New Kind of Challenge: If you’ve mastered the standard formula, these games offer a fresh way to test your skills. Vault of the Void provides strategic control with a “low-RNG” design that lets you tailor your deck for each battle. Roguebook gives you control over your run by allowing you to “paint” your own path on the map. Wildfrost introduces a unique “countdown” mechanic on every card, forcing you to plan moves several turns ahead.

Monster Train: A Vertical Twist on Deck-Building

If you’re searching for games like Slay the Spire but with a fresh, strategic layer, then Monster Train should be at the top of your list. Developed by Shiny Shoe, this roguelike deck-builder takes the familiar card-battling formula and literally elevates it. Instead of a single path, you’re defending a multi-floor train ascending through the rings of Hell, with enemies advancing upwards towards your pyre.

This vertical battlefield introduces a captivating tower-defense element, forcing you to think about unit placement and spell timing across three distinct combat floors. You’ll choose two of five distinct monster clans, each with unique champions, units, and spell cards, allowing for incredible build variety and synergy.

The sheer number of card upgrades, artifacts, and random events ensures that no two runs ever feel the same. While it might offer a slightly more forgiving difficulty curve than Slay the Spire in its early stages, Monster Train quickly ramps up, providing a deeply satisfying challenge for any deck-building enthusiast.

Griftlands: Talk Your Way Out (or Fight!)

Next up on our list of games like Slay the Spire is Griftlands, a roguelike deck-builder from Klei Entertainment, the brilliant minds behind Don’t Starve. What truly sets Griftlands apart is its innovative dual-deck system: you’ll manage both a combat deck for physical altercations and a negotiation deck for verbal sparring. Many encounters give you the choice to either talk your way out of trouble or fight your way through it, adding a rich layer of strategic decision-making that influences your character’s story and relationships.

Each of the three playable characters has their own unique campaign, complete with branching storylines, distinct card sets, and a cast of memorable NPCs. Your choices in the world of Havaria genuinely matter, impacting who becomes an ally, an enemy, or even a casualty.

k This narrative depth, combined with Klei’s signature hand-drawn art style and witty writing, makes Griftlands a compelling experience that offers a different flavor of roguelike deck-building.

Dicey Dungeons: Roll the Dice and Hope for the Best

For a completely different take on the genre, check out Dicey Dungeons, a charming and colorful roguelike deck-builder where your fate is literally in the hands of a roll. Here, the cards you play are powered by the dice you roll each turn. It’s a game that embraces a more chaotic, playful approach to the genre, all presented within a whimsical game-show setting hosted by the mischievous Lady Luck.

The core of the game lies in its six distinct playable characters, all of whom are anthropomorphic dice. Each character has a wildly different playstyle, forcing you to adapt your strategy on every run. The Robot, for example, plays a game of push-your-luck blackjack to generate dice, while the Witch relies on a spellbook to assign spells to specific dice rolls.

This variety, combined with its fantastic soundtrack and charming art style, makes Dicey Dungeons a fun and accessible entry point for anyone looking for games like Slay the Spire with a unique twist.

Inscryption: More Than Just a Card Game

If you’re ready to dive into a genre-bending experience, Inscryption is a brilliant addition to any list of games like Slay the Spire. While it shares the core of deck-building and roguelike progression, this is no ordinary card game.

Created by Daniel Mullins, the game masterfully blends card game mechanics with psychological horror, escape room puzzles, and a compelling meta-narrative.

At first, you’re playing a tabletop card game against a shadowy figure in a creepy cabin, but the game soon reveals much darker secrets. You can get up from the table to solve puzzles in the cabin, find clues, and unlock new cards and abilities. As the story unfolds, the game itself evolves in surprising and often unsettling ways.

The result is a truly unique and atmospheric experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat, proving that a card game can be both a strategic challenge and a deeply disturbing story.

Gordian Quest: A Party-Based Adventure

Stepping away from the single-hero experience, Gordian Quest offers a compelling turn-based RPG with deck-building and roguelike mechanics. In this game, you don’t control one hero, but a party of up to three. Each hero has their own deck of abilities, and you’ll manage their cards, equipment, and skill trees to create a cohesive team.

The game’s tactical combat takes place on a grid, where hero positioning and card synergy are crucial for survival.

As you explore a procedurally generated world, you’ll engage in a series of quests and encounters, leveling up your party and unlocking new ways to customize their decks. The sheer amount of depth in character progression and party building sets it apart, offering a slower, more deliberate pace than other deck-builders. It’s a great option if you love the idea of a card-based system but also crave a rich, party-driven RPG experience.

Across the Obelisk: The Ultimate Co-op Experience

For those who believe that a roguelike adventure is best shared with friends, Across the Obelisk is one of the best games like Slay the Spire available. This is a co-op roguelite deck-building RPG that allows you to team up with up to three other players, with each person controlling a hero in a single party.

Teamwork is the name of the game here. Success hinges on strategic card synergy between players and making collective decisions as you navigate a branching narrative. Each of the characters has a unique deck of cards, skills, and items, so you’ll need to coordinate your builds to create a powerful and balanced party.

The game’s procedurally generated world, branching story paths, and hundreds of cards ensure a new and challenging experience every single time you play.

Vault of the Void: A Low-RNG Power Fantasy

If you’re all about tight strategy and dislike the randomness of most roguelikes, then Vault of the Void is a game you have to check out. It stands out in the genre with its “low-RNG” design philosophy, giving you an unprecedented amount of control over your runs. You’ll play as one of several distinct classes, each with their own unique card pool and mechanics.

The game’s most unique feature is its approach to deck management. You’re not just adding or removing cards; you’re building a “pack” of cards that you can freely swap into your active 20-card deck between each battle. This allows you to perfectly tailor your deck to the next encounter, which you can see in advance on the map. The combat system is also a departure, with a “threat” mechanic that lets you reactively block damage. This emphasis on player agency and strategic customization makes Vault of the Void a rewarding experience for anyone who wants to minimize luck and maximize skill.

Roguebook: The Living Book

Imagine a roguelike deck-builder where you literally paint your own path. That’s the unique premise of Roguebook, a game co-designed by Richard Garfield, the legendary creator of Magic: The Gathering. The game features a striking art style where you explore the pages of a magical book by using brushes and inks to reveal hex-based tiles on the map.

This gives you a rare sense of control over your run, as you strategically decide where to spend your ink to uncover treasure, enemies, and valuable resources.

But the real magic lies in the combat. You’ll control a party of two heroes, each with their own deck of cards, and you’ll need to master their synergy and positioning. The hero in front soaks up damage, while the one in the back is safe to unleash powerful spells and abilities.

Many cards and abilities are designed to take advantage of this front-and-back dynamic, forcing you to think tactically about every turn. With over 200 cards, unique gems to upgrade them, and a meta-progression system that carries over between runs, Roguebook is a polished and deeply strategic adventure.

Wildfrost: Chill Out and Get Strategic

With its charming art style and deceptively simple premise, Wildfrost is a challenging and engaging addition to our list of games like Slay the Spire. This roguelike deck-builder distinguishes itself with a heavy emphasis on timing and elemental synergies. Your primary goal is to defeat an eternal winter and its monstrous minions, which you do by carefully managing your cards and your companions’ abilities.

The game’s core loop revolves around a unique “countdown” mechanic on every card and enemy. Each turn, these timers tick down, and when they hit zero, the action is triggered. You’ll need to use this to your advantage, planning your moves multiple turns in advance to set up devastating combos.

You’ll also choose a starting leader and a companion, which determines your starting deck and playstyle. From there, you’ll recruit new companions and collect powerful charms and cards to create a deck that can withstand the chilling forces of the Wildfrost.

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