This game is currently in the Humble Choice for January 2024, and this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before February 6th, 2024, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.

Slay the Spire while uncovering a map.

Card-based games have stuck with the Slay the Spire formula for the longest time, and Roguebook’s battle combat is exactly what you’ve seen before. Blocks, and various attacks as you build a deck to try to beat your way through normal enemies, elites, and bosses. But in Roguebook there’s also a lot more map exploration allowing players to make better choices, than following a predetermined path, as well as a progression system that unlocks new benefits to the player.

The downside is this game just feels brutal in the first few playthroughs. Part of the process is learning what skills and cards to reach for, but the progression system feels similar to Hades, where you’re going to have to die quite often to start making progress, and in Roguebook, those deaths happen earlier at least they did to me.

Pick this up if you aren’t burned out on Deck-builders. There’s a fresh map system here that’s worth checking out, but this is still yet another deck builder at the end of the day. The game also can take a second character as your support so players will mix and match their characters as they play through the game.

If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/6IY4Gl2JdaQ

deckbuilders physical and digital have two defining traits in common that i would single out: a flow of design that naturally stirs up a blitz speed of play, and synergistic card slinging that hones your deck till it's a nigh-infinite combo maker that feels as illegal as it does satisfying to engineer. to the first point, roguebook is absurdly, grossly slow. there are hard-coded bottlenecks which prevent you from playing your cards (or sometimes even looking at your cards) as fast as you're able to in slay the spire or hearthstone (while not a deckbuilder it is the standard model from how cards are played). literally, the game just won't let you play them fast enough. other times you're waiting for a character or interface animation (i.e. the dreaded shuffle which PAUSES PLAY). awkward text prompts i've seen a hundred times halt the gameplay, and so do little things like the shop which enters you into a useless graphical scene where another shop button appears that must be clicked to do what you actually want to do, and will want to many times per run. there is so little regard for pace in roguebook it should be written off as glammed up amateur hour. to the second point, just take a brb to look at the game's character and card lists. you spend so much of roguebook disappointed with unsatisfying, static attack, block, or similarly basic cards for poorly defined characters that there just isn't anything to construct from, no deck to cook up and call yours. in monster train the red and blue decks are unique in theme and gameplay, likewise for slay the spire's ironclad and silent characters. here those differences might as well boil down to more attack or more block, it's that rudimentary. a deck in late game roguebook looks like a standard deckbuilder stack you're still trying to prune before having gotten any deck-defining cards. there's a lot more to this that feels like mobile junk without any run variety or genre typical cardplay. it's just dead on arrival. i did like the overworld exploring as superfluous as it may be, because it felt like a throwback to a charming 90s game design. it's the only charm here.

Roguebook:

SLAY THE SPIRE VIBES!
ENDLICH!
Karten, die sich alle unterschiedlich anfühlen, viele Möglichkeiten Karten zu verbessern und Relikte zu erhalten.
Großer Unterschied:
Es sind 2 Figuren statt eine. Das erhöht ein wenig den Glücksfaktor, bietet aber eine neue Option. Den Positionswechsel.
Und mehr Möglichkeiten der Deckzusammenstellung. Alle Decks funktionieren miteinander, aber man muss sie je nach Partner anders spielen.
Der Run ist wieder in 3 Akte unterteilt, aber die einzelnen Akte bestehen nicht aus Knotenpunkten, sondern aus .. Feldern, die man mittels Tinte aufdeckt.
Die Knotenpunkte mochte ich ein bisschen mehr, weil sie so zeitsparend waren, ohne Optionen zu nehmen. Dafür wirkt die Tintenfeldvarianten natürlich frisch.
Größter Unterschied:
RogueLITE! nicht Roguelike.
Es gibt dauerhafte Verbesserungen, die alle zukünftigen Runs einfacher machen.
Und hier ist der ganze Techtree geil.
Mag man mögen, mag man hassen, ich finde beide Varianten super.

Auf der PS4 ist die Performance nicht so geil, es gibt kurze Ladezeiten zwischen den kämpfen und man kann den Kampf nicht beschleunigen.
(Ein StS Run schaffe ich mittlerweile in unter 30 Minuten auf hohem Ascensionlevel)
Dazu ruckelt es leider etwas in Kämpfen, wenn man eine Menge Karten im Deck und viele Relikte gesammelt hat.

Und leider ist die Tastenbelegung anders als bei StS.. man gewöhnt sich zum Glück recht schnell dran.
Es gibt ein Relikt mit dem man schneller auf den Feldern laufen kann.. wieso ist das nicht immer freigeschaltet? :D
Nicht so arg schlimm, weil es ja nur einen kleinen Teil der Spielzeit ausmacht..aber ich hätte es dennoch gerne immer auf schnell eingestellt.

Das andere große Problem:
Es gibt etwas weniger Gegner, weniger Relikte und weniger Karten. Das fühlt sich ein wenig wie bei der Passwortsicherheit an. Weil es eben weniger Möglichkeiten gibt und wenn es nur ein paar sind, gehen so viele Kombinationen flöten.
Wärend man bei Slay The Spire wirklich jede Kart in irgendeinem Szenario sinnvoll einsetzen kann, diese aber auch tatsächlich entstehen müssen, wirkt es bei Roguebook viel zu leicht. Verbündete sind immer gut, Angriffskarten sind immer gut. Ich muss kein Szenario abwägen, in dem ich diese Karten von "man ist die Mist" zu "Großer Gott, zum Glück hatte ich dieses Deck" hieve.

Nach den ersten 2 Runs, die schnell endeten, bin ich danach nicht mehr gestorben. Das Spiel dauert aber auch zu lange um es bis zum Ende zu spielen.
Wären Ladezeiten und Performanceprobleme nicht da und die Kämpfe deutlich schneller, würde man sich schnell auf höhere Schwierigkeitsgrade spielen, aber so wirkt es mehr wie Arbeit.. was bei einem Videospiel nie der Fall sein sollte.

Saw a video of this, and at first I was excited, because I thought it looked like a 2D, top-down, open world roguelite RPG where the combat was card play. Like the Magic: TG game by MIcroprose from the 90s! Oh, and Thronebreaker. This game is kind of that, except there's a pesky limitation mechanic to the exploration that really kills the vibe I was hoping for. In addition to that, the game is Slay The Spire with a slight twist of a positioning mechanic between the two characters. Pretty cool, I guess, and better than the other StS clone with positioning that I forgot the name of, but I'm also pretty over the StS formula for now and don't really feel like more of this.

Pese a jugar en una liga algo inferior a otros juegos de su género, consigue hacer gala de una personalidad propia.

Pros:
- El sistema de aliados aporta una buena variedad de posibilidades a los combates.
- El árbol de desbloqueos supone un buen incentivo para dedicarle bastantes horas.
- El sistema de desbloqueo del mundo mediante tinta es muy original y siempre esconde sorpresas detrás.

Contras:
- Las sinergias no terminan de ser su fuerte.
- A nivel artístico, es algo feote.
- Se echan en falta mayores posibilidades de interacción en las parejas de personajes.

Full review:
https://youtu.be/uW2mzxPNvRc
--------------------

Positive:
Map exploration instead of following a set path: uncover fights, events, items and gold
Interesting mechanics like the importance of your heroes position and team synergies
Card modification: significantly upgrade or change cards with gems
Epilogue system: choose from different challenges that make the game harder
Charming artstyle

Neutral:
Fat deck system that incentivizes building larger decks (less predictable, quantity over quality)
Hardly any way to remove cards, but it’s possible (yet pricey) to transform them
Initial paid day 1 DLC is now included in the base game

Negative:
No run history or statistics
Only 4 heroes and 2 of them feel uninspired
Needs more content, especially more unique cards for a greater variety of builds
Too easy (even worsened by unlocking permanent perks in the skilltree)
* No custom mode or daily challenges: low replayability compared to StS & Monster Train