Balatro absolutely rules. And this is coming from someone with abject disdain of poker… Traditional poker hands are your basic tools, but that’s about as far as the connection goes. The rest of Balatro is a wickedly clever, psychedelic, insta-classic roguelike through which you’ll devise cunning ways to break the game. Cards and modifiers are tightly designed, crisply defined and delightfully synergistic. Again, Balatro just rules. Play it.

Deckbuilding autobattler roguelite with some realtime combat elements - it’s such a genre-mash that it can be a bit hard to get your head around at first, and ultimately hard to decide if it works. Cool concept, art and atmosphere, but the core combat mechanic won’t be for everyone. The mix of autobattle with realtime interactivity sometimes means you spend more time waiting than calculating your next move. Interesting game though, and decently priced.

A silly but compelling gamejam entry from Mega Crit of Slay the Spire fame, Dancing Duelists is a deckbuilding autobattler with a dance-off theme. Understandably doesn’t have the same depth as StS given its jam roots, but it’s already a neat idea which proves to be fun and addictive. Absolutely worth a go.

Extraordinarily good art, great music and very well put together. Runs are challenging; there’s quite a lot of cognitive load and mistakes are punished hard - but it’s fun as hell.

Felt a bit strange to play on PC and I’m very Marvel-fatigued, but the game design itself is stellar. Impressive mix of casual & complex. Sadly, at some point, you’ll likely reach for your wallet.

An interesting take from atop the shoulders of Slay the Spire. Not quite as fun and somehow not quite as deep, but relatively addictive and room for lots of variety.

A roguelike which plays like a tabletop cardgame in which your inventory management itself defines how combat plays out. An interesting concept allowing for dynamic builds. Could do with some UX love.

Pretty special game. Great art and music delivers a really unique concept. A good example of the strength of the medium, where gameplay is married to the narrative nicely. Super cool.

Chess with a shotgun. Gets a bit deeper as you play, and deceptively satisfying. Cool packaging of a neat little concept and worth a look.

Combine cards into new ones, earn gold, buy card packs, start a village and survive as long as you can. Starts off chilled and cosy but can get hectic and challenging.