There are a million roguelike deckbuilders out there. Games where you collect and edit decks of cards, all wrapped up in a cyclical roguelike structure that often has you dying and restarting with all your upgrades. Rogue Light Deck Builder is nothing like the countless other roguelike deckbuilders on Steam, however, mainly because it takes its name very, very, hilariously literally.
How so? Well, it's a game about building a wooden deck for your house. It's a deck builder. And it's not even a roguelite, either - that bit of the joke comes from a faulty lightbulb that'll stutter and make it harder for you to hammer down nails into the floor. It's a rogue lightbulb. Here's a look at its deadpan humor and rhythm based hammering.
In between sessions where you'll try to avoid flattening your fingers, you can spend some hard-saved cash on upgrades to make that light a little less rogue or improve how easy it is to deliver a 'Perfect' hammer hit, for example, all to appease your hollow-eyed husband who talks like an alien parasite and looks like he's made out of clay.
"Freedom is $1,000,000. Build a deck. Use your hammer. Drive the nails in. Scrimp and save. Freedom is just around the corner. Upgrade your hammer, your hand, your nails. Squash a bug. Upgrade the bug. Squash it again. Say it with me: "Freedom is just around the corner." Keep your streak alive. The light is blinking. Listen to your nails. Cash out. $1,000,000, remember? Step by step. Hit your hand. Ignore the pain. Just around the corner," reads the very odd Steam blurb. Leaderboard and an endless mode are also here in case you wanted to build decks forever.
Rogue Light Deck Builder actually came out months ago on itch.io, but found a whole new audience with this month's Steam release. And no surprise there since it's going for just $3/£2 thanks to an ongoing discount. As of the time of writing, the game's also managed to court hundreds of Steam reviews, 97% of which give it the thumbs up.
"The physics are kind of a joke but it's like a joke you and your husband are both in on," one user review reads. "This is the first game that has truly captured [Adult Swim] bumper animation energy for me and I kinda love it for that," another says.
If you'd like something more traditionally like Rogue, then check out the very best roguelike games available now.
