HELLCARD

Really cool take on the deckbuilding roguelike genre that makes great use of physical space and player agency.

Pros:
- The board layout combined with the enemy movement/intents and player targeting mechanics are some of the best I've ever seen
- You get to choose between 3 sets of 2 enemy groups each fight which creates a large amount of combat variety and player agency
- Your choice of enemies to fight also determines which rewards you're offered and each reward is split into 3 choices with varying costs and some random aspects to some of them
- Card/artifact variety is great from what I've seen and there are more classes/cards/artifacts I haven't played with or unlocked yet

Mixed:
- In singleplayer you only have control of the rewards your hero takes while your companions take random ones, although they generally choose decent options and you have various chances to replace them

Cons:
- You only have a brief chance to see what rewards your companions chose

The gameplay is enjoyable, and it's one of the best co-op roguelike deckbuilding games out there (not that many to start with)

The graphics arent amazing, and one of the DLCs is extremely overpriced, but the card play itself is really fun. There are plenty of different combinations, and having companions to join you along the journey in singleplayer is a nice touch.

Sadly there's not much variety when it comes to the final bosses, but over the years the regular enemies and mini bosses have been diversified are enjoyable.

Definitely worth purchasing on a sale, I personally would purchase the game even if it wasn't on sale, especially if I had others to run some games with!

Runs take quite some time but the strategic decisions are interesting.

Some cards, particularly lategame, are far too strong and with 3 characters you'll basically always have multiple strong options to either mitigate or ko incoming damage dealers proactively.

Since there are many more enemies compared to a simpler game, combat can take quite some time if you're trying to play near optimal.

Fun game, I LOVE the Co-Op mode and the synergies between characters!
Gargoyles are a bit overpowered imho, especially when King Gargoyle is the boss and has a few gargoyle minions, death often is inevitable...

Love this game. lots of replayability. fun getting all the cool set ups. fun to play with friends

A fantastically fun Roguelike Deck Builder. It works very well alone or with friends. I would compare it to StS, but with more of a paper cutout style and more of a top down 3D strategic layout.

Play with up to 2 friends and have the plans and strategies get so much more complex, but landing those team combos are so satisfying!

I recommend the game if you like StS or similar deck builders. Only thing to note is the run scaling increases in difficulty a bit exponentially so while you may steamroll floors 1-9, the last 3 floors may wipe the floor with you. It's something you will more easily pass once you unlock more relics and cards for your character :)

Fun game from what I've played so far.

The lack of a keyword system for near and far damage is annoying as the verbiage is different between the three starting classes. will update as I continue to play but the rough edges I see aren't glaring flaws yet. Time will tell as I up the difficulty

This game is good, it has some interesting ideas for deckbuilding, and it is worth a play for that reason. However, it feels a bit slow. I beat it in both my first two runs, and don't have much desire to unlock everything else because a run takes ~2 hours.

This game does the thing where you see enemies' intent, and its cool that there are just a ton of dudes to fight at once. It makes you really think of how to mitigate everything. The abilities you can get are strong enough to deal with the challenge, and I like that card upgrades literally change the card into something else rather than just "number go up."

Very fun! Played a couple hours so far. Some alone and some with a friend. I like it

Good

It is a great deck builder to play with friends. Solo is fun too but the game shines best with 2-3 friends.

If Slay the Spire and The Last Spell had a love child, it might look like Hellcard.

Those two games are excellent and highly replayable, and figured out how to make the magic sauce that = fun.

Hellcard was a slower burn. I nearly quit in the first half of my first run - it wasn't quite hooking me the same way. But as I progressed I began to see the familiar depth and variability in the game. I think there's something good here, and I have to give a shoutout how multiplayer is built-in as an option.

good game, many ways to go infinite but still not win necessarily due to bosses. Interesting choices and cooperation. Some of the cards seem awful though, where others seem insanely busted. Worth a grab, though

Fun Game, but only really fun with 2+ people

Loved this deckbuilding game with coop function. Many varity of builds that makes each run different. Fun and thrilling moments which better to experience with a friend online!

The co-op aspect is great. Been playing this with a friend for days and the replayability is very very high

I liked the mechanics, they were quite fresh, although in some cases they were not very clear but overally acceptable. What I didn't like was the mess in later levels. At beginning you carefully plan your actions to get best result but at some point you just stop thinking about best choices because there are too many card & options and instead you simply go to dumb strategy like freeze / stun everything and then try to figure something out. Maybe I will play a bit more but to be honest at this point it's probably no longer fun. Besides what's wrong with leaderboard? People having scores 99999999 etc. It doesn't make sense.

Anyway, I leave positive score because it's hard to add new mechanics to deck builder genre and this game was able to do that.

Fantastic game in a flooded market. Hellcard is a roguelike deckbuilder with a grim paper crafts aesthetic and a multiplayer mode that strangely caps at 3 players. It does not promise to, nor does it, break the mold established by games like Slay the Spire. That said, it's a great addition to the genre that feels fresh and playable.

Pros:
- A multiplayer mode that caps at 3 players might seem like a con (and it does have downsides--see below), but it makes for a play style that is unique and fun. Positioning becomes much more important when you're back to back (to back!) with two friends, and fortunately all five available classes have viable damage and support builds. Additionally, I just don't HAVE a lot of games I can play when only 3 people show up to game night, so it's a welcome addition to my library when I have too many players for a duel-style game and too few for Jackbox.
- Choosing settings to explore based on both enemies that will show up and rewards you'll get out of it is a fresh take on the "map with intersections" model of selecting locations popularized by games like Slay the Spire. No settings feel particularly underpowered, but the class-specific locations are particularly beneficial in their flexibility, and make it feel like your contributions as a player extend beyond your battling or defensive capabilities. In which other multiplayer deckbuilder does your class selection give you the ability to support players before a battle with extra block, card upgrades or mana? Yeah, didn't think so.
- Because of the way that card upgrades are structured, useless cards are unlikely to stay that way for long. Upgrades are only semi-linear; in other words, unlike in games where only one or two possible card upgrades exist, Hellcard's system can make a card either better at what it originally did (direct upgrade) or move it into an adjacent type of functionality. This makes your deck more adaptable, as either card removal or card upgrades can be viable methods of getting rid of the dead weight in your deck.
- Relics still feel fresh and extremely helpful, especially the legendaries (which are totally worth the 3 gold).

Cons
- Three player multiplayer, while offering a fun dynamic not provided by many other games, can be a bit difficult when you and a partner just want to grind. The game does much better with a 3-player party than a 2-player one, and playing with only two means that some classes (like Bruja) become less viable due to the sheer amount of support required to not glass cannon yourself to death.
- Boss variety could be better, particularly for end bosses. It's also frustrating that some endbosses will straight up render a build completely ineffective (for example, the "Round Robin" ability of the Diablo-style devil literally makes Stamina bursts not activate, effectively stopping many Warriors in their tracks).
- The way multiplayer lobbies are set up is a bit weird. It requires you to make a character, but the characters don't seem to be saved after you've used them once (which really defeats the purpose). However, they DO end up saved when you build them but ultimately don't select them, which means that I always seem to have one or two characters I started building, but never played, in my setup menu in the lobby, and have to delete them or deal with the inconvenience of their presence forever. Since characters don't level up or gain new abilities aside from those chosen at setup of the session, why have them save at all? Just a weird choice.

Cons aside, this is an excellent game. I've had a lot of fun with it and would happily recommend it to a friend who has spent far too much time on Spire, Across the Obelisk, or any of the other "greatest hits" of the genre and wants something that follows the formula, but feels new and fresh at the same time. Happy Hellcarding!

This is one of the very few card games that I truly enjoy.

Just won my first game in single singleplayer mode. However it took me 2 hours to finish my first run because I have to control two other characters aside from my own. I really had fun though and the characters and the cards are unique and fun. I would definitely recommend this game for all avid deckbuilder fans out there.

Fun game! Or atleast it was fun, until you experience game breaking debuffs at the final boss levels. Just one dog mechanic that needs to be removed from the game completely. The "ROUND ROBIN" debuff in boss fights. NGL would have refunded the game if I had less play time. This debuff is the epitome of "unfun" The debuff makes it to where each "Human" player can only play 1 card. This debuff is understandable for Co-op or multiplayer, however the debuff is IMPOSSIBLE to play against in single player.

IN SHORT IF ROUND ROBIN DEBUFF EXISTS DO NOT BUY THE GAME. If they remove/rework it for single player in the future...get the game.

Having loads of fun, has more depth than it appears at first, hope we get a new dlc <3

great to enjoy strategizing and build types between co-op friends, the difficulty stays interesting. put a lot of hours into it so far and we all still have a great time. updates have been fun to experience as well

link to your store page as something I have to click past every time? instant refund

Good Game! just need more content :) please release some DLC :) the only downside is that it is easily finished.

As a co-op version of Slay the Spire, I am satisfied with this game despite not making much difference (other than co-op) with its predecessor.

However, the game is not without flaws. One of my biggest complaint is that there is a steep difficulty spike between the final floor and the floor before the final floor. You may defeat any other floors with ease and get team wiped in the first turn on the last floor. The last floor of each run always has ridiculous number of enemies with immense amount of health and/or power. The enemies also don't give you any chance to make preparation. Very often, their every attack would wipe out a significant portion of your team's health and they would attack on the very first turn and almost every turn onward.

So how could you defeat the final floor? Your deck (and preferably your teammate's) must be brokenly strong. How do you do that? You find the strongest card(s) or combo you can play from your class, and eliminate all the other useless cards. One of the things I like about this game is that unlike Slay the Spire, you get to make your deck extremely concise and consistent in Hellcard. Discovering and abusing the most powerful options in each class is the most satisfying experience in this game.

However, due to the difficulty spike on the final floor, there are very few strategies available for every class simply because the other options are not good enough. The game's difficulty depends on your knowledge on each class, knowing what are their most broken cards. Soon afterwards, the game becomes dull.

But nonetheless, my wife and I still had a good time with this game. This was the first cooperative card game we played and the first card game for her. It was a refreshing experience. Therefore, if you are not a hardcore card game player and would like to play some casual turn-based card battles with friends or family members, I sincerely recommend this game to you.

I love playing all the characters. I love that i can win with all these characters. Every run is different, win or lose im having fun. I love crafting decks with my friends in real time and running it down with them.

Simple but varied. Nice game :)

LOVE THIS GAME. its like slay the spire. its got co-op. lots of different playstyles

Well, for any Slay the Spire fan, this is the less interesting version, but coop. Combat is quite simple and boring and the fighting with 3 decks against many enemies does not really make it much better. Deck building feels much less fun and rewarding than in other deck builders. After winning a couple runs, the motivation to touch this game again goes towards 0.

on first glance game look ok, but after unlocking 12 levels with single wizard I try to do the same thing with warrion, and it is just imposible. I thing that warrion is not balance well, he have a lots of pasive buff that cost two or more for little gain. there are maps when not mathere what you will do in 2 turn you will be hit with more then 30 damage, if only he would not lose all shield, but half that would be ok, but know it is strugle, the farthest i could go with warrior was when i team up with clerik.
The upgrae for cards are wird and some times it is worst card that you have before.
I just didn't enjoy this wird strugle when enemys just buff them self forever and i have to pay for it so much, like camman to redirect one damage you have to pay 2 energy from 3, and there is card that do the same thing but can be only played once(why it exist if it is not cheaper).
It is hard to invite frends to this game when i can't enjoy even a single player.

Not for me. It's not a bad game by any means, I actually do recommend it if you're a diehard StS fan, but for me, it's too much like it to justify paying £20 for.

Love the game would recommend to anyone wants to have a fun strategic rouge-like game.

A coop roguelike deckbuilder. These words have not been together before. Great game with friends.

I can absolutely recommend this one. HELLCARD is an absolute must-play for fans of cooperative deck-building games The gameplay is fast, strategic, and incredibly fun, especially when playing with friends. The co-op mechanics are well-designed, making every run kinda feel fresh and not really boring and repetitive.
I love the dark, paper-ish stylish graphics, which perfectly fit the atmosphere of the game. The card synergies are satisfying to discover, and the challenge keeps you coming back for more. Surprisingly GOOD.

This is soooo much fun and so addicting. You will start thinking of builds in your sleep.

Very fun, also cute! Love the design. But if a dev sees this: PLEASE change the fonts! It really takes you out of the game!

Finally a coop Slay The Spire like game!!! Very good job , nice balances, nice build variants!

Fun game, worth the price if you got a buddy or two interested. Looking forward to more content

It's co-op slay the spire with a couple additions. Incredibly fun. Card upgrades are insane and completely transform the card.

Very fun. Love the strategy i feel like i was missing in games like slay the spire.

Would not recommend as a single player experience. The pace is to slow and the mechanics by which you can empower your character are more frustrating than fun. Not sure how it would be as a co-op / multiplayer experience though. I didn't give that a try.

My son Jol got the best of the game real fast. Always so impressed by his ability figure out ruff and tuff puzzles! Love you Jol!

TLDR: Game is hard, shield is mandatory, stun mechanics are your friend.

Actual review. I enjoy it, artstyle is fun, it falls more into the roguelike category than roguelite due to the nature of the out of run 'upgrades'. The upgrades are exchanged for your starter currency for different costs, limiting what you're allowed to bring into the run, and beyond that they generally just change what cards you start with or add an additional behavior to your character. No direct damage increases or higher rarity chances. I like this.

General gripe, a lack of the ability to build your own decks. The Chocolate box helps, but it would be nice to be able to more easily experiment with card combos. The fact not every card is available through upgrading the starter cards is also a small gripe.

Otherwise, I do like the game. Beating the boss is always a good feeling due to the challenge of even getting to the boss. Creating synergistic hands by fighting the hands of fate is also enjoyable in small amounts.

Fun co-op game but beyond over priced. Should be a $10 game.

8.5/10 - Great game. This Is Balatro levels of good.

Up to 3 Co-op. This game needs to be known about so I can queue with randoms faster.

fun solo
more fun with friends

I've loved the first game of these series, and was looking forward for the release of a second.

HOWEVER, nowhere on the game page it's listed that the game can be enjoyed with 3 people co-op only. I bet the solo experience is enjoyable after running through the combos of each class, but It's quite a let-down to juggle between three characters on your own.

Additionally, there's no way to smh coach-coop with multiple controllers\inputs, please tell me if I'm wrong. I don't have 2 friends willing to buy and invest time in a niche card game, unfortunately.

I've refunded this game and I DO recommend for playing in co-op, and I DO NOT recommend for playing single-player as of now.

This is great fun, very similar to my other favourite card games on steam. I think this games endless mode might be my new main game for a while.

Very clean controls, great deck building mechanics. Thoroughly enjoy this title!