$24.99Roguebook Two heroes, one wicked book
Build a deck from drafted cards, swap your heroes mid-fight and paint your way through a run that plays out differently every time.
Is Roguebook worth it?
Roguebook is worth it if…
- you want a deckbuilder where growing the deck, not shrinking it, is the winning move
- you like leading a small party and deciding who stands in front of the hits
- you enjoy uncovering a map yourself instead of picking from a fixed route
- you have played the big names in the genre and want a twist on the formula
- you do not mind that veterans of the genre find it on the easier side at first
Screenshots
Two heroes, one deck, one front line
Every run starts with a pair: pick 2 of 6 heroes, each with their own pool of over 50 cards, a personal relic and a skill tree. In battle, the hero in front soaks the hits while the one behind casts from safety. Play a block card from the back and they swap places, so the question of who stands where becomes part of every turn. Front and back positions trigger different effects, and combining the two decks is where the strong combos live. You queue up your actions against more than 40 bosses and enemies, and a fight can turn on one well-timed switch. It takes a few runs before the position dance feels natural, but once it clicks, it is the game's best trick.
Gems, relics and a deck that grows
Deckbuilding here runs in the opposite direction from most games in the genre: instead of trimming your deck down to a razor, you are rewarded for letting it grow. Over 200 cards to draft, 80 relics with strange effects, and 30 gems that socket into your cards to change what they do. You can even slot a gem mid-battle. Rather than removing cards, you transform them: trade a weak card for a drafted replacement, gem included. Every few cards you add, a new talent unlocks for your heroes, so a fat deck is not dead weight, it is fuel. You will never play the same deck twice.
Paint the map open
Each page of the book is a hexagonal map, procedurally generated, and mostly blank until you spend brushes and magic ink to reveal it. Different inks reveal different patterns: one might uncover a merchant, another a ruin, a quest, or a trap waiting patiently for the curious. The straight path to the boss is open from the start; everything worth having, you have to paint into existence. Wins in battle earn more ink, so every fight is also a bet on what the next brushstroke uncovers. It is a small puzzle layered under the card game, and it is the part people single out as the freshest thing here.
One more run, twenty ways harder
A run takes a few hours, and beating the game the first time is only the opening chapter: expect around 20 hours to see the credits, and far more to unlock everything. Pages you collect buy permanent upgrades, heroes level up and gain new cards, and 20 difficulty levels wait behind the final boss. The higher levels do more than inflate enemy health: they add new relics, gems and encounters alongside tougher foes, so a hard run plays differently, not just meaner. Short sessions, fresh maps every time, and a build that never quite repeats make it easy to talk yourself into one more go.
What should you know before playing?
Can you play it solo?
Yes, it is a singleplayer game through and through. You guide your two-hero team alone through every run, with no multiplayer modes of any kind.
How long is a run, and how long is the game?
A single run takes a few hours, and the first victory usually lands around the 20 hour mark. Unlocking everything takes far longer: hundreds of hours, if you chase all the cards, relics and difficulty levels.
Do you need to know Faeria or card games to enjoy it?
No. The story nods to Faeria, but the game explains its own rules as you go, and the two-hero system is taught through play. It is a friendly entry point if this would be your first roguelike deckbuilder.
Is it hard?
The first runs are approachable, and if you know the genre well you may find the early difficulty modest. The 20 unlockable levels are where the real challenge sits, and they change the runs rather than just toughening the enemies.
What makes it different from other deckbuilders?
Three things: two heroes who swap positions mid-fight, gems you socket into cards to rewrite their effects, and a map you reveal yourself with brushes and ink instead of choosing from a fixed set of paths.
