Dimwood

tragically this seems like the sort of game that hasn't really taken off, which is a shame for how much fun I've had playing it. structurally, I would describe the game as "unsubtly inspired by slay the spire", but it at least has a unique twist going for it. instead of text that rigidly defines what a card does, each card is broken into 4 "phrases" made up of 0-5 "pips", little icons that do extremely elementary actions like "deal 1 damage", "gain 1 block", "draw 1 card", etc. when you play a card, it plays all the pips in its default phrase, along with all the pips in the phrase matching the current light level, which can be bright, dim, or dark. enemies have their own deck of cards as well, so adjusting the light level alters the behavior of both your cards and your opponent's cards, which adds an extra dimension to battles. the primary purpose of this system, however, is that it modularizes EVERYTHING about your cards. it might be better to describe this game as a cardbuilder rather than a deckbuilder. very few cards are useful enough as-is to defeat the final boss (and then the second final boss (and then the secret final boss))). instead, you are responsible for creating the…

Dimwood is one of the best rougelike card games I've played. The player's starting decks and monster's decks are well designed with specific functions that make them enjoyable to play with. There's 3 sets of starting decks based around different ways of modifying cards, and each of them is a blast to play with, and changes the way you approach gathering new cards. I definitely have favorites among the starting decks (like king, moth, and magician), but none of the decks and inept, unfun, or poorly designed. One of the things that makes this game different from games like slay the spire is that your deck in Dimwood must have great versatility. It can't just do one thing really well, it has to be able to preform well against various different monsters, and a lot of the late game enemies can really tear apart rigid builds, especially the final boss. Another aspect worth pointing out is that I never feel as if I just got a back luck of the draw, or didn't get the cards I needed to make a build work. There's so many options with your deck, that you can make 100 fun, effective builds with whichever cards you come across on a playthrough. Playing decks you've constructed can al…

Excellent deckbuilder. Will be playing more and updating review.

Very fun deck-builder! The visuals and written descriptions are great and strike a nice balance between cute/fun and eerie. Unlike a lot of other deck-building games I've played, you have a lot of control over the individual cards, and a lot of your power seems to come from the interactions between your cards and your artifacts, rather than between the cards themselves (much of the interaction between cards comes from manipulating the light-level system). Individual artifacts have a lot of power, so a lot of card-making choices come down to figuring out how to trigger them as much as possible. The "scroll" artifact, for instance, gives you a huge damage or block payout whenever you manage to trigger card effects (represented as individual symbols or "pips") in a specific sequence, and the "flourish" artifact doubles the effects of cards if you sacrifice their light-level-insensitive effects. The light level system forces you to be very methodical with your turns, since both you and the enemy's cards act differently in different light levels. Oftentimes a single light-change pip can be a more effective damage mitigation tool than five block pips, simply because the enemy's attacks o…

It's pretty fun. The sound design is satisfying, the aesthetic is unique, and the gameplay has just the right amount of depth. It's worth checking out!

PLEASE PLAY THIS GAME its so good oh my god and the art style is so yummy and its gameplay is complex yet understandable and it requires just the right amount of strategy I love this game