Mage Tower: Call of Zadeus
Super Mega Games · 2023 · Roguelike Deckbuilder, Card Battler, Card Game, Strategy, Roguelike
PC
Positive100% · 22
Compare prices in Official Stores
Screenshots
About Mage Tower: Call of Zadeus
Mage Tower is a roguelike deckbuilder built around tight 45-minute runs, 3 bosses per run, and the thrill of turning a modest deck into something wildly overpowered. Travel across a fantasy world, fight off advancing waves of monsters, and shape your deck with spells, soldiers, artifacts, and absurd combinations.
Enhance your cards with artifacts, turning simple units and spells into outrageous tools of destruction. Give a soldier infinite attacks. Make a spell hit harder, cost less, or gain new effects. Take a card that seemed merely useful and turn it into the centerpiece of a broken, unfair build.
The original Mage Tower released in 2013, during the early wave of deckbuilder experimentation that followed classics like Dominion. It explored a focus on combat (instead of on buying cards from piles), and introduced a "same-energy-every-turn" resource system.
EXPLORE THE WORLD
Travel across a node-based map by visiting towns, events, obelisks, bazaars, and dungeons as you improve your deck and plan your route. Monsters roam the map and can chase you down, turning exploration into battle at any moment. While movement is free-roaming, you can pause and inspect the map whenever you want, so it still captures the route-planning feel of other roguelike deckbuilders.
CUSTOMIZE YOUR CARDS
Enhance your cards with artifacts, turning simple units and spells into outrageous tools of destruction. Give a soldier infinite attacks. Make a spell hit harder, cost less, or gain new effects. Take a card that seemed merely useful and turn it into the centerpiece of a broken, unfair build. TOWER DEFENSE-INSPIRED BATTLES
Enemies do not just stand there waiting to be attacked! They advance in waves (like a tower defense game), creating constant pressure. You must decide when to defend, when to build momentum, and when to unleash your strongest effects. You retain your hand between turns, which makes planning and card advantage a huge part of survival.ENTER THE DUNGEON
And then there are the dungeons. These dangerous side areas feel like a mini-roguelike inside the larger run. You do not recover health inside. So every extra fight, treasure, and step forward comes with increasing risk. Leave now with your rewards, or push your luck to grab one more treasure!BASED ON THE CARD GAME
The original Mage Tower released in 2013, during the early wave of deckbuilder experimentation that followed classics like Dominion. It explored a focus on combat (instead of on buying cards from piles), and introduced a "same-energy-every-turn" resource system.
FEATURES:
- Run-based roguelike deckbuilder with 45-minute runs, with 3 bosses per run
- Explore a node-based map, pause at any time and look at the map to plan your route
- Battle through waves of monsters similar to a tower defense game
- 400+ cards and 100+ artifacts
- 130+ in-game achievements to unlock
- Two characters with 8 subclasses (different starting cards/skills) among them
- Upgrade and enhance cards to create customized builds
- Explore mini-roguelike dungeons with high-risk, high-reward decisions
- Deep endgame progression system via customizable "Plight" challenges
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
How this game isnt MUCH more popular, is beyond my understanding- I stumbled upon it purely coincidental, and hesitated to even try it, as the videos and screenshots left me with the impression that this would be another half-baked STS-clone. But, i honestly couldnt have been more wrong: Call of Zadeus is actually a LOT more than "just" another roguelike-deckbuilder. Its a very fleshed out card-rpg in the spirit of Magic: Shandalar, where you wander around, collect cards and battle enemies in turn-based card-battles, but has been improved in every possible way: - You dont start with one fixed character, but choose from different classes. - There are a lot of ways to interact with the world. You can construct buildings, upgrade or remove cards, buy new cards (and there are LOTS of 'em), alter your cards in specific ways, discover dungeons, find artifacts, experience events with clear outcomes, and, of course, fight for loot and ressources. - Battle-mechanics are very simple and easy to understand, but at the same time, complex and deep: You get 7 mana per round to play cards. Spells and creatures that deal damage will target the first enemy (if not stated otherwise), and overla…7 found this helpful
Really good deckbuilder with a very unique combat system that feels great when you get into the swing of things. Lots of unlocks and different classes that promote different playstyles. Mostly reviewing because the game definitely deserves more love. Criminal how under the radar it is.2 found this helpful
This game is based on a terrific tabletop tower defense card drafting game. When this game first released to backers in early development, it was essentially that card game with a clunky overland map. To be clear, all I was hoping for was a digital version of the card game, and this was great. Most of the cards were the same as the print game. There were some signs of innovation in some of the monster decks. I enjoyed playing it and set it aside. Returning to this now, it is a different and dramatically improved game. Virtually all of the cards have been changed, the progression has changed, the variety of available monsters to battle is substantially increased, as are the other mechanisms (relics, town abilities, character classes, etc.) I cannot believe the amount of work that this developer has put in to this project and would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Mage Tower or who is interested in a variation on fantasy-themed deckbuilding.1 found this helpful
I am thoroughly enjoying my time with this game. For a while I have been looking for a Shandalar like, and this game is able to scratch that itch. Currently, 22.11.2025, during early access, the game is still quite rough around the edges, but that mainly relates to the visuals. There are bugs to be found, and the graphics range from perfectly fitting to 3D objects without shadows. BUT, the gameplay is fluent, and the card play is enjoyable and not affected by the graphics. The bad graphics are contained to story scenes, and the cards are beautiful. Deckbuilding and deck battles are a lot of fun, and all the cards feel unique. Cardplay manages to feel very fair with the possibility to build powerful decks. If you want to try a Shandalar like, that does not have enemy deck AI problems and combat that is not easily trivialized, try this game.1 found this helpful
This is the most fun roguelike I've ever played in the first 3 hours I've invested into it. UI/UX is a bit rough but this game is an actual hidden gem if I've ever seen one
I kickstarted this ages ago and got tired of waiting for full release so I gave it a try today. No idea what Shandalar is, but I really enjoyed this game! A little unlike other card battlers I have played, yet the mechanics are pretty easy to figure out with a little trial and error. I liked the aesthetics as well.
Community reviews
—
0 reviews
Sign in to write a review.
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this game.
