The Killing Stone
Question · 2026 · Card Battler, Card Game, Story Rich, Strategy, Horror
PC
Very Positive96% · 92
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About The Killing Stone
From the makers of The Blackout Club and The Magic Circle comes The Killing Stone. A card battler with beautiful stylized art, animated figurines, dazzling effects, haunted sound and music, and an original first-person narrative set in the 17th century in a remote region of the Arctic circle.
A Living Game Board
At the center of the ceremonial board is the Fanghella, the Killing Stone. A collection of magical creature figurines, spells, and incantations allows for a variety of clever tactics. The game pieces are full of life and character, giving a very tactile and responsive experience while still allowing players to deliberate their every move. A novel Reserve System allows for more strategic plays, letting you stack units and buffing incantations above the battle line for later deployment. Creature placement, spellcasting, and bargaining to add powerful banes and boons to your deck all affect your chances of success.Investigate the Mystery of the late Mariken Svangård
In between matches, the story plays out in first-person with a painterly stylized presentation. You are a Maven, master of the dark arts - and Mariken's final friend. Explore the mansion and talk with family members - and animal familiars - to learn the circumstances of her final days. The eerie tone of the game and setting are further enhanced by the game being told in two styles: a period 17th century English, and a more modern prose. Players will be allowed to switch both text and VO to enjoy the game in the version they prefer. Branching dialogues let you dive deeper into the story, learning the origin of the familial curse, and shedding light on the characters' motives and fears. Simplified Chinese 中文, Latin American Spanish, French, and German are supported for all UI and text. You can still choose whether to listen to Modern English or 17th Century Period English for the VO when these languages are selected.Navigate Ritual Contracts
Battles feed into a Ritual bargain against the Devil’s minions for the soul of each family member. Like a cat with a mouse, Demons love to play with their victims. Their pride cannot resist a wager if they think they can tilt the outcome to their advantage - but you can call their bluff.Each Svangård has their own card deck representing their souls, cursed with debts left by their Matriarch. The outcomes of a Bargain offer powerful effects which permanently affect the family member you are helping with helpful Boons or heavy Banes. You only have a few rounds to negotiate before the Ritual is completed, and only a few Rituals to make a difference and alter a family member's fate before the final Reckoning is due. These bargains and the opposing demons change as you progress. No two playthroughs are identical. Replays grant you new dark miracles, and ways to change the ending. Purge the Svangård family’s hereditary curse before the devil arrives. Hopefully, without losing your own soul.What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
Whew, so far... highly recommended! Tight single lane (with reserves) card combat, touches of Inscryption, easy to understand but unique combat tricks, FANTASTIC voice lines. I didn't experience any early access issues, seemed really nice and polished - I'm just glad there is more content coming, hopefully this takes off and becomes something much bigger than intended.6 found this helpful
I got this game on a whim having never heard of it, and I am shocked it hasn't made a bigger splash--it's absolutely phenomenal. I think Inscryption is the most obvious comparison, in that it's a narrative rich horror game that alternates between first-person sequences and an intricate deckbuilder cardgame, though this was definitely made by a bigger team with a larger budget, and the first person sequences are less puzzle oriented and more narrative oriented. The card game is engaging, easy to learn but has a huge amount of depth and variety. But where the game really knocks it out of the park is the atmosphere and the WRITING! Aside from maybe Disco Elysium, it is by far the best prose I've ever encountered in a video game, and I'm hard pressed to decide which is better between this and DE. It blows my mind that the he creators apparently wrote the entire gsmr script twice, once in period appropriate Shakespearean English and once in just some of the most gorgeously written modern prose I've ever read. (You get to choose which it uses in the language settings.) I just can't say enough good stuff about this game. If you liked Inscryption, or the Seance at Blake Manor, or just…3 found this helpful
demons hate this one weird trick: [alt-f4s] In all seriousness, I'm having a blast playing! I'm not great at deckbuilders/card battlers generally, but while it's felt challenging it hasn't felt impossible at all and I've been enjoying myself even on the occasion when I get stomped, and I've felt like I am learning and getting better as time passes, especially at countering specific builds the enemies are throwing my way. The game also has a few options for recovery AFTER being stomped if they're needed; either restarting the entire ritual (which is a little punishing but not terrible since it lets you go back and try a different strategy/correct past mistakes), or continuing on without restarting but taking a different penalty to the rest of the ritual. There's also an option to turn on story mode which to my understanding allows you to experience the story without the gameplay, but I haven't tried that yet so I'm not sure how it works. (As hinted, you can also be a wuss like me and alt-f4 out of the current battle, and hope when you come back you don't somehow repeat the misfortune of pulling five invocations and not a single creature to play despite having like 17 of them in yo…1 found this helpful
This is a great introducing to games like this.1 found this helpful
Great game, great story but My English is so cooked I've to look up new word every 6.7 second1 found this helpful
I seem to be alone in this which surprises me but I actually absolutely hate the language. I LOVE the game mechanics and I'm really enjoying all the card games but I find myself skipping most of the conversations because I find going through the dense text absolutely tedious, even with the modern English toggle on. It's such a shame because it's such a well-made card game system, and I normally really enjoy the story parts of games.
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