Roguelike deckbuilders are all the rage these days. Starting off with Slay the Spire a few years ago, the genre has not shown any signs of slowing down.
Roguebook‘s concept will be familiar to fans of the genre. The general idea is still remains, players start off with a basic deck and add new cards into their deck over the course of the game.
In Roguebook, players control two heroes each with their unique set of cards. As they traverse across the world map which looks like a fantasy epic, these heroes will vanquish foes, earn powerups, and earn new cards.
For those who have played Monster Train, this mechanic will be immediately familiar. The difference here with Roguebook is that large decks are actually encouraged. The more cards you have in your deck, the more abilities your heroes gain.
This builds on the very mechanics which make roguelikes appealing. Do you add more cards into the deck for those unlockable abilities or do you keep the deck slim so that card draws will always be in your favour?
This level of risk and reward is found throughout the entire game, and we have an extensive gameplay video for you to check out –
Where does Richard Garfield actually come in? Well, his subsequent work after Magic: The Gathering hasn’t been quite consistent considering that Netrunner and Artifact never quite hit their stride. With Garfield co-designing Roguebook, he might have very well found a format that might scribe a new, and successful, era in his career.
Published by Nacon and developed by Abrakam Entertainment, Roguebook will be released on Steam on 24 June 2021.
Gerald currently straddles between his love of video games and board gaming. There’s nothing that interests him more than trying out the newest and fanciest gadget in town as well. He dreams of publishing a board game sometime in the future!