Dice of Dusk by Kultisti is a puzzle roguelike game. It has random generated puzzles, progression, and builds! It also has a timer to create pressure, and one thing I forgot to mention in the episode is that this has another amazing side effect: “easy” levels become challenging in that you are trying to solve them as fast as possible to bank time for future stages. Good design serves two purposes at once.

Star Realms has player life; Ascension has a victory point pool. Both games have the core mechanic of buying cards from the center row to build your deck in a play session. However, they feel completely different. Yesterday, I talked about how that decision for the victory condition changed mechanics, and today I’m using the theory of constructed emotion to explain how that changes perception and therefore emotional experiences.

Star Realms by White Wizard Games is a deckbuilding game just like Ascension. However, unlike Ascension, Star Realms is a confrontational game, where the goal is to deplete the other player’s authority. This results in some huge mechanical and emotional differences for the same core mechanic. In this first of a two part series, I talk about the mechanical changes the win-condition results in.

Draftula by Jose Pacio is a tile-placing and drafting game. It’s a very fun game that made me realize why drafting has become a widely adopted progression mechanic for games.

Ascension by Stoneblade Entertainment is one of the seminal deckbuilding games. I’ve played it a lot recently and in this episode I talk about why I like the honor point pool and how I think it allows for adjustable challenge. I also briefly talk about why I think this game can easily become “a daily ritual game”.

Amalgamate by sunil. is a submission for the 2026 7DRL game jam. It combines a grid-based matching game with random loot generation and upgrades. There’s a small tutorial, but it intentionally holds back some key information, which became a magic moment for me when I figured it out. This realization put the world on its head and made me realize my true power, raising my score tenfold. Your mileage may vary in terms of magical moments, but it’s an addictive game regardless. Here’s what it looks like:

Yellow Game About Falling Things by Evgenii Petrov is an abstract puzzly roguelike. Throughout the experience, it has zero words and zero numbers, but I still understood the gameplay and goal very quickly. Would it have been better if it had all the usual competence supporting stuff like tutorials, goals, and leaderboards? Maybe, but I like it just the way it is.

Here’s what it looks like so you get an idea:

Cult of the Lamb by Massive Monster is a roguelite where you gather followers for your flock and defeat heretics. I ramble about what a break is in a game. In this one, there are two aspects of the game: the cult-building and the rogueliking. Which one is a break from which one? What is the sound of one hand clapping?

I don’t have an answer.

Rogue Crawler by Vanialviv is a first person, roguelike deckbuilder. It’s a mouthful, but with a handful of cards in combination with the positioning in the game, it’s sure to provide a good time! I talk about what this adds to regular deckbuilder, and how it’s a very satisfying loop.

UVSU by dietzribi also has a mechanic where your past self becomes an obstacle to current you, but unlike Killover’s chaos, it’s a puzzle. In this episode, I talk about Metroidvania’s and what makes them fun.