Slay the Spire has the intricate roguelike deck building that sees you put together powerful card combos to take on the random encounters ahead of you. Baldur’s Gate 3 has the bold fantasy setting and the unquestionable thrill that comes from leaving your fate in the hands of a dice roll. Bring them together and the result is Diceomancer, a new roguelike announced at the Tokyo Game Show and heading to Steam.
Diceomancer puts you in the shoes of an unlikely hero known simply as the ‘Fishing Master.’ Dragged unwittingly into “a world where swords, magic, and firearms intermingle,” you must build a deck of powerful cards and navigate through a series of encounters in the vein of many of the best roguelike games, choosing between standard enemies, boss fights, reward rooms, and more.
First seen under the name ‘Dice is the Way’ during the 2022 GMTK game jam, where it ranked in the top 20 of over 6,000 entrants, the full version of Diceomancer promises a selection of cards from five different attributes, not unlike the father of collectible card games itself Magic the Gathering. You’ll choose three of these to build your initial deck, with all manner of cards to deal damage, recover your health, and deliver numerous other effects.
The hook here comes with the introduction of the player’s dice, which can be used to great effect by changing various numbers on screen. This starts out with simple tricks like rolling to determine the damage a card will deal, but it can also affect the likes of enemy stats, your own health, the number of times a repeating card is played, or even how many cards you are offered to choose between when claiming a reward.
There are plenty of d20s to be seen – the 20-sided dice most closely associated with Dungeons and Dragons and Baldur’s Gate 3 – but there are others in play here, including the iconic six-sided d6 that we all know and love. You can wishlist Diceomancer on Steam to stay up to date with it while we await news of a release date.
For plenty more great games from smaller developers, have a look through the best indie games on PC. You might also fancy checking out the best free Steam games, because there’s a ton of top-notch stuff to be found that won’t cost you a penny.