Dead Cells is one of the best and most stylish games around. That wonderful pixel-art aesthetic and the fluid, flashy animations make it stand above its roguelike contemporaries. You combine that with Slay the Spire, one of the definitive PC deckbuilders, and throw in some strategy game tactical thinking and planning, and you get this, a gorgeous new hybrid that’s just launched on Steam, and already boasts a ‘positive’ rating.
Racine is much more than the sum of its parts. While it visually resembles Dead Cells, and the roguelike, deckbuilding gameplay is reminiscent of Slay the Spire, it’s simultaneously simpler and deeper than many of its influences. The definition of ‘easy to learn, difficult to master,’ you traverse a beautifully designed 2D platforming world, creating a deck of attack and defense cards to combat increasingly tough bosses and mobs.
You collect more cards as you go, but stat boosts are consistent between battles, so you need to plan and strategize your build in Racine right from the start of each run. Combat is also real-time – you need to play the right hands, but also think fast and repel enemy attacks on instinct. In true roguelike fashion, making the wrong calls early on can have dire consequences later down the road. There’s a vast, mysterious world to explore in Racine, but it takes strategy game-style forward thinking to finally uncover all of its secrets.
Available right now, and already rated ‘positive’ based on user reviews, you can get Racine with an introductory 10% discount. If you like Dead Cells and Slay the Spire, and want a superb mix of roguelike, deckbuilder, strategy game, and platformer – all with wonderfully crafted visuals – this is your game.
Alternatively, try some of the other best card games on PC, or maybe the best RPG games if you want that deep story and exploration.