Deck of Haunts Image
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: Step into the role of a sinister Haunted House, where the walls whisper secrets and terror lurks around every corner. As the master of this cursed domain, your goal is to ensnare daring humans, play on their fears, and drain their very essence to expand your dark influence.

    By day,
    Step into the role of a sinister Haunted House, where the walls whisper secrets and terror lurks around every corner. As the master of this cursed domain, your goal is to ensnare daring humans, play on their fears, and drain their very essence to expand your dark influence.

    By day, meticulously design the labyrinthine layout of your mansion, transforming it into a death trap that no human can escape. As night falls, lure unwitting explorers into your home, where you'll use a deck of terrifying cards to summon spirits, shift hallways, and unleash spine-chilling horrors. Build tension and drive your guests toward madness, all while protecting your Heart room - the core of your malevolent power.

    Once their sanity crumbles, harvest their essence to strengthen your mansion, increasing your infamy and attracting even more daring foes, from law enforcement to priests. But beware, the Stone Masons are coming, ready to challenge your reign of terror...
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 9
  2. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. May 9, 2025
    85
    Deck of Haunts delivers an original take on the deck-building experience. It gives players the dual task of building a deep maze of scary rooms while putting together an effective set of cards to take down nighttime invaders. I like the snippets of lore revealed by the cards and events, but the world-building isn’t impressive. The title’s biggest issue is the limited meta-progression. Players unlock new cards when they finish a run but, after winning a few, the motivation to start over diminishes. Deck of Haunts has good ideas and good execution but might struggle to hold the players’ attention in the long term.
  2. May 25, 2025
    75
    Deck of Haunts is fun for its mechanics and the reversal of perspective, but it lacks a real narrative bite and a crescendo of tension: it is interesting from a conceptual point of view, but it lacks that extra spark that makes the difference.
  3. Jun 17, 2025
    75
    Deck of Haunts is a quick and fun deck-building roguelike. Building out the haunted house is the most fun part. Just know that this is also one of those games where you will be at the mercy of the RNG, where failing to get a specific card you need to save your run may lead to your demise.
  4. May 6, 2025
    70
    A haunted deck that's as likely to throw you a royal flush as it is sell you down the river, Deck of Haunts satisfies in its creative cards, wickedly evil fantasy power trip and a delightfully vile concept. Its best demonic forces are kept at bay thanks to a lack of real campaign or structure and some underdeveloped room expansion. Even so, if this were a haunted house at Universal Studios, you'd be disappointed to miss it, even if it's not the main attraction.
  5. May 7, 2025
    70
    Spirited sadism and card-based strategizing combine in Deck of Haunts. By day, you’ll expand your homicidal house and by night you’ll play cards to wear down their physical and mental health. The only menacing part of the experience is the occasional lack of instruction.
  6. May 30, 2025
    70
    It is certainly fascinating for those seeking a shift in perspective within the horror genre: no longer victims or hunters, but the very embodiment of architectural evil. Its strength lies in an original narrative concept, a dense atmosphere, and an aesthetic consistent with its dark world. However, behind the originality of the idea lurks a certain structural repetitiveness: the nights follow one another with mechanics that, although varied in detail, tend to repeat the same cycle of fear and defense. The house lives, yes, but at times it seems to dream the same nightmare over and over again.
  7. May 12, 2025
    70
    If you have a taste for horror, you'll be right at home with Deck of Haunts. This deckbuilder may be light on story, but how many other games can you say cast you as a haunted house? Its core game loop of dispatching hapless intruders will have you grinning.

See all 9 Critic Reviews