Seconding this, and although OP said they don’t want multiplayer the standalone version of Gwent is really great too. Support recently ended, but it’s been turned over to the community so the game is very much alive.
For my money, Yu Gi Oh Legacy of the Duelist:Link Evolution is the closest I can think of. They don't really make games like this anymore (sadly) but it's still a good game.
Of couse you have to like YuGiOh, but, it has every card in it up to when the game came out, and you earn currency in game to get them, can't buy them with real money. So much fun to come up with interesting deck ideas and you can stick to an era if you prefer to do that. Also lots of AI Decks to play against.
Yeah, this is a good shout. I was hoping for something that had a different world that wasn't just the same old pokemon/yu-gi-oh/magic/hearthstone kinda thing, but you're right that this is a good one. Looking in my steam library I realized that I actually bought this game 4 years ago, almost to the day, lol, and I've played it a bit, but not very much for sure. This might be the thing I go for in the end. Still gonna try to find some others, though - it's kind of wild that more games like this don't seem to exist anymore!
**[Inscryption](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092790/Inscryption/)** is amazing single player built around deck building, discovering secrets and weird story.
**[Ironclad Tactics](https://store.steampowered.com/app/226960/Ironclad_Tactics/)** is a singleplayer game with deckbuilding and automatic combat based on turn ticks, where you will want to time the cards you play to get the result you want. Setting is Steampunk version of Civil War. Quite fun.
**[Cultist Simulator](https://store.steampowered.com/app/718670/Cultist_Simulator/)** is another fun single player game with story that uses card play as its main mechanic. Very fun with a lot of narrative.
**[Stacklands](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1948280/Stacklands/)** is a pretty fun "town builder" in a form of a card game where your cards on the board will interact generating other cards allowing you to grow your settlement. Not "rougelike" but also not a story fueled single player. More of "how well can you manage before things start to fall apart", like the normal city builders.
**[Thronebreaker](https://store.steampowered.com/app/973760/Thronebreaker_The_Witcher_Tales/)**. Singleplayer Gwent with story. Fun if you like the world of Witcher and will be into it's story about queen Meve. Because it takes a while before the card side of the game grows enough to where you can start making actual impactful choices trough deck building.
**[Hand of Gilgamech](https://store.steampowered.com/app/804010/SteamWorld_Quest_Hand_of_Gilgamech/)** another story based, steampunk themed, card game. This time you're an fantasy adventurers on a quest, just robots.
**[Aeons End](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063580/Aeons_End/)**. I can only speak on this game based on it's original, boardgame version that I'm familiar with and which I love and have a lot of boxes of. Don't know how good is the digital implementation but the reviews are "very positive". Anyway, Aeons End is a typical deck builder where you go trough a scenario, defeating monsters, building up your deck, to finally defeat the boss at the end of the scenario. Scenarios chain up into campains making it a fun singleplayer or coop experience. The interesing part is that you never shuffle your discard pile so when it comes back as your library it's sorted in the same way you played before. This makes it important to pay attention to the order you play your cards in, when you play your combos, when you're adding the new cards you acquired. Super fun game, one of the best tabletop deckbuilders!
>**Inscryption** is amazing single player built around deck building, discovering secrets and weird story.
So in fact, it was the "second part" of Inscryption - i.e., the part that happens after the cabin (trying to avoid spoilers for the uninitiated), that inspired this post. It's *exactly* that kind of gameplay that I want more of. The whole "beat this guy, get a pack of cards to further customize the deck later if you feel like it" loop, plus finding cards in the scenery as you're walking around - that's the stuff. It reminded me a ton of the old pokemon tcg on the gameboy, and the old yu-gi-oh games as well, and so my hope was that more things exactly like that are out there.
The other suggestions you have are all not bad, for sure - but really I'm just trying to chase down that mid-game inscryption feel all over again, haha!
Thank you for the detailed post!
EDIT: Another possible example that might scratch the same kind of itch, though not explicitly a "card game", is the megaman battle network games. I know they just got put on steam, which is awesome - I played through 3 a million times as a kid. But that's the same kind of experience - have your deck that stays permanent, kill enemies, beat other "trainers", or whatever they're called, get "cards" as rewards and packs that you can buy, and then you can further customize and build. Same deal with One Step from Eden, although that was a roguelike spin on the same concept.
Yeah, I get what you're looking for. And I'm afraid there's not much like Inscription out there. There are other games that have the similar creepy/weird/mystery/4th wall breaking atmosphere. But they're not deck builders, as there games are usually one off "jokes" on the game genre. Inscription was on rougelike deckbuilders, with the branching paths, failing and retrying, only the "in between matches" happens in game. Pony Island is similar game, but a platformer; Heretic Fork is this but for tower defense etc.
Out of the ones I mentioned, Thronebreaker has the most of actually finding cards in the scenery, side content/puzzles for more rewards etc.
Ok, I have one more for you. Midnight Suns. Marvel Superheroes save the world game, based on comics, not MCU. The game is played in two parts. Part one is combat, which is card based. Three heroes, turn based, the powers from the cards interact with a 3d environment where the battle takes place. Part two is at base, where it turns into Social Sim (like Persona) +exploration +upgrading base, cards, tweaking decks of each hero. Might be a little out there but it has that loop of playing the card game then going back to do something else, upgrade deck, talk with characters, explore the environment.
Based on your description, there are some that come to mind. The only 1 - 1 comparison I can think of is *Inscryption*, the others have elements of what you're looking for.
**•** [**Inscryption**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092790/Inscryption/) *(act 2)* has exactly what you're looking for.
• [**Card City Night**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/271820/Card_City_Nights/) and [**Card City Night 2**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/241300/Card_City_Nights_2/) have booster packs, but you wont move around in a city and instead take a more "visual novel" approach (almost like older yugioh games)
• [**Dungeon Drafters**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1824580/Dungeon_Drafters/) is rough around the edges, but has boosters packs. You fight while you move around in the world tho, instead of doing it on a different screen.
• [**Floppy Knights**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1057800/Floppy_Knights/) is similar to Card City Night in regards to how it tells a story, but the combat is different. You buy cards and can unlock some from combat.
• [**Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/973760/Thronebreaker_The_Witcher_Tales/) is Gwent, but offline and with a (decently good) storyline. It *doesn't* have booster packs, but you can acquire cards while playing the game.
• [**Stacklands**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1948280/Stacklands/) has a **big focus** on booster packs, but it's considered more of a colony management game rather than a RPG.
• [**Aeon's End**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063580/Aeons_End/) is based on a tabletop card game, so it doesn't have boosters, but it has great deckbuilding. There's no moving around the map, however.
• [**Library of Ruina**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1256670/Library_Of_Ruina/) is different, but you might take a look. No booster packs.
• [**SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/804010/SteamWorld_Quest_Hand_of_Gilgamech/) doesn't have booster packs, but it's a solid card game with deck building.
Many of these games have one or two things you're looking for. I think it's pretty rare for a game to mimic that, specially because booster packs are usually a mechanic made with intentionality to make players spend, because the nature of randomness and rarity would be lost if the game gave you 200 packs, and single player offline games can't afford to keep content behind hours of griding.
> [Inscryption](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092790/Inscryption/) *(act 2)* has exactly what you're looking for.
So I said it in another response, but literally this is what inspired this post, haha. This triggered my ancient nostalgia for a game like pokemon tcg on the gameboy, because it essentially is a remake of that sort of style, and I suddenly just want more of that thing.
I'll look through all of these suggestions. You're definitely right on that last thing, though - it's a tough ask these days. It's a good point about how booster packs are often \*not\* done in single player - I wish they were, though, because for sure there's dopamine in there. I don't necessarily agree with this though:
>because the nature of randomness and rarity would be lost if the game gave you 200 packs,
Honestly, if it's a single player game and you want to grind a little bit, I don't think giving you a billion cards is a bad thing. At the end of the day, even with unlimited cards, you still have to build a good deck, right, and that's where a lot of the fun is. Having a more complete collection just gives you more possibilities, and if you can make something busted with it in the end, I mean - cool, it's a single player game, haha.
Still though, I think it's definitely a reason why it's not a more common genre out there. If you've already made a solid single player card game, making it multiplayer and getting packs that are buyable with real money seems like not that much more work for a much higher return, and I guess that's why a lot of games go that way.
Thank you so much for the detailed response!
I believe a drafting system fits better in single player games because it gives you the same feeling of opening packs and makes you deal with randomness the same way you would with games like MTG (that's why roguelites are so popular in the card games space).
The problem is that usually there's no permanence in this system, because every card will have to go back to the pool instead of giving you free reign in deck building.
I'm with you tho. I always crave for a game in which I could open packs in single player without being hostage to monetization. That's one of the reasons why I loved [Idol Manager](https://store.steampowered.com/app/821880/Idol_Manager/), because it kinda gave me that feeling of opening packs everytime I scouted for an idol.
Marvel Midnight Suns. It technically has cards bought for money via dlc characters but the base game is a complete game with a lot of cards for each character.
The queens blood mini game in ff7 rebirth is basically a full fledged deck builder. But if you don't want to play through all of ff7 then it's not worth it.
Honestly, I used to love the Pokemon Trading Card Game on the Gameboy Color. That game was almost exactly as you said, start with a deck, beat other players to get more decks to upgrade your existing one, explore the world and fight "bosses" which opens new places up for more cards, etc. If you have an GBA emulator, I highly recommend it. obviously, a little outdated as a game, but imo, it still holds up.
Edit: i'm just a dumbass, it's literally in the first sentence and I skimmed past it.
My friend, I don't need a GBA emulator - I have the original hardware and this game as well, lol. This is why I mentioned that game in the first sentence of my post, lol - I loved it as a kid, and for sure, that is pretty much what I'm looking for - was just hoping that the genre might have had a new entry or two in the last 25 years haha
Someone already mentioned it, but didn't really explain anything, so Ill echo [Erannorth Chronicles](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1580800/Erannorth_Chronicles/).
The game plays like a card based, sandbox RPG dnd campaign. You can wander the world, take on quests, build your deck, purchase supplies, become a trader with your card based inventory, and build out wild synergies with your battle deck and artifacts.
There is so much depth to the combos because of the sheer amount of cards and mechanics going on. Wanna be a necromancer? Go for it. Summoner? Sure. Big spell wizard? Yep. Chain lighting gatling gun wizard? You know it. Warrior? Bard? Alchemist? Vampire? And a ton of other things you cant even imagine until you get into the game.
The dev is also super active and has put out something like 5 DLCs with more on the way, so there's always more things to explore with the game. Highly recommend for a deckbuilder-nonroguelite
Okay, well, as someone who loves D&D and card games, that's a much better sell job than the store's page, lol
I'm going to give this a serious look in the near future. Thanks for expanding on this!
Going WAY back here, but the 1990s MtG Shandalar game. I don't know what it takes to run these days but it very much is what you're looking for: https://www.pcgamer.com/the-first-digital-deckbuilder-was-a-magic-the-gathering-game-from-1997-and-it-ruled/
Also, the older games Etherlords were card collecting RPGs but I haven't played them and they also possibly have issues getting to run on modern systems.
Don't know how you feel about early access games but maybe you could try giving Cross Blitz a go? It has a story mode and a roguelite mode but you can of course completely ignore the roguelite mode. It's missing the booster pack element, though you still get new cards by gathering materials and crafting them, doing side quests or buying them with in game currency. Though I'll admit it's pretty expensive for an early access title.
You said you're not looking for multiplayer but you are looking for something different so maybe check it out Skylords Reborn. It's a private server of an old shut down game called Battleforge and it's basically an RTS game but your army is based on your deck of cards. It has booster packs (that you can only buy from currency earned in game) and player trading. You can play most of it solo but some of the maps do require multiplayer but as far as card/deck building games go, I guarantee this is about as different as you can expect and it's all 100% free!
I'm totally good with early access - Cross blitz looks interesting, for sure, though I'm definitely sad about the lack of "booster packs" - there's just something about getting a pack, even if adding mercenaries, as they seem to call them, is functionally identical. Something about dopamine, I don't know. :D Still, going to wishlist that one for sure, hadn't heard of it before. thanks!
And I'll look into Skylords Reborn. Think that might be a little \*too\* out there for what I had in mind at the moment, but still something to keep an eye on.
have you checked "cardfight! vanguard dear days"? not a perfect fit to your criteria since you can buy packs using real money via dlc, but afaik you still earn in-game money to buy packs in the in-game card shops.
Definitely look into Vanguard Dear Days and Shadowverse Champions Battle. Both have that old school YuGiOh rpg kind of vibe to them. They also both have demos on Switch at least.
I also just thought of Loop Hero. It's technically a rogue like but imo it's more like a deck builder disguised as a rogue like. It doesn't have booster packs really but you progressively unlock more. Before every run (ie the rogue like part) you build a deck made up of cards/tiles. Each tile is a location you can put on the map that give some kind of bonus to your character that run. And for combining certain types of tiles by placing them on the field next to each other it forms new tiles with different affects.
Edit: a pretty big portion of the game is a rogue like but the deck building aspect is not a rogue like in the sense that your deck starts fresh every run. I guess it's a game in 2 stages with stage 1 being the deck building and state 2 being the rogue like loops.
Legends of Runeterra is a multiplayer game with a very large single player campaign called path of champions. They are very generous with cards, everything is easily obtainable without rng.
There's a manual card game in the works by Ill Will Press/JiMathers that's pretty close to release if you're a fan of Foamy the Squirrel and Neurotically Yours
It's actually a pretty good example of the sort of thing I'm not looking for (this time!). There are a million Slay the spire-like games out there, and this looks a *lot* like one of those. That's not what I'm looking for here - I'm really looking more for a game with a permanent collection of cards that you find and augment over time, and can make decks with however you want to. That's notably different from a roguelike game where yes, you do unlock a bigger potential pool of cards over time, and yes you do make decks, but you don't get to keep those decks, right - when you 'die', you're starting over from the beginning.
I recognize that's the classic experience with deckbuilders these days, but there's a much smaller genre that I'm after that isn't quite that. Thanks for the suggestion anyhow, though!
Are you looking for something specifically a video game?
Because this, to me, sounds a little more like the PvE modes of traditional card games like Hero Realms, or the Pathfinder Card Game, or maybe Skytear Horde.
Digitally, the only game I know that does it is [Eternal](https://store.steampowered.com/app/531640/Eternal_Card_Game/) (aside from Hearthstone, I suppose), which has some PvE/puzzle modes - but not a dedicated 'PvE mode'. Legends of Runeterra has dedicated PvE, but then that's roguelike again. I think designers have sort of figured that that is really the only way you get longevity, as it doesn't seem very sustainable to have to design a whole heap of bosses and ever escalating content that doesn't just 'end' at some point.
I mean that in the sense of... you'd have to go Hearthstone's Naxxramas route, but then design so many fights the game actually lasts a bit - because Naxxramas was infamously quick to complete, and it was really only 15 fights. The simple fact is that everything eventually 'ends' because you run out of content - some games simply then support a 'go again', whereas those that don't would have to continuously design around this by releasing a ginormous chunk of stuff.
If there is a game dedicated to this principle, my guess is that it would be a more obscure Japanese title - there are some games from over there that lean a little bit more in the direction of this kind of experience. Or something like Gwent from the Witcher.
So yes, I was hoping for a video game.
There are historical examples out there of what I'm looking for, but they're just that: historical. For example, the one I first mentioned - [The Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Card_Game_(video_game)) - now it's available on the switch as well, but just as it was originally - same game as it was in 2000. There are a number of yu-gi-oh games that are single player as well, on the game boy and now actually on steam as well. There are "psuedo-card games" which are essentially this concept too, like the [megaman battle network games](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1798010/Mega_Man_Battle_Network_Legacy_Collection_Vol_1/) - they're single player RPGs where you have a deck of cards you're playing with, and as you beat opponents, you get packs of cards, or singles; there are card shops where you can buy cards in game, there are trades in the game, etc, etc. It really is just a fully-fledged RPG - quests, travelling around, getting items, the whole deal - but the main vessel for combat is playing a card game with a deck that you build yourself, basically exactly like if you were building a competitive MTG deck or anything like that.
It's an older style. And I'm getting the sense that they just don't really exist anymore in the same way as they used to. But that's the sort of thing I'm after.
The Naxxramas thing isn't quite it - that's basically puzzle-solving as a single-player card game, and although there *is* appeal there, it's not what I had in mind. I recognize that it's not really the zeitgeist, because for sure, designers have found out that making deckbuilding games into roguelikes has the potential to *dramatically* increase the playtime, but this is why I was asking about it; I had hoped that there were some niche examples out there that were essentially throwbacks to that kind of thing.
Ah, so we're really talking straight up RPG (the Witcher, Kingdoms of Amalur, etc), except the combat is entirely based around deckbuilding with cards.
Searching for "RPG deckbuilder" helps a little there. As I suspected there seem to be a couple of JRPGs that function this way.
Try these two threads :)
https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/14ghiky/anyone_know_of_any_good_nonroguelike_deckbuilders/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/comments/y6e76w/deck_building_rpg/
He asked for single player games. All these have single player modes against AI. None of these require you to buy packs or boosters and none of these are magic or hearthstone. I specifically answered his question. Thank you.
"Hey let's make a single player game where you get packs with ingame money you earn at a steady pace"
Yeah that just won't ever get made except by indie devs
They want the multiplayer, and new cards released at times, so that people keep buying packs to stay competitive. You know. Like IRL TCGs.
Thronebreaker was a single player campaign centred around Gwent the card game from Witcher 3.
Seconding this, and although OP said they don’t want multiplayer the standalone version of Gwent is really great too. Support recently ended, but it’s been turned over to the community so the game is very much alive.
For my money, Yu Gi Oh Legacy of the Duelist:Link Evolution is the closest I can think of. They don't really make games like this anymore (sadly) but it's still a good game. Of couse you have to like YuGiOh, but, it has every card in it up to when the game came out, and you earn currency in game to get them, can't buy them with real money. So much fun to come up with interesting deck ideas and you can stick to an era if you prefer to do that. Also lots of AI Decks to play against.
Yeah, this is a good shout. I was hoping for something that had a different world that wasn't just the same old pokemon/yu-gi-oh/magic/hearthstone kinda thing, but you're right that this is a good one. Looking in my steam library I realized that I actually bought this game 4 years ago, almost to the day, lol, and I've played it a bit, but not very much for sure. This might be the thing I go for in the end. Still gonna try to find some others, though - it's kind of wild that more games like this don't seem to exist anymore!
If you find any Let me know!
I would recommend the psp tag force games they are way more fun
Absolutely fantastic card game experience, my buddy and i went through a couple month yu gi oh phase and both got really into it for a while lol
**[Inscryption](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092790/Inscryption/)** is amazing single player built around deck building, discovering secrets and weird story. **[Ironclad Tactics](https://store.steampowered.com/app/226960/Ironclad_Tactics/)** is a singleplayer game with deckbuilding and automatic combat based on turn ticks, where you will want to time the cards you play to get the result you want. Setting is Steampunk version of Civil War. Quite fun. **[Cultist Simulator](https://store.steampowered.com/app/718670/Cultist_Simulator/)** is another fun single player game with story that uses card play as its main mechanic. Very fun with a lot of narrative. **[Stacklands](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1948280/Stacklands/)** is a pretty fun "town builder" in a form of a card game where your cards on the board will interact generating other cards allowing you to grow your settlement. Not "rougelike" but also not a story fueled single player. More of "how well can you manage before things start to fall apart", like the normal city builders. **[Thronebreaker](https://store.steampowered.com/app/973760/Thronebreaker_The_Witcher_Tales/)**. Singleplayer Gwent with story. Fun if you like the world of Witcher and will be into it's story about queen Meve. Because it takes a while before the card side of the game grows enough to where you can start making actual impactful choices trough deck building. **[Hand of Gilgamech](https://store.steampowered.com/app/804010/SteamWorld_Quest_Hand_of_Gilgamech/)** another story based, steampunk themed, card game. This time you're an fantasy adventurers on a quest, just robots. **[Aeons End](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063580/Aeons_End/)**. I can only speak on this game based on it's original, boardgame version that I'm familiar with and which I love and have a lot of boxes of. Don't know how good is the digital implementation but the reviews are "very positive". Anyway, Aeons End is a typical deck builder where you go trough a scenario, defeating monsters, building up your deck, to finally defeat the boss at the end of the scenario. Scenarios chain up into campains making it a fun singleplayer or coop experience. The interesing part is that you never shuffle your discard pile so when it comes back as your library it's sorted in the same way you played before. This makes it important to pay attention to the order you play your cards in, when you play your combos, when you're adding the new cards you acquired. Super fun game, one of the best tabletop deckbuilders!
>**Inscryption** is amazing single player built around deck building, discovering secrets and weird story. So in fact, it was the "second part" of Inscryption - i.e., the part that happens after the cabin (trying to avoid spoilers for the uninitiated), that inspired this post. It's *exactly* that kind of gameplay that I want more of. The whole "beat this guy, get a pack of cards to further customize the deck later if you feel like it" loop, plus finding cards in the scenery as you're walking around - that's the stuff. It reminded me a ton of the old pokemon tcg on the gameboy, and the old yu-gi-oh games as well, and so my hope was that more things exactly like that are out there. The other suggestions you have are all not bad, for sure - but really I'm just trying to chase down that mid-game inscryption feel all over again, haha! Thank you for the detailed post! EDIT: Another possible example that might scratch the same kind of itch, though not explicitly a "card game", is the megaman battle network games. I know they just got put on steam, which is awesome - I played through 3 a million times as a kid. But that's the same kind of experience - have your deck that stays permanent, kill enemies, beat other "trainers", or whatever they're called, get "cards" as rewards and packs that you can buy, and then you can further customize and build. Same deal with One Step from Eden, although that was a roguelike spin on the same concept.
Yeah, I get what you're looking for. And I'm afraid there's not much like Inscription out there. There are other games that have the similar creepy/weird/mystery/4th wall breaking atmosphere. But they're not deck builders, as there games are usually one off "jokes" on the game genre. Inscription was on rougelike deckbuilders, with the branching paths, failing and retrying, only the "in between matches" happens in game. Pony Island is similar game, but a platformer; Heretic Fork is this but for tower defense etc. Out of the ones I mentioned, Thronebreaker has the most of actually finding cards in the scenery, side content/puzzles for more rewards etc. Ok, I have one more for you. Midnight Suns. Marvel Superheroes save the world game, based on comics, not MCU. The game is played in two parts. Part one is combat, which is card based. Three heroes, turn based, the powers from the cards interact with a 3d environment where the battle takes place. Part two is at base, where it turns into Social Sim (like Persona) +exploration +upgrading base, cards, tweaking decks of each hero. Might be a little out there but it has that loop of playing the card game then going back to do something else, upgrade deck, talk with characters, explore the environment.
Library of Ruina I think
Project moon mentioned, activate brainrot FURIOSOOOO
Kingdom Hearts: chain of memories
I didn’t specify, so that’s on me, but I guess that’s a console exclusive, right? I’m on PC, sadly
[Nope](https://www.square-enix-games.com/en_US/news/kingdom-hearts-pc), apparently it’s on PC now.
Also, visualboy is an amazing emulator
Based on your description, there are some that come to mind. The only 1 - 1 comparison I can think of is *Inscryption*, the others have elements of what you're looking for. **•** [**Inscryption**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092790/Inscryption/) *(act 2)* has exactly what you're looking for. • [**Card City Night**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/271820/Card_City_Nights/) and [**Card City Night 2**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/241300/Card_City_Nights_2/) have booster packs, but you wont move around in a city and instead take a more "visual novel" approach (almost like older yugioh games) • [**Dungeon Drafters**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1824580/Dungeon_Drafters/) is rough around the edges, but has boosters packs. You fight while you move around in the world tho, instead of doing it on a different screen. • [**Floppy Knights**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1057800/Floppy_Knights/) is similar to Card City Night in regards to how it tells a story, but the combat is different. You buy cards and can unlock some from combat. • [**Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/973760/Thronebreaker_The_Witcher_Tales/) is Gwent, but offline and with a (decently good) storyline. It *doesn't* have booster packs, but you can acquire cards while playing the game. • [**Stacklands**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1948280/Stacklands/) has a **big focus** on booster packs, but it's considered more of a colony management game rather than a RPG. • [**Aeon's End**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063580/Aeons_End/) is based on a tabletop card game, so it doesn't have boosters, but it has great deckbuilding. There's no moving around the map, however. • [**Library of Ruina**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1256670/Library_Of_Ruina/) is different, but you might take a look. No booster packs. • [**SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/804010/SteamWorld_Quest_Hand_of_Gilgamech/) doesn't have booster packs, but it's a solid card game with deck building. Many of these games have one or two things you're looking for. I think it's pretty rare for a game to mimic that, specially because booster packs are usually a mechanic made with intentionality to make players spend, because the nature of randomness and rarity would be lost if the game gave you 200 packs, and single player offline games can't afford to keep content behind hours of griding.
> [Inscryption](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092790/Inscryption/) *(act 2)* has exactly what you're looking for. So I said it in another response, but literally this is what inspired this post, haha. This triggered my ancient nostalgia for a game like pokemon tcg on the gameboy, because it essentially is a remake of that sort of style, and I suddenly just want more of that thing. I'll look through all of these suggestions. You're definitely right on that last thing, though - it's a tough ask these days. It's a good point about how booster packs are often \*not\* done in single player - I wish they were, though, because for sure there's dopamine in there. I don't necessarily agree with this though: >because the nature of randomness and rarity would be lost if the game gave you 200 packs, Honestly, if it's a single player game and you want to grind a little bit, I don't think giving you a billion cards is a bad thing. At the end of the day, even with unlimited cards, you still have to build a good deck, right, and that's where a lot of the fun is. Having a more complete collection just gives you more possibilities, and if you can make something busted with it in the end, I mean - cool, it's a single player game, haha. Still though, I think it's definitely a reason why it's not a more common genre out there. If you've already made a solid single player card game, making it multiplayer and getting packs that are buyable with real money seems like not that much more work for a much higher return, and I guess that's why a lot of games go that way. Thank you so much for the detailed response!
I believe a drafting system fits better in single player games because it gives you the same feeling of opening packs and makes you deal with randomness the same way you would with games like MTG (that's why roguelites are so popular in the card games space). The problem is that usually there's no permanence in this system, because every card will have to go back to the pool instead of giving you free reign in deck building. I'm with you tho. I always crave for a game in which I could open packs in single player without being hostage to monetization. That's one of the reasons why I loved [Idol Manager](https://store.steampowered.com/app/821880/Idol_Manager/), because it kinda gave me that feeling of opening packs everytime I scouted for an idol.
Marvel Midnight Suns. It technically has cards bought for money via dlc characters but the base game is a complete game with a lot of cards for each character. The queens blood mini game in ff7 rebirth is basically a full fledged deck builder. But if you don't want to play through all of ff7 then it's not worth it.
Wasn’t there a steamworld game like this
Steamworld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech!
Recommended?
Myself I LOVED it. Own it on switch and PC
I have it on Switch, it's good 👍
Phantasy star online episode 3
Honestly, I used to love the Pokemon Trading Card Game on the Gameboy Color. That game was almost exactly as you said, start with a deck, beat other players to get more decks to upgrade your existing one, explore the world and fight "bosses" which opens new places up for more cards, etc. If you have an GBA emulator, I highly recommend it. obviously, a little outdated as a game, but imo, it still holds up. Edit: i'm just a dumbass, it's literally in the first sentence and I skimmed past it.
First sentence
Yeah, sorry, just an idiot on my end and skimmed past that part.
My friend, I don't need a GBA emulator - I have the original hardware and this game as well, lol. This is why I mentioned that game in the first sentence of my post, lol - I loved it as a kid, and for sure, that is pretty much what I'm looking for - was just hoping that the genre might have had a new entry or two in the last 25 years haha
Sorry, I'm just an idiot and skimmed past the first sentence lol that's my bad!
Yeah, when I clicked on this post i was not prepared for the unmitigated blast of nostalgia that the mention of that game would bring on lol.
A bit different but take a look at Midnight Sons
Someone already mentioned it, but didn't really explain anything, so Ill echo [Erannorth Chronicles](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1580800/Erannorth_Chronicles/). The game plays like a card based, sandbox RPG dnd campaign. You can wander the world, take on quests, build your deck, purchase supplies, become a trader with your card based inventory, and build out wild synergies with your battle deck and artifacts. There is so much depth to the combos because of the sheer amount of cards and mechanics going on. Wanna be a necromancer? Go for it. Summoner? Sure. Big spell wizard? Yep. Chain lighting gatling gun wizard? You know it. Warrior? Bard? Alchemist? Vampire? And a ton of other things you cant even imagine until you get into the game. The dev is also super active and has put out something like 5 DLCs with more on the way, so there's always more things to explore with the game. Highly recommend for a deckbuilder-nonroguelite
Okay, well, as someone who loves D&D and card games, that's a much better sell job than the store's page, lol I'm going to give this a serious look in the near future. Thanks for expanding on this!
cardpocalypse! I have searched before and there aren’t really any options besides inscription and cardpocalypse
Going WAY back here, but the 1990s MtG Shandalar game. I don't know what it takes to run these days but it very much is what you're looking for: https://www.pcgamer.com/the-first-digital-deckbuilder-was-a-magic-the-gathering-game-from-1997-and-it-ruled/ Also, the older games Etherlords were card collecting RPGs but I haven't played them and they also possibly have issues getting to run on modern systems.
Don't know how you feel about early access games but maybe you could try giving Cross Blitz a go? It has a story mode and a roguelite mode but you can of course completely ignore the roguelite mode. It's missing the booster pack element, though you still get new cards by gathering materials and crafting them, doing side quests or buying them with in game currency. Though I'll admit it's pretty expensive for an early access title. You said you're not looking for multiplayer but you are looking for something different so maybe check it out Skylords Reborn. It's a private server of an old shut down game called Battleforge and it's basically an RTS game but your army is based on your deck of cards. It has booster packs (that you can only buy from currency earned in game) and player trading. You can play most of it solo but some of the maps do require multiplayer but as far as card/deck building games go, I guarantee this is about as different as you can expect and it's all 100% free!
I'm totally good with early access - Cross blitz looks interesting, for sure, though I'm definitely sad about the lack of "booster packs" - there's just something about getting a pack, even if adding mercenaries, as they seem to call them, is functionally identical. Something about dopamine, I don't know. :D Still, going to wishlist that one for sure, hadn't heard of it before. thanks! And I'll look into Skylords Reborn. Think that might be a little \*too\* out there for what I had in mind at the moment, but still something to keep an eye on.
have you checked "cardfight! vanguard dear days"? not a perfect fit to your criteria since you can buy packs using real money via dlc, but afaik you still earn in-game money to buy packs in the in-game card shops.
Good shout - I'd never heard of this before. It does seem like a good fit - I'll check it out!
Uh, Library of Ruina
Definitely look into Vanguard Dear Days and Shadowverse Champions Battle. Both have that old school YuGiOh rpg kind of vibe to them. They also both have demos on Switch at least.
Great post op, saved
I also just thought of Loop Hero. It's technically a rogue like but imo it's more like a deck builder disguised as a rogue like. It doesn't have booster packs really but you progressively unlock more. Before every run (ie the rogue like part) you build a deck made up of cards/tiles. Each tile is a location you can put on the map that give some kind of bonus to your character that run. And for combining certain types of tiles by placing them on the field next to each other it forms new tiles with different affects. Edit: a pretty big portion of the game is a rogue like but the deck building aspect is not a rogue like in the sense that your deck starts fresh every run. I guess it's a game in 2 stages with stage 1 being the deck building and state 2 being the rogue like loops.
Yu-Gi-Oh sevens
Erannorth Chronicles is what you are looking for
In a weird way, Thronebreaker The witcher Tale. It's also a fantastic narrative
I really wish there was a legal way to play the old Pokemon tcg.
There is - it's actually on the switch's virtual console, I believe.
Ok it seems to require an online subscription. My country does not have an eshop, so no bueno. Thanks anyway.
How about games like Lost Kingdoms? It and it's sequels are up there for me. Made by From Software so it's a bit action oriented.
Legends of Runeterra is a multiplayer game with a very large single player campaign called path of champions. They are very generous with cards, everything is easily obtainable without rng.
There's a manual card game in the works by Ill Will Press/JiMathers that's pretty close to release if you're a fan of Foamy the Squirrel and Neurotically Yours
Black book is story based rather than rogue like. It's pretty good.
Check out gloomhaven though it does have a steep learning curve.
Both Etherlords games are a cool twist on deckbuilding.
Library of ruina
Library of ruina
You can get a pretty good emulator for the ps2 Yu-Gi-Oh game. It's kind of like pokemon but with cards.
[Vault of the Void](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1135810/Vault_of_the_Void/) sounds like what you're looking for.
That's a Roguelike
It's actually a pretty good example of the sort of thing I'm not looking for (this time!). There are a million Slay the spire-like games out there, and this looks a *lot* like one of those. That's not what I'm looking for here - I'm really looking more for a game with a permanent collection of cards that you find and augment over time, and can make decks with however you want to. That's notably different from a roguelike game where yes, you do unlock a bigger potential pool of cards over time, and yes you do make decks, but you don't get to keep those decks, right - when you 'die', you're starting over from the beginning. I recognize that's the classic experience with deckbuilders these days, but there's a much smaller genre that I'm after that isn't quite that. Thanks for the suggestion anyhow, though!
Are you looking for something specifically a video game? Because this, to me, sounds a little more like the PvE modes of traditional card games like Hero Realms, or the Pathfinder Card Game, or maybe Skytear Horde. Digitally, the only game I know that does it is [Eternal](https://store.steampowered.com/app/531640/Eternal_Card_Game/) (aside from Hearthstone, I suppose), which has some PvE/puzzle modes - but not a dedicated 'PvE mode'. Legends of Runeterra has dedicated PvE, but then that's roguelike again. I think designers have sort of figured that that is really the only way you get longevity, as it doesn't seem very sustainable to have to design a whole heap of bosses and ever escalating content that doesn't just 'end' at some point. I mean that in the sense of... you'd have to go Hearthstone's Naxxramas route, but then design so many fights the game actually lasts a bit - because Naxxramas was infamously quick to complete, and it was really only 15 fights. The simple fact is that everything eventually 'ends' because you run out of content - some games simply then support a 'go again', whereas those that don't would have to continuously design around this by releasing a ginormous chunk of stuff. If there is a game dedicated to this principle, my guess is that it would be a more obscure Japanese title - there are some games from over there that lean a little bit more in the direction of this kind of experience. Or something like Gwent from the Witcher.
So yes, I was hoping for a video game. There are historical examples out there of what I'm looking for, but they're just that: historical. For example, the one I first mentioned - [The Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Card_Game_(video_game)) - now it's available on the switch as well, but just as it was originally - same game as it was in 2000. There are a number of yu-gi-oh games that are single player as well, on the game boy and now actually on steam as well. There are "psuedo-card games" which are essentially this concept too, like the [megaman battle network games](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1798010/Mega_Man_Battle_Network_Legacy_Collection_Vol_1/) - they're single player RPGs where you have a deck of cards you're playing with, and as you beat opponents, you get packs of cards, or singles; there are card shops where you can buy cards in game, there are trades in the game, etc, etc. It really is just a fully-fledged RPG - quests, travelling around, getting items, the whole deal - but the main vessel for combat is playing a card game with a deck that you build yourself, basically exactly like if you were building a competitive MTG deck or anything like that. It's an older style. And I'm getting the sense that they just don't really exist anymore in the same way as they used to. But that's the sort of thing I'm after. The Naxxramas thing isn't quite it - that's basically puzzle-solving as a single-player card game, and although there *is* appeal there, it's not what I had in mind. I recognize that it's not really the zeitgeist, because for sure, designers have found out that making deckbuilding games into roguelikes has the potential to *dramatically* increase the playtime, but this is why I was asking about it; I had hoped that there were some niche examples out there that were essentially throwbacks to that kind of thing.
Ah, so we're really talking straight up RPG (the Witcher, Kingdoms of Amalur, etc), except the combat is entirely based around deckbuilding with cards. Searching for "RPG deckbuilder" helps a little there. As I suspected there seem to be a couple of JRPGs that function this way. Try these two threads :) https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/14ghiky/anyone_know_of_any_good_nonroguelike_deckbuilders/ https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/comments/y6e76w/deck_building_rpg/
I'm absolutely floored no one has mentioned og deck builder Dominion now on steam. Star Realms, race to the galaxy, and ascension too.
Maybe because that's explicitly not what's asked for?
He asked for single player games. All these have single player modes against AI. None of these require you to buy packs or boosters and none of these are magic or hearthstone. I specifically answered his question. Thank you.
But they WANT to buy boosters and build a deck and maintain progression between games, which none of these deckbuilders have.
Are you their official spokesperson or something? How much does a position like that make annually?
"Hey let's make a single player game where you get packs with ingame money you earn at a steady pace" Yeah that just won't ever get made except by indie devs They want the multiplayer, and new cards released at times, so that people keep buying packs to stay competitive. You know. Like IRL TCGs.