10 Games Like Slay the Spire for Deckbuilding Addicts
The best roguelike deckbuilders like Slay the Spire in 2026. Handpicked games with deep card synergies, meaningful choices, and that one-more-run pull.
Slay the Spire created a genre. Before it, nobody was combining roguelike runs with deckbuilding in a way that felt this clean. Every card pick matters. Every relic reshapes your strategy. And the map structure, choosing between elites, shops, and rest sites, gives you just enough control to feel responsible when a run falls apart.
If you have burned through all four characters and want more games with that same loop, here are 10 worth playing.
Balatro
Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, iOS, Android
Balatro replaces fantasy combat with poker hands, and it works absurdly well. You score points by playing hands like flushes and full houses, then modify your deck with jokers that bend the rules in ridiculous ways. The math gets degenerate fast. A good run ends with you scoring billions of points from a single pair because three jokers are multiplying each other. Simple to learn, but the depth rivals Slay the Spire at its best.
Inscryption
Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Switch
Inscryption starts as a creepy cabin card game and then becomes something else entirely. Saying more would spoil it. The card battling in Act 1 is genuinely great on its own, with a sacrifice-based resource system where you feed weak cards to play strong ones. But the meta-narrative is what makes this one unforgettable. Play it blind if you can.
Monster Train
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch
Monster Train adds a tower defense layer to the Slay the Spire formula. You place units across three floors of a train, and enemies climb upward toward your pyre. The clan combination system is the hook: you pick two of five factions per run, and each pairing creates completely different strategies. Runs are faster than Slay the Spire, usually around 30 minutes, which makes it dangerously easy to start "just one more."
Roguebook
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch
Roguebook comes from Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering. You control two heroes and swap them between front and back positions during combat, which adds a layer of tactics most deckbuilders skip. The map is a hex grid you reveal by spending ink, so exploration itself becomes a resource management puzzle. The card design is clean and the synergies between hero pairs feel intentional.
Griftlands
Platforms: PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One
Griftlands gives you two separate decks: one for combat and one for negotiation. You can talk your way out of fights, bribe people, or just punch everyone. The social system tracks who likes you and who wants you dead, and those relationships carry consequences through the run. Klei (the Don't Starve studio) made this, and the writing has real personality. Three campaigns with very different playstyles.
Nowhere Prophet
Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Nowhere Prophet sets its deckbuilding in a post-apocalyptic convoy. Your cards are followers, actual people in your group, and when they die in battle they are gone for good (or come back wounded). That permanence changes how you value your cards. You stop throwing units away as blockers when losing them means a weaker deck for the rest of the run. The Indian sci-fi aesthetic is distinctive and the risk-reward decisions hit harder than most games in this genre.
Tainted Grail: Conquest
Platforms: PC
Tainted Grail puts you on a dark Arthurian island where every run builds toward permanent progression. Nine classes, each with a unique card pool and playstyle. The combat system uses a living deck that evolves mid-run based on your choices. Between runs, you unlock new buildings and NPCs in a village hub. If you want something meatier and darker than Slay the Spire with long-term goals to chase, this delivers.
Vault of the Void
Platforms: PC
Vault of the Void is the most mechanically refined Slay the Spire-like on this list. It adds a void mechanic where you can purge cards mid-combat to fuel powerful effects. Deckbuilding is tighter because of it. You are constantly deciding whether a card is more valuable played or sacrificed. The difficulty curve is steep and the endgame builds get absurd. This one is for people who want to optimize.
Cobalt Core
Platforms: PC, Mac, Switch
Cobalt Core mixes deckbuilding with spaceship combat. You play cards to move your ship left and right, fire weapons, and raise shields, and positioning matters because enemy attacks target specific lanes. The crew system lets you pick three characters per run, each with their own card pool, so team composition drives your strategy. The art is charming, the writing is funny, and the time-loop narrative gives you a reason to keep running.
Arcanium: Rise of Akhan
Platforms: PC
Arcanium spreads its deckbuilding across a tactical overworld. You control a party of three heroes on a hex map, each with their own deck, and the strategic layer adds decisions that pure card games do not have. Positioning, encounter order, and resource management on the map all feed into how your fights play out. It is rougher around the edges than some entries on this list, but the ambition is real and the tactical depth rewards patience.
Want to Make Your Own Deckbuilder?
Summer Engine has a roguelike deckbuilder template that handles the core loop: card drafting, procedural maps, turn-based combat, and relic systems. Describe what you want in plain English and the AI builds it. Start from the template and make it yours.