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Deck of Haunts

Deck of Haunts invites you to become a malevolent Haunted House. Lure humans into your cursed halls, manipulate their fears, and drain their essence to grow your power. Use strategy to build your mansion and expand your dark influence, turning your home into a terrifying, inescapable nightmare.
Deck of Haunts Game Cover
87%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:gameplay, replayability
Most mentioned negative aspects:stability, grinding
88% User Score Based on 888 reviews
Critic Score 81%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPCPlaystation 5Xbox OneXboxSteam DeckWindowsPlayStation
Deck of Haunts Game Cover

About Deck of Haunts

Deck of Haunts is a single player tactical city builder game with a horror theme. It was developed by Mantis and was released on May 7, 2025. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

Deck of Haunts invites you to become a malevolent Haunted House. Lure humans into your cursed halls, manipulate their fears, and drain their essence to grow your power. Use strategy to build your mansion and expand your dark influence, turning your home into a terrifying, inescapable nightmare.

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Games Like Deck of Haunts

Looking for games like Deck of Haunts? Here are top tactical city builder recommendations with a horror focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with SpellRogue, 9 Kings or Die in the Dungeon.

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Reviews

88%Audience ScoreBased on 888 reviews
gameplay71 positive mentions
stability13 negative mentions

  • Unique and creative concept where you play as a sentient haunted house defending its heart while driving intruders insane or killing them.
  • Engaging gameplay loop mixing deckbuilding, turn-based strategy, and spatial house layout planning providing satisfying strategic depth.
  • Active and responsive developers regularly update the game with new cards, rooms, modes, and quality-of-life improvements.
  • Repetitive gameplay with limited endgame content and lack of strong meta progression leading to diminished replayability after initial runs.
  • Some annoying mechanics such as 'pathfinder' enemies bypassing defenses and mandatory 1x1 room funnel layouts reducing house-building creativity.
  • Various bugs, crashes, and UI issues including difficulty tracking multiple intruders, clunky controls, and inconsistent info display.
  • gameplay

    218 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    33% positive mentions, 63% neutral mentions, 4% negative mentions

    The gameplay of Deck of Haunts offers a unique blend of deckbuilding, base-building, and tactical defense mechanics set in a haunted house theme, providing an engaging and satisfying core loop. While its card and room mechanics are fun, strategic, and relatively easy to learn, many reviewers note the gameplay can feel repetitive, lacking depth, variety, and long-term progression, which limits replayability. The game shines in its innovative concept and atmosphere but would benefit from further content, balancing, and polish to fully realize its potential.

    • “The gameplay revolves around protecting the core of your haunted house while intruders attempt to navigate its rooms and reach its heart.”
    • “Its core mechanics are easy to understand but offer enough depth to encourage experimentation, and the combination of deckbuilding and environmental manipulation provides a fresh take on familiar systems.”
    • “The base and card building mechanics are really fun.”
    • “The gameplay loop is simple enough: people come into the house and you use cards to eliminate them.”
    • “Gameplay is mostly the same, but I am disappointed that you can no longer add a card to your deck and buy a new type of room in the same day.”
    • “It really sucks because the core gameplay mechanics are actually pretty fun, which leads me to the next issue: there's no reason to play this game more than once, and the challenge level is pretty low, so it feels kinda like a waste of time.”
  • replayability

    58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    33% positive mentions, 62% neutral mentions, 5% negative mentions

    Replayability in this game is generally regarded as strong due to adjustable difficulty, diverse deck-building options, strategic variety, and random elements that keep runs fresh. However, some users note limited enemy variety, grindy unlocks, and lack of meta progression or content depth which can reduce long-term replay value. Ongoing developer updates and future content expansions are expected to enhance replayability further.

    • “Adjustable difficulty means no player will be raging for long, and while the various nightmare challenges can be annoying (especially once they begin stacking) I rarely felt as though I was served up an impossible task. This game has a lot of replayability due to the ability to build your own deck or shape a pre-existing one with your own choices in a run.”
    • “The build of the mansion and the build of your deck provide two avenues for replayable creativity and varied runs.”
    • “This game nails the just one more round feeling and it seems like the replayability is there due to the variety of cards, rooms, and layouts.”
    • “The biggest issue right now is replayability, with limited content and a low enemy variety making it rather low.”
    • “My biggest complaint with the launch version of this game was the lack of replayability—despite potential variety, the fixed starting setup and static run conditions held it back.”
    • “No relics, no events, no shops, resulting in no replay value.”
  • graphics

    54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    52% positive mentions, 42% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions

    The game's graphics feature a unique, stylistic, and atmospheric art style that effectively complements its spooky, horror-themed aesthetic, with particularly praised card artwork and room designs. While some users find the visuals simple or reminiscent of a low-budget mobile game and note occasional graphical limitations or lack of polish, many appreciate the creative design, satisfying visual feedback, and good performance on a range of systems. Overall, the graphics serve the game's mood well but may benefit from further refinement and expanded variety.

    • “Great graphics, and I really like the camera zoom-in and zoom-out options, especially when playing on your Steam Deck, as they make it easy to read the smaller print.”
    • “The card artwork shows amazing care and, honestly, should be the standard.”
    • “The visuals blend the Halloween aesthetic beautifully, and the audio design complements the eerie atmosphere very well.”
    • “The graphics are... well, if I saw screenshots and was told they were from some cheap, cobbled together mobile game, I wouldn't be surprised.”
    • “I think that's the main problem: it feels like a £1 mobile game, both in graphics and gameplay.”
    • “I'd like a sequel with better graphics and visual budget - maybe 2D.”
  • atmosphere

    35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    54% positive mentions, 37% neutral mentions, 9% negative mentions

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its eerie, spooky, and moody horror theme, effectively supported by stylized visuals, ambient sounds, and a complementary soundtrack. It creates a distinctive and immersive experience that stands out within its genre, balancing moodiness with clear presentation. Overall, the atmosphere significantly enhances gameplay, making it both engaging and uniquely captivating.

    • “The presentation supports the concept effectively, with a stylized art direction that balances eerie atmosphere with clarity.”
    • “The game's ambient sounds and visual style contribute to a compelling horror atmosphere, enhancing immersion.”
    • “Atmosphere: excellent mood and presentation, really pulls you in.”
    • “❓Atmosphere could be a little better, but it's not terrible either.”
    • “The atmosphere is eerie and a little oddball, with a great soundtrack.”
    • “I would say don't expect the game to be too challenging if you do 20 heart kills, but what it has in spades is atmosphere, from the visuals to sound design.”
  • story

    28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    18% positive mentions, 71% neutral mentions, 11% negative mentions

    The game’s story is widely regarded as minimal and underdeveloped, lacking a cohesive or engaging narrative to enhance the gameplay experience. While the premise and thematic elements offer potential, most users feel the game misses opportunities for deeper storytelling, character development, or varied scenarios that would provide context and emotional investment. Overall, the absence of a robust story mode is seen as a notable drawback, limiting replay value and narrative depth.

    • “While the narrative elements are minimal, the premise itself carries enough personality to make each run feel like a self-contained story of manipulation and control.”
    • “In Deck of Haunts, you play as an evil dungeon-like entity from the long online story 'Dungeon Life' (except you're a villain, sort of. Yes, you kill or drive insane the people who enter the house, but it's not like any of them knocked. They just let themselves in, and some of them break your stuff, and some of them attack you when they find the literal heart of the house. No courtesy or civility involved there.) You start out as a humble haunted house up on a hill surrounded by trees, but as you take down home invaders you gain points to use to increase from a house to a full-on mansion of horrors that would make a ghost house from Super Mario green with envy.”
    • “Additionally, the rooms can be somewhat confusing, unlocking upgraded rooms for rooms which the required base room is still locked was fairly common and annoying. I'd also like to see a bit more on the guests, backstory/details to flesh them out other than this one has a flashlight.”
    • “What a cool idea for a tower defense game, unfortunately the game is severely lacking in storytelling. Sure, there's plenty of copy and pasted ChatGPT writing, but it all feels so surface level. There is no actual story here. Devs said they are going to add more story elements, but you can probably expect more AI-generated, do-nothing narration (that isn't even voice acted).”
    • “There is no story here, so it is just a 28-day campaign whether you either get a good or a bad deck based on the luck of the draw.”
    • “The only con I have with Deck of Haunts is there not being any type of story mode option to this game.”
  • music

    27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    26% positive mentions, 63% neutral mentions, 11% negative mentions

    The music in the game is atmospheric and fits the eerie theme well, contributing to the overall mood and immersion. However, many users find it repetitive and limited in variety, often opting to mute it and play their own background music instead. While the soundtrack complements the game, there is consensus that more diverse and dynamic music tracks would enhance the experience.

    • “The soundtrack fits and is enjoyable.”
    • “The art, music, and cards create serious atmosphere.”
    • “Atmosphere is eerie and a little oddball, with a great soundtrack (to the composer Alksander Kmiec - great job!!)”
    • “Music is disgustingly boring.”
    • “❓Audio & music leave a lot to be desired; it's a haunted house game but the music sucks.”
    • “I think it's a missed opportunity that the game has barely any music; most of the time you hear the same horror ambience on a constant loop.”
  • stability

    13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game currently experiences frequent bugs, glitches, and occasional crashes, including UI issues and gameplay freezes, which impact stability. However, it remains enjoyable and engaging, with an active development team promptly addressing these problems through patches and updates.

    • “Unfortunately, the game crashes every now and then, plus it has a couple infuriating glitches.”
    • “It's also a little buggy; I have had several crashes, as well as seeing lots of cards in runs that I then 'unlock' in later runs.”
    • “Played the demo and loved it, seems to be more glitches in the full release (intro highlights in widescreen, can't exit some main screens).”
  • grinding

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game is often described as tedious and time-consuming, especially when progressing from basic to advanced decks or managing in-game elements like survivors and exploration lists. The user interface exacerbates this by making navigation and targeting cumbersome, which can negatively impact replayability despite the overall fun once advancement is achieved.

    • “Takes a little bit of grinding to go from the basic decks to the more advanced decks, but then it's just loads of fun.”
    • “I don't mind playing the game again but grinding for an hour just to get decent cards or rooms again feels so grindy and affects replayability.”
    • “Anyways, until, at the very least, it's made easier, less glitchy, and less tedious to just scroll through the list of people, I can't really recommend this.”
  • optimization

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    40% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions

    The game's optimization is generally smooth and can run even on low-end hardware, though the UI could benefit from better widescreen support. Deck optimization offers flexibility, allowing players to keep decks small for simplicity or explore card synergies for deeper strategy. However, some quality-of-life issues persist, such as slow end-turn timing and minor performance drops in post-win scenarios.

    • “Originally, I was not very fond of the implementation as a deck builder, but since the decks can remain fairly small, the 'deck optimization' aspect, while there, can be kept to a minimum. There are also many synergies of cards, so there is a lot of room for optimization if you want it.”
    • “Performance: smooth - you could run this on a potato.”
    • “UI could use some improvement, especially for widescreen optimization, but it doesn’t break the experience.”
    • “The game lacks critical QoL UI elements; end turn timing is tied to actual weeble position and can often wait a long time to complete.”
    • “In post-win scenarios the game starts seeing performance issues which I can't understand as there is precious little visual variety.”
  • emotional

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users find the game emotionally engaging, describing it as wholesome and nostalgic, with an addictive core loop that encourages continuous play. The changes to game mechanics also reduce frustration, enhancing the overall positive emotional experience.

    • “The core loop is really addicting and made me feel like I wanted to play just one more round.”
    • “This made me feel nostalgic.”
    • “It's wholesome :) such a beautiful buff.”
  • humor

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor in the game comes across as childish and unpolished, with some amusing dialogue but an overall sense of being unfinished and lacking depth. Many users find it more cringeworthy than genuinely funny.

    • “They have funny dialogue - 'Did my scar reopen?!'”
    • “It's like 'funny spooky' like a 12-year-old designed it.”
  • monetization

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, -50% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions

    Users appreciate the absence of microtransactions, valuing the game as a pure experience without intrusive ads or pay-to-win elements.

    • “No microtransactions.”
    • “You know – when they were actually games and not ads and microtransactions.”
    • “You know—when they were actually games and not ads and microtransactions.”
  • character development

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The character development is well-paced and avoids feeling like an endless grind, providing a balanced and engaging progression.

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Play Times

11h Median play time
19h Average play time
8-24h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 9 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Deck of Haunts is a tactical city builder game with horror theme. Common tags for Deck of Haunts include turn-based, indie, roguelite, psychological, tower defense and others.

Deck of Haunts is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

On average players spend around 19 hours playing Deck of Haunts.

Deck of Haunts was released on May 7, 2025.

Deck of Haunts was developed by Mantis.

Deck of Haunts has received positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked Deck of Haunts for its gameplay but disliked it for its stability.

Deck of Haunts is a single player game.

Similar games include SpellRogue, 9 Kings, Die in the Dungeon, Emberward, Arcanium: Rise of Akhan and others.