Skip to main content

Deck of Haunts

Related
Deck of Haunts Game Cover
86%Game Brain Score
gameplay, replayability
stability, grinding
89% User Score Based on 757 reviews
Critic Score 70%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

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

About

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

Skip User Reviews

89%
Audience ScoreBased on 757 reviews
gameplay64 positive mentions
stability11 negative mentions

  • Unique and creative premise of playing as a haunted house defending against visitors.
  • Engaging gameplay loop combining deck building, mansion building, and turn-based strategy.
  • Good atmosphere with fitting visuals and sound design, enhanced by active developer support and frequent updates.
  • Limited content and variety result in repetitive gameplay and reduced long-term replayability.
  • Some bugs and crashes affecting stability and user experience, particularly with enemy pathing and UI glitches.
  • Balancing issues where certain enemy traits and strategies can make parts of the game too easy or frustrating, and room building lacks depth and meaningful choices.
  • gameplay
    175 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of Deck of Haunts offers a unique and engaging blend of turn-based strategy, deck building, and base building set in a haunted house theme, creating a satisfying and emergent loop appreciated for its novel mechanics and theme. While players enjoy the addictive, strategic card play and house layout tactics, common critiques include limited content, shallow room-building depth, pacing issues, occasional balance and UI frustrations, and a sense of repetitiveness after initial runs. Overall, it is a fun and well-designed experience with room for improvement, especially in tutorial clarity, variety, and polish.

    • “This is a good 'board game' like game, that has turn based strategy plus card game mechanics with a haunted house theme, where you play the bad guy.”
    • “The gameplay loop is good, think roguelike, where you pick a card or upgrade after each stage.”
    • “Humans have different traits that will cause them to interact with your house differently (they may avoid grouping up with other humans, enter via a random room besides your entrance or just beeline for your heart, among others) and accounting for them is a big part of the gameplay.”
    • “The building mechanic does not synergize very well with certain decks, which is not helped by the fact that your room types are randomized.”
    • “Horrible building interface, UI, explanation of mechanics.”
    • “The game just doesn't have enough variety in its gameplay or its options to really warrant the $20 price tag.”
  • replayability
    50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Replayability in this game is generally praised for its variety of deck-building options, random elements, and multiple strategies that keep runs fresh and engaging. However, several reviewers note limitations such as a lack of content variety (cards, rooms, enemies), minimal meta progression, and fixed starting conditions, which can reduce long-term replay appeal. While the game offers good replay value for its price and a satisfying loop, it currently lacks the depth and infinite replay potential found in top-tier roguelites, though ongoing updates may improve this.

    • “But even now it's a fully fleshed out experience with plenty of build choices and replayability.”
    • “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.”
    • “However, unfortunately, there is very limited content in terms of cards and rooms and a low enemy variety, making the replayability rather low.”
    • “My biggest complaint with the launch version of this game was the lack of replayability - for how much potential variety existed within the game, the launch version suffered from a fixed starting setup and static run conditions.”
    • “The modifiers for replayability served no further purpose other than novelty - there was no progression to be had.”
  • graphics
    41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game features a distinctive, atmospheric art style that effectively captures a spooky, horror-themed aesthetic, with beautifully designed cards and environments complemented by fitting audio. While the graphics are stylistic and charming rather than cutting-edge, they create a compelling and immersive mood, though some users note room for polish and graphical enhancements. Overall, the visuals are praised for uniqueness and atmospheric impact, appealing especially to fans of eerie and creative roguelite experiences.

    • “The visuals blend the Halloween aesthetic beautifully, and the audio design complements the eerie atmosphere very well.”
    • “I feel like so many roguelite deckbuilders have similar art styles, and the uniquely awesome art style of this one is what initially caught my attention.”
    • “The card artwork shows amazing care and, honestly, should be the standard.”
    • “I'd like a sequel with better graphics and visual budget - maybe 2D.”
    • “For such a 'basic looking' game, my computer really struggles with the higher graphic settings.”
    • “Most of the cards are just a sound effect, some type of subtle graphic, and then a '-3 HP' floating above the target.”
  • atmosphere
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game delivers a captivating and spooky atmosphere, blending creative horror themes with pleasing visuals and immersive audio design. Its moody, eerie ambiance, complemented by stylish art and soundtrack, effectively draws players in and sets it apart within the roguelite genre. Overall, the atmosphere is consistently praised as a major strength that enhances the gameplay experience.

    • “The visuals blend the Halloween aesthetic beautifully, and the audio design complements the eerie atmosphere very well.”
    • “Atmosphere: excellent mood and presentation, really pulls you in.”
    • “The game's ambient sounds and visual style contribute to a compelling horror atmosphere, enhancing immersion.”
    • “Atmosphere could be a little better, but it's not terrible either.”
    • “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.”
  • music
    23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game effectively contributes to the eerie atmosphere but tends to be repetitive and limited in variety, leading many players to mute it and use their own playlists. While the soundtrack fits the theme well, adding more diverse tracks or rotating pieces could enhance the overall experience.

    • “The theming is also on point throughout, in everything from music to sound effects (just general background noise) to enemy types, to card art.”
    • “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!!)”
    • “The soundtrack is a bit limited and needs a lot more variety.”
    • “Audio and 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.”
  • story
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game lacks a substantial story, offering only a brief 28-day campaign with minimal character or narrative development, which leaves players feeling less engaged. While the haunted house theme and escalating difficulty are appreciated, many reviewers see a missed opportunity for deeper storytelling, character backstories, and varied scenarios to enhance immersion. Overall, the story aspect is considered bare-bones, detracting from the potential atmosphere and long-term appeal.

    • “The difficulty doubles every few nights, as at first you're just dealing with a handful of people with no traits, then you're dealing with a dozen people with 2+ traits, then two dozen with 4+ traits, etc. and that's just in the first two weeks of the game's main story mission.”
    • “In Deck of Haunts you play as an evil dungeon like out of 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 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.”
    • “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.”
    • “You can beat the game on only your first run, and the 'story' mode only lasts for 28 games which is only a couple hours long, making me wonder why I would do another run.”
    • “The only con I have with Deck of Haunts is there not being any type of story mode option to this game.”
  • stability
    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game experiences frequent crashes and various glitches, causing occasional frustration, but these issues are somewhat expected given its new release status. The developers appear actively engaged in patching and improving stability, mitigating major disruptions to gameplay. Overall, while still buggy, the game remains playable and promising as it undergoes ongoing development.

    • “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.”
    • “It finally releases and... it's a buggy mess.”
  • grinding
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is widely seen as tedious and time-consuming, particularly when managing the list of characters exploring the manor or trying to obtain decent cards and rooms. This repetitive effort diminishes replayability and can be frustrating due to glitches and cumbersome navigation.

    • “My main issue is how tedious it is to look through the list of people exploring your haunted manor.”
    • “Until it is made easier, less glitchy, and less tedious to scroll through the list of people, I can't really recommend this.”
    • “Grinding for an hour just to get decent cards or rooms again feels grindy and affects replayability.”
  • emotional
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users find the game emotionally engaging and nostalgic, highlighting its addictive core loop and enjoyable balance changes that enhance strategic depth. The experience is described as wholesome and satisfying, evoking both fond memories and a sense of playful rivalry.

    • “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 also makes those book-toting characters my nemesis and I will squash all of them :))))”
  • optimization
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game runs smoothly even on low-end systems, but widescreen UI optimization is lacking and some critical quality-of-life UI elements are missing. End turn timing can be frustratingly long, and performance may decline in post-win scenarios despite minimal visual complexity.

    • “Performance is smooth – you could run this on a potato.”
    • “In post-win scenarios, the game starts seeing performance issues despite little visual variety, indicating some optimization problems.”
    • “UI could use some improvement, especially for widescreen optimization, but it doesn’t break the experience.”
    • “In post-win scenarios the game starts experiencing performance issues, which is puzzling given the minimal visual variety.”
    • “End turn timing is tied to actual weeble position and can often take a long time to complete, impacting overall game flow.”
  • humor
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's humor is mixed, with some users appreciating the funny dialogue, while others find it lacking and not enough to make the overall experience enjoyable.

    • “They have funny dialogue - 'Did my scar reopen?!'”
  • monetization
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users appreciate the absence of microtransactions, valuing the game as a genuine experience rather than being driven by ads or in-game purchases.

    • “No microtransactions.”
    • “You know—when they were actually games and not ads and microtransactions.”
  • character development
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users appreciate that character development is meaningful and avoids feeling like an endless grind.

Skip Critic Reviews

70%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews
Skip Game Offers

Buy Deck of Haunts

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

Videos

Skip Games Like Deck of Haunts

Games Like Deck of Haunts

SpellRogue Image
Games like SpellRogue
9 Kings Image
Games like 9 Kings
Arcanium: Rise of Akhan Image
Games like Arcanium: Rise of Akhan
HELLCARD Image
Games like HELLCARD
Roguebook Image
Games like Roguebook
Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Deck of Haunts is a simulation game with horror theme.

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 mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its stability.

Deck of Haunts is a single player game.

Similar games include SpellRogue, 9 Kings, Arcanium: Rise of Akhan, HELLCARD, Roguebook and others.