Reviews for Dawncaster: Deckbuilding RPG

It's extremely rare I buy games on the app store these days. This game deserves every star! It's an amazing roguelite card game that has its own unique mechanics from others, but doesn't force micro transactions. In fact, the only purchase available is an expansion pack with a sizable amount of content. To dev- keep it up. We need games like this. As for feedback: progression feels slow compared to time commitment. Runs can be 90m and many quests are too hard. Love the game though, cheers.

Was skeptical based on the price tag and gameplay videos, but ended up picking this up on sale. Very glad I did! Gameplay is solid and addicting, and there is a serious amount of content (classes, cards, strategies, etc). This is a top of class game well worth your time. I do think it's a bit expensive, but based on the Devs activity/communications it's certainly contributing to the quality. DLC is also expensive (as much as base game), but I very quickly purchased 2/3 (but also on sale).

I've played a ton of roguelike deck-builders (StS, Night of the Full Moon, Rogue Adventure, Krumit's Tale, etc etc). I have maybe 10 hours in on this one, my pros and cons so far: PROs: 1. Is hard! I generally like the difficulty. Most of the other deckbuilders are way too easy once you figure out the right card combinations. 2. Visuals are nice and polished. 3. Good card balance. 4. Nice mix of randomness and agency in terms of deckbuilding choices. CONs: 1. The storyline is tedious. If a game is meant to be replayed over and over, it needs to evolve the story somehow, otherwise it's just clicking through dialogue over and over. I even have to click through the tutorial every run, sheesh. So, I'd suggest either significantly simplifying the story or create some interesting divergence, otherwise it's just getting in the way. 2. Some strategies seem viable (bleeding and poison builds with rogue, for example), until you face monsters that are 100% immune to those abilities (e.g., the undead). Good to have a mix of challenges to overcome in enemy types, but having some deck types be entirely impossible to win with is poor game design. Would suggest toning down the punishment, there (like, bleeding and poison is 50% effective on those creatures, for example). 3. Interface is a mixed bag. Overall it's good, but there are a few glitches with cards that hang in the background. Also, it's not always easy to check on what status effects are (enemies have been using cards with "interrupt" effects, but I still have no idea what that means and no way of checking within the game, unless it's a card that I own). 4. More monster variety would be helpful. It seems like there are a lot of classes to explore, but if I'm facing the same 3 monsters in each world and the same bosses, it's going to lose replayability fast. I'm sticking with 5 stars since it's basically a solid game, and I suspect it'll be even better with a little polish, content addition, and tweaking.

This is one of those games that is so good it feels illegal to have it on your phone and not on Steam. It's incredibly replayable with near endless strategies and approaches to try. Even if you fail, you're still making progress. The art is absolutely gorgeous and so high quality!!!! I have played countless, countless hours of this game, and the updated and free dlc is just...you can tell the developers are passionate about making a beautiful and fun game and it is refreshing, thank you ❤️

Game is fine. Art is good, mechanics solid, supports different styles of play. My issue is that it took me about an hour to play through the entire game with the Knight. After a playthrough you're left to grind through the same campaign time and again to collect enough points to purchase added weapons, talents, etc. Or, you can buy expansions at $3.50 or more each to add another hour's worth of content.

By and large I love this game, play it nearly every night to pass time. Only complaint is a small bug from the most recent patch, which I imagine will be fixed soon enough. Tons of replayability, plenty of variety in each class, and after obtaining the expansions there's plenty of variety in your route. Certainly there are some more challenging than others, but that's the point, no? Worth the cost, and I'm happy to keep supporting them.

In short, a great rogue-like deckbuilder. This game has a lot of depth, I've sunk a ton of hours into it. Well polished, rarely encounter a bug and when I do its always minor. Devs make constant updates to the game, its probably twice the size it was when I started. I've bought all the expansions. Even the easiest difficulty can be a challenge at first, but there are several difficulty levels as you learn the game and unlock more starting options.

fun game, fun mechanics. Has some good replayability. The biggest problem with this game is that it takes FOREVER to get permanent upgrades. Way more than any other Roguelike or Roguelite. I get that they want to make money, but I paid $5 for the game and I'd like to see at least some sort of regular progression to keep it interesting. Aside from that there are a few enemies that can randomly end a very good run, which makes some of the more interesting combos not very fun to play.

I really loved slay the spire. However, this game has been more fun to me. It almost feels like Diablo meets StS? Either way, I haven't been this addicted to a game in a very long time. Especially a mobile game. Do what everyone says, disable all cards but the core set and play each character this way. I accidentally jumped into the Sunforge and was quickly overwhelmed having to read every card thoroughly. Just stick to the main storyline for a while and disable the other cards :)

Great offline RPG. Expect to lose hard your first few games as you figure out out, but winning is fun. Lots of different systems to learn. Great for the price. Needs a few adjustments though: Progression through reward trees is WAY too slow. Too many aspects of the game go unexplained; I appreciate being able to figure it out on my own, but as examples, some shrines tell you what they do and others just don't; rerolling card shop options costs reward points, the out-of-game currency.

Edit: I have played and loved this game on my A02s for years but suddenly it began crashing repeatedly upon loading, or if it does manage to load the main menu, it will crash if I press any buttons at all. I was hoping to pick up the expansion today but I may have to uninstall the game instead. It's a shame because I really enjoy this game. OP: Phenomenal game in nearly every regard, so much so that I was compelled to purchase the expansions shortly after my first run. It truly is fantastic.

A little weird to get used to. I recommend disabling expansions when starting a new game to ease your way into it. While each color is powerful, it seems like there is inherently a system to each of them. The different color feels distinct. Shame infinites aren't possible because of exhaustion. At least opening hands in combat aren't seeded, if I don't like how a fight is going, I can go to the menu and load it to try again. There's a lot of lore in it too. And it's all skippable.

A ton of replay potential. Each combination of character and weapon makes each playthrough feel different. Each character can be upgraded and gain new weapons. This also changes drastically how that character is played and how you would build the deck. Takes a bit to learn all the keywords and how things work/combo together. But once you do, you feel accomplished when you get that deck built just right. The add-ons are a bit costly, in my opinion. But overall, I've really enjoyed the game.

I think the lower star reviews have fair points, but since I've just recently bought the base game, my biggest gripe is that the tooltips aren't comprehensive enough. Some cards generate others that don't appear on the tooltip, and that is a huge annoyance for me since it is upwards of 3 hours to complete the stages for me. Overall, it's ambitious and, in my humble opinion, far better than Slay the Spire.

I've been playing this game for months now, and it's paid for itself with the hours of entertainment I've gotten from it. I bought the expansions too, and they were VERY worth it (otherwise, the main story gets boring really quickly). I like the gameplay, as well as the art design, though there is some jankiness when it comes to the UI. You learn workarounds for that, and its not too bad though. The best part of the game is when you realize you are getting better and discover cool combos.

I really like this game. it's one of very few games that I have paid for all of the dlc. I have maxed out every class and unlocked all of the optional sunforge rewards. even before I purchased all of the dlc I loved this game though. the core storyline is just as fun as the rest of the dlc. the mix of cards, RPG elements, are first class. I also love the weekly challenge, and wish they would make it a daily challenge.

Played each character to the max, and still continue to have fun! Game support is extremely timely and helpful, and will make sure your experience is great! The variety for each playthrough is what makes the game, whether or not you want to make it as difficult as possible, and always seems to offer something new!

Took me a bit to get into it, but once I did, it became my go-to phone-break activity. It has a lot of the elements of a modern CCG without the bank-emptying aspect of either grinding for packs or paying not to fall behind. Play naturally progresses from learning the classes' cards to anything-goes in the Solforge. The weekly challenge introduces me to strange and delightful quirks of play, and looking at how others decks and difficulties were constructed is enlightening. Great game.

Oh wow, this is what I was looking for!! I thought this game was some simple roguelike deckbuilder in which, this is true, but there is so much more along side when playing. all of the DLCs look super fun and may have to grab these once finishing my initial playthrough. I love the options and how many things that there is to unlock, and it's displayed in a clean fashion, not like other games that try to squeeze in everything known to man. TLDR: Wow, way better than I assumed it was going to be

Very Fun, Good Lore, Fantastic Support If you like card rogue-like games then this is a fantastic choice. The card synergies have some serious depth without being overwhelming. The progression between runs feels good and not too grind-y while always leaving something to do. And the archetypes really all feel quite different. Add onto that that the devs are very active and are constantly making updates and new packs (which are not required at all) and its a 10/10 from me. Edit 2025: Still v good