Rogue Waves is a roguelike deckbuilder about surfing, which is a sentence that shouldn’t work and appears to anyway. You cruise the beaches of Porto Calambre, fight rivals for the best waves in the lineup, and build combos designed to make the scoring system give up.
It’s from Pomelo Games, an indie studio out of Uruguay, and the demo is on Steam now.
The Wave Draft Is the Clever Bit
Layered on top is the rogue wave itself — a massive set with high rewards and, per Pomelo, extreme penalties. Given that the whole game is already a bidding-versus-boosting gamble, adding a wave that can swing either way is exactly the right kind of complication.
It’s Defined by What It Leaves Out
That reframing does real work. In a combat deckbuilder, a bad hand means you take damage. Here it means you post a weak score while somebody else posts a better one — which is a different kind of pressure, and arguably a better fit for a game about competition rather than survival.
What’s in the Demo
Fully implemented, with over 50 manoeuvre cards to build combos from.
Board stickers from “suspicious sponsors,” each with run-altering effects.
Each with unique effects specifically designed to interfere with your strategy.
The full bidding system, plus the rogue wave mechanic and its risk-reward swing.
Six rivals who actively disrupt you is the detail worth flagging there. Deckbuilder opponents are often just stat blocks with a damage number; opponents whose entire purpose is to mess with your plan turns each competition into something you have to adapt around rather than solve in advance.
Between Competitions
Buy new manoeuvre cards to expand what your deck can pull off.
Heal up your injuries between events.
Temporary boosts to your abilities, spent when you need them most.
Pick up run-altering stickers for your board from those suspicious brands.
It’s a familiar between-runs structure dressed in surf-town clothing, and the theming does more than decorate. Injuries healed at a spa read differently to hit points restored at a campfire, even when they’re doing the same job.
Radical Nonsense, Deliberately
The tone is doing a lot of the lifting. Porto Calambre is described as an irreverent surf world full of fake brands, strange locals and radical nonsense, and Pomelo put humour explicitly at the forefront rather than treating it as garnish.
The art style backs it — stylised card illustrations, expressive characters and bright, striking environments. For a genre that trends heavily toward gloom, a deckbuilder built on sunshine and trash talk is a genuinely different proposition.
Who’s Making It
The Rogue Waves demo is available on Steam now, with the full release still to be dated.
For more gaming news and reviews, check out our reviews section.
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