Deck of Haunts: Horror Deckbuilder Lets You Build the Scares

There’s roguelike deckbuilders, and then there’s Deck of Haunts—a game that stares at the genre’s usual tropes, grins, and flips the table. Developed by Mantis and published by DANGEN Entertainment, it tosses out the noble hero archetype and instead makes you the villain: a sentient haunted house hellbent on psychological warfare.

You don’t play as the ghost hunter here. You don’t build a deck to survive the haunted house. You are the haunted house. And you’re building a deck to drive intruders out of their minds before draining their essence and growing stronger. It’s clever, sinister, and surprisingly strategic.

🧠 Deckbuilder Meets House of Horrors

Deck of Haunts wears its genre fusion proudly. At the surface, it’s a deckbuilder. But it’s also a strategy sim, a light city builder, and a roguelike. Each run starts with a blank canvas of a mansion and a small handful of haunt cards. Your goal? Lure in thrill-seeking humans, terrify them room by room, and ultimately reduce them to quivering shells of sanity before siphoning their soul-stuff to fuel your own dark growth.

You expand your haunted house like you’d build a tower defense maze—placing hallways, trap rooms, and dread-enhancing chambers in ways that maximize exposure to your deck’s most potent effects. Then, each turn, you draw cards from a gradually expanding collection and unleash psychological and supernatural torment on the guests wandering your cursed halls.

That’s where the real strategy unfolds. Your cards don’t just deal damage—they increase tension, manipulate behavior, and chain together for increasingly grotesque effects. Playing a creaking floorboard just as an NPC is about to round a blind corner into a cursed doll room? That’s where the game sings. Every turn is about maximizing fear, controlling flow, and balancing risk against reward.

🔧 Mechanics That Reward the Devious

Runs are split into two phases: Day, when you build your house and prep your deck; and Night, when guests enter and the haunt begins. During the day, you manage resources, construct new rooms, and tweak your layout to channel intruders through maximum-spook zones. It’s a strategic puzzle: you want to delay their progress, force them into panic loops, and make sure no one gets too close to your Heart room—the core of your power.

At night, you draw from your Haunt deck. Cards range from subtle (eerie whispers, minor misdirections) to the outright terrifying (phantom appearances, full-blown possessions). Each guest has different traits and thresholds. Some are skittish, others are skeptics who resist fear. You’ll learn quickly which combinations work on whom.

The beauty is in the layering. A ghost sighting in a hallway might push a guest’s fear meter up—but pair that with a shifting wall that seals them in, and now you’ve got a full-blown panic spiral. Later cards let you kill outright, but the best essence comes from victims who’ve been properly terrorized first.

🎴 Buildcrafting in the Dark

Your deck evolves as your infamy grows. More powerful haunts unlock. Special rooms grant synergy bonuses. You start with basic scares—things like sudden knocks, cold spots—but by mid-run you’re bending reality with traps that trigger scream loops and death echoes.

It’s not just about raw power. Some cards are better used for manipulation: redirecting guests, delaying progress, setting up the perfect scare. Others are damage-dealing haunts that push enemies toward the brink. Knowing when to play your best cards—and when to hold back for a bigger chain—is part of the mind game.

And like any good roguelike, the deck meta shifts with every run. You’ll get busted combos one round—like panic amplifiers paired with room multipliers—and awkward, low-synergy decks the next. It keeps you adapting, planning, and grumbling about draw RNG in equal measure.

🎨 Art, Atmosphere, and Pure Vibe

Visually, Deck of Haunts leans into a gothic-isometric style. It’s stylized, not photoreal, but it nails the tone. Guests are distinct enough to read clearly, rooms ooze personality, and haunt effects pop without overwhelming the screen. It’s not flashy, but it’s deeply effective.

Sound design is where the game really commits to the bit. The audio sells the horror. Distant whispers shift in your headphones. Footsteps echo with delay. That moment when you play a “shiver” card and the music dips into a single violin string stretch—it lands. The scares aren’t jumpy, they’re creepy, and that distinction is what gives the game weight.

🎭 Who Is This For?

This isn’t a casual card game. It’s not the next Slay the Spire, and it doesn’t try to be. It’s for players who enjoy micromanaging multiple systems at once: house layout, card sequencing, psychological pressure, guest routing. You’re juggling a lot every turn, and the game rarely explains itself beyond the basics.

There’s no full tutorial. You’ll lose early runs just trying to understand how fear thresholds work or why a certain guest resisted your best combo. But if you’re the type who likes poking at systems and discovering mechanics organically, you’ll be rewarded.

🤔 What Works

• ✅ Innovative Role Reversal
  Flipping the script by letting players be the haunted house isn’t just novel—it’s fun. It opens up an entirely new axis of gameplay and strategy.
• ✅ Strategic Depth
  Between room placement, card sequencing, and guest behavior manipulation, there’s a ton to think about every turn. It’s a playground for control freaks.
• ✅ Atmospheric and Cohesive
  The tone, art, and audio all reinforce the core loop. Nothing feels out of place. The vibe is consistent and eerie from start to finish.
• ✅ Replayability
  Procedurally generated layouts, a growing card pool, and unpredictable guest types keep runs fresh. No two games play out the same way.
• ✅ Satisfying Progression
  Unlocking stronger haunts and better room upgrades over time gives long-term payoff without undercutting the roguelike reset structure.

😬 What Doesn’t

• ❌ Steep Learning Curve
  No tutorial means a lot of players will be left to flounder through the first few runs. The UI could do more to surface key info.
• ❌ RNG Frustrations
  Bad draws can tank a promising run. Some synergy builds feel overpowered, while others barely function.
• ❌ Pacing Can Stall
  Certain mid-run segments drag, especially if you get stuck waiting for the right card or your guests wander off-route.
• ❌ Thin Narrative
  There’s flavor text and spooky vibes, but if you’re looking for a story with arcs and character development, this won’t scratch that itch.
• ❌ UI Needs Polish
  Card tooltips can be vague, and some info is buried behind too many clicks. It’s not unreadable, but it could be cleaner.

🧪 Should You Play It?

If you love strategy games that make you feel clever, absolutely. If you enjoy the kind of deckbuilder where every turn is a chess match of resource timing and spatial control, this is for you. Bonus points if you have a dark sense of humor and enjoy watching people descend into madness.

💸 Should You Buy It?

At full price, Deck of Haunts delivers a meaty, replayable experience with a unique flavor. It’s a standout indie for players who appreciate systems-first design over hand-holding or narrative flair. But if you’re put off by randomness, or if you need a strong story to stay hooked, maybe wishlist it for later.