Game: Novus Orbis
Developer: Seizo Games
Publisher: 2 Left Thumbs
Genre: Roguelike Deckbuilder
Released: November 13, 2026 (1.0)
Price: $19.99 · $11.99 until November 23
Platform: PC (Steam)
🃏 How we reviewed it: on PC, via Steam. The game has been in our library since early 2025, and this review also draws on what players said during its 21 months in Early Access.
3Classes
300+Cards
100Blessings
10Pets
146Achievements
⏳ Know this first: it’s out of Early Access, and it’s tough. Novus Orbis hit 1.0 on November 13 after about 21 months in Early Access. It’s $11.99 with a 40% launch discount until November 23, down from $19.99. Expect a demanding deckbuilder that rewards planning, plus a few secret-heavy events that can punish you for guessing.
🔗 The Order Matters
Every card has a cost and a combo value. Play cards in the right sequence and they get stronger and cheaper, or break the chain at the right moment for a better outcome.
The catch is that enemies don’t wait. Every card you play brings them one step closer to attacking, and ending your turn advances their Countdown by two. Every turn is a choice between setting up the big combo and dealing with the threat in front of you.
Chain your cards. Watch the clock. Make big numbers.
Plenty of roguelike deckbuilders feel like Slay the Spire with a new coat of paint. Novus Orbis isn’t one of them. Its combo chains and enemy Countdown change how you think about every single card, and the way they push against each other gives the genre a genuinely new layer of strategy. It’s hard, it scales aggressively, and a few of its secrets are almost too secret. But after more than four years of development and a long Early Access run, it’s one of the smartest deckbuilders we’ve seen this year.
Our verdict: “Roguelike deckbuilder with rich combos, strategic blessings, and unique mechanics. Master timing, build powerful synergies, and uncover secrets as you fight to restore order in a fractured world!”
How It Plays
🔗 Combos
Play cards in order of their combo value to power them up and lower their cost, or break the chain on purpose.
⏳ Countdown
Each card you play moves enemies one step closer to attacking. Ending your turn moves them two.
✨ Blessings & Pets
Earn 100 build-altering Blessings and recruit from 10 Pets to fight alongside you.
🗺️ Branching Paths
Clearing a level makes it harder next time, while losing resets it, so your route matters.
The Countdown Changes Everything
⏱️ Should You Even Take Your Turn?
The Countdown is where Novus Orbis really separates itself. Because ending your turn only advances the clock by two, you can sometimes play a card or two, or none at all, and pass to fish for a better hand without giving enemies an attack. One detailed player review pointed out that this adds a whole extra decision to every turn: not just how to play, but whether it’s worth playing at all.
It also acts as a safety valve. Two players said the Countdown stops the endless loop combos that can break other deckbuilders, so even your best builds have to respect the clock.
Three Classes, Lots of Builds
⚔️ Warrior, Mage and Mechanic
Each class has its own card pool and very different mechanics. In a reply to players, the developer described just how far each one stretches. The Warrior can build around Countdown-increasing cards, afflictions, bleed, huge block or a tiny five-card deck with infinite redraws. The Mage can focus on one, two or several elements, and the developer called it probably the strongest class, if a bit more convoluted. The Mechanic leans on items and equipment, overheat builds or extreme defense with uncapped Hull.
Classless cards add even more, like Stamp, which can copy any card. On top of that, there are 38 normal enemies, 17 mini-bosses and 20 bosses across eight levels, according to the developer, and more unlocks the longer you play.
What Players Are Saying
Novus Orbis sits at Very Positive on Steam from 68 reviews, and the praise is remarkably consistent. Several players singled out the combo system as the highlight, calling it a brilliant or genuinely fresh spin on card combat. One admitted they weren’t a fan of combos at first, but said learning to work around them made the challenge more rewarding.
Several players also compared it favorably to Slay the Spire. One said it’s a good pick if you want to scratch that itch, and another said it plays similarly but has enough differences to feel like its own thing. Several were surprised it isn’t more popular. Two praised the variety of enemies, one liked the art style and one called the music great. One praised the developer’s responsiveness, and another pointed out that the game comes from an active solo developer.
Where It Stumbles
⚠️ A Few Broken Chains
1. Some secrets are too secret. You can use cards in events for unique outcomes, and some cards seem to exist only for that. One detailed player review called these interactions arcane and harsh. They burned their best card at a mirror, expecting it to be duplicated, and used an empty bottle they’d carried for three acts at a pond, only for both to be destroyed. They worried that players will end up checking a guide or Discord whenever they hit a new event.
2. Scaling is extreme. The same player noted that you might start with around 40 max HP and face attacks in the hundreds by the end-game. As a result, they found individual card rewards mattered less and less, to the point of skipping most of them from Act 2 onward.
3. Runs can be swingy. That reviewer found early runs swingy, sometimes making a restart faster than pushing on, and another player warned of frustrating runs where you need to pivot your strategy.
4. A few rough edges. One player hit UI issues that a quick restart fixed. The developer has acknowledged that some rough corners and bugs remain, though the 1.0 update alone listed 42 fixes, including several softlocks.
🎮 Easy to Pick Up, Anywhere
Novus Orbis has full controller support and is rated Playable on Steam Deck. It runs on very modest hardware, supports 8 languages, and the tutorial can now be replayed from the class selection screen.
Things to Know
📋 Before You Buy
• $19.99 · $11.99 with the 40% launch discount until November 23 · soundtrack sold separately ($4.99)
• Left Early Access on November 13, 2026, after launching in Early Access on February 10, 2025
• Single-player · 146 achievements · Steam Cloud · full controller support · Steam Deck Playable
• Includes an Endless Mode with a hard limit, so every build eventually loses
• 8 languages: English, Japanese, Italian, German, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese
• Minimum: 2.0 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, 1 GB video memory, 500 MB of storage
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good |
The Bad |
The Ugly |
| Combo ChainsCard order really matters. |
Arcane EventsWrong guesses destroy cards. |
The MirrorIt doesn’t duplicate your best card. |
| The CountdownEvery turn is a real decision. |
Extreme ScalingCard rewards fade after Act 2. |
— |
| Class VarietyDozens of build styles. |
Swingy StartsSome runs are over early. |
— |
| Enemy Roster20 bosses and 17 mini-bosses. |
— |
— |
The Verdict
Novus Orbis takes the Slay the Spire formula and adds two ideas that make it feel fresh: combo chains that reward careful sequencing, and a Countdown that turns even ending your turn into a tactical decision. Together, they make every hand a small puzzle, and the three classes give you plenty of ways to solve it.
It isn’t perfect. Its scaling is brutal, early runs can collapse quickly, and its secret event interactions can feel more like traps than rewards if you go in blind. But those are the rough edges of an ambitious game, not signs of a shallow one.
The honest read: if you love roguelike deckbuilders and don’t mind a challenge, this is an easy recommendation, especially at the launch price. If you hate trial and error or looking things up, expect a few painful lessons.
Looking for another deckbuilder with a twist? Check out Talystro’s free demo. For more game reviews, check out our full reviews section.
Score Breakdown
Build Depth & Synergies9.0/10
Difficulty & Scaling7.0/10
Final Score
8.6/10
Novus Orbis — Seizo Games / 2 Left Thumbs
Chain your cards. Watch the clock.
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