Cardborne

Cardborne is a solo roguelite played with a deck of playing cards. Clubs and spades are enemies, diamonds are weapons, and hearts restore health. Each room is a puzzle of attack order: a weapon can only kill an enemy whose value is equal to or lower than the value of its last kill.

Fight order

Equipping a diamond sets the weapon’s strength and number of uses. Each enemy killed with it joins its kill stack. Kill a 9 first, for example, and the weapon can still reach a 6 or 4; kill the 4 first and the 9 and 6 are locked out for that weapon. Switching weapons starts a new chain.

You can fight barehanded when the order goes wrong, but you take damage equal to the enemy’s full value. Alternatively, spend one weapon use on a ranged attack to reduce an enemy’s value by 1.

Poker hands

Kills stacked on a weapon form poker hands, from a Pair to a Straight Flush. You choose when to play a hand. Every hand in the stack pays out, and many also hit the strongest enemy or affect your weapon. Playing clears the whole stack, making higher-value enemies reachable again. You can play early to preserve the weapon, or wait for a larger hand and risk running out of uses.

Weapons and healing

You can hold one weapon at a time. Equipping a diamond starts a fresh chain; discarding one instead gives your current weapon 1 extra use. Hearts restore health, or grant 1 XP if you are already at full HP.

Jokers and classes

Each level-up offers 3 jokers, and you choose one. Choosing a joker you already own levels it up, to a maximum of level 3. The game has 14 jokers, including Smith, which adds weapon strength with every poker hand; Grinder, which adds a weapon use; Iron Will, which shields you when you fight barehanded; and Scarecrow, which sends the weakest enemy fleeing to another room.

The Escapist can escape a room 4 times per run, while the Gambler can reroll the joker offer on level-up. Winning runs unlocks more classes.

Rooms and stages

Each room is dealt from the deck. The first rooms contain 4 cards, and rooms grow as you level up, to a maximum of 10. Clearing a room deals the next one. Larger rooms provide more choices and more chances to disrupt the attack order.

There are three stages—Spades, Clubs and Diamonds—with three acts in each. When an act’s deck runs out, its boss phases in with minions. Each stage has its own boss, which returns stronger in the next act. Winning a stage unlocks the next stage and Hard mode for the stage you beat.