Heretics Amulet

Heretics Amulet is a tarot-inspired roguelike card game. Each round, you draw from a grid of face-down numbered cards and try to keep their total as low as possible. When your draws run out, the total left on the table becomes the damage you take.

The world and story

You play as the Heretic in a world built on a Wheel of death and rebirth. Each time it turns, everyone’s memory is wiped, but you remember. The Great Kingdoms want things to stay as they are, so they exile you and send their mindless legions to your gate. Your Tarot Dealer is a possessed skull that speaks for each of the kingdoms in turn.

The story unfolds through Tarot Cards with an original cosmology, unlocked as you clear each act, and written entries for every item you find. Much of the story is left for you to piece together.

Play each round

You start with six draws per round. For each card, you choose whether to place it in the grid, replacing the card already there, or discard it to reveal another face-down card. Fill a row or column with cards of the same value and the entire line clears, earning bonus souls. If you run out of draws before completing a line, the remaining total deals damage.

Spend souls

Between rounds, you spend collected souls on items that reshape your deck. Some take effect immediately: they can add cards, remove or transform cards already in your deck, or heal you. Permanent upgrades carry over to future runs. The Amulet starts broken and keeps only a fraction of the souls you earn; Runic Feathers repair it. Mala Beads give you more draws each round, while Sacrificial Daggers increase your maximum health.

Acts and freeplay

The game has eight acts, each ending with a boss that changes the rules. After the acts, you can play Endless Freeplay, a separate endless mode. Your stats start fresh in each run, the difficulty increases every five rounds, and your best round and best soul count are saved between sessions.

Items and other content

• 30 unique items: find run items and permanent upgrades.
• 12 original tarot cards: unlock cards as you clear acts.
• 21 achievements.
• Item lore: find a written entry for every item.
• 12 original music tracks: unlock them for the in-game listening room.
• Visuals: low-fi retro graphics with tarot-inspired card art.