Shroom and Gloom: two decks instead of one, and you eat your enemies rather than blocking them

The roguelike deckbuilder has become the most crowded genre in independent games, to the point where you open a new one wondering what on earth it could have found to add.

Shroom and Gloom found two things, and they are excellent.

Two decks, two jobs

This is the main find and it changes the genre's structure.

You build two distinct decks. The combat deck keeps you alive in fights. The explore deck navigates the dungeon, modifies your cards and unlocks new weapons and abilities.

The benefit is immediate: in a conventional deckbuilder, everything that is not combat pollutes your draw. Here each function has its own deck, so you can specialise without sabotaging yourself.

And since the two decks feed each other, exploration becomes a genuine strategic decision rather than a corridor between rooms.

The cards grow

Second idea, rarer still.

The game lets you grow and modify your cards infinitely. A pitiful starting card can become an outrageous attack. A rare card can be tinkered with until it becomes a run-breaking weapon.

That inverts the genre's usual logic, where you discard weak cards to make room for strong ones. Here you adopt a card and feed it.

And you eat the enemies

The studio puts it with the right amount of cheek: why block your enemies when you could eat them instead?

You season, you skewer, you roast, then you devour to restore health. Better still, you throw your roasted enemies in a pot and cook soups that change the course of a run.

It is not merely a gag. It replaces blocking, the genre's dullest mechanic, with an offensive loop: the only way to heal is to kill better.

The presentation

The game is first-person, already unusual for a card game, and it mixes hand-drawn art and animation with dozens of three-dimensional spaces.

The result is a world of mushrooms and madness that resembles nothing else. It is Team Lazerbeam, published by Devolver Digital, and you can see it in every mushroom's grimace.

What it is worth

The game launched the day before yesterday in early access at 14.99 euros, and already shows 353 positive reviews out of 383, more than nine satisfied players in ten.

That is the best reception of the entire week's releases, and for an early access it is remarkable.

Two reservations all the same. It is single-player only, and it is early access, so content will grow and balance will move. If you are the sort who wants a definitive version, wait.

But if you are looking for the deckbuilder that finally has something to say, it is here, and it tastes of mushroom soup.

Your most monstrously upgraded starting card? Screenshots are shared on the InsertCoins Discord.