Shadowhand: RPG Card Game
Shadowhand: RPG Card Game
Game
Game2020
Ancient Enemy
Developer Grey Alien Games
Ancient Enemy is an RPG card battler set in a crumbling world where the forces of evil have already won. Blast distorted enemies with a satisfying range of spells and abilities. Journey into a scarred wilderness and draw power and hope from the landscape to defeat the deadliest foe of all! From the Steam store page
216 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 24, 2026 · last updated Oct 24, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
84
LovedLoved
151 positive · 29 negative
95% range 78–89%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 151 | 29 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 14 | 0 | 21 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
396 of 444 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
84% recommend · 152 yes, 30 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 182 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (459 of 513 positive).
Some find the game repetitive and lacking in variety after the halfway point. [1][2][3]
Representative posts
- [7]
This game builds on the standard solitaire (one up / one down) type game play a little bit by introducing different colors corresponding to different actions in battle (defend, physical attack, magic attack). You play cards off the table to charge the action of the same color. Other than that though, there really isn't anything interesting in this game. There is no plot at all. It's the exact same game play over and …
- [4]
[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38553778-All-about-Strategy-Games/] Follow my Curator Page for more Strategy Games! Ancient Enemy is a solitaire card battler. It's basically solitaire with a twist. While some levels are basically just solitaire, others have an enemy playing against you. You need to play solitaire in order to save energy which you can then use to play one of three cards you have equipped. …
- [8]
Reviewing card games is what we do! I can't say I am a fan of solitaire style games, but Ancient Enemy does a great job and adding a few more bells & whistles to make it interesting even if you're typically not a fan of the subgenre, while keeping the core simplicity of solitaire intact. So let's talk about those bells & and whistles first. One of the most obvious one is combat. You have certain skills (that you …
- [2]
Gameplay: 7/10 Graphics & Sound: 6/10 Narration: 3/10 ✔️ Fun solitaire mechanics exploited in interesting ways to interact with your opponent. ✔️ Nice music, okay visuals. ✔️ The game is long enough to exploit its implemented mechanics fully, and short enough to (almost) not feel repetitive. 💭 I wish the game tried to exploit its mechanics in more diverse ways - as it stands past the middle of the game you have …
- [1]
Ancient Enemy has an interesting mix of solitaire-style combat and dark fantasy presentation, but it never fully clicked with me. The card mechanics are decent enough and there’s some strategy in managing combos and debuffs, though the gameplay starts to feel repetitive after a while. The atmosphere is solid, but the progression didn’t feel rewarding enough to keep me invested for long. Not terrible, but more of a …
Summarised from 34 of the 213 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Ancient Enemy sits at 84% positive across 180 opinionated reactions from 3 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 216 · most liked firstNEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT! A 1995 CD-ROM. A game buried for a reason. You flip a card. The screen glitches. Something is watching. Forbidden Solitaire—a dungeon horror from the creators of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline. store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/... With @slicknicklives.bsky.social
neutral · AI labelView post →From the creators of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline… 🫀Forbidden Solitaire🃏 is a card-slashing horror game about unearthing the contents of a cryptic 90s CD-ROM that should have never existed. 💎 Wishlist Now! store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/...
neutral · AI labelView post →📀A thrifted 1995 CD-ROM game, buried for a reason. 👁️ You install it, ignoring the sinister warning label: ☠️ 'DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME.' Wishlist Forbidden Solitaire — a dungeon horror from the creators of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline. store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/...
neutral · AI labelView post →A game that shouldn't exist, found on a discarded 1995 CD-ROM. And you just installed it. Forbidden Solitaire - a card-flipping dungeon horror from the creators of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline. Coming soon to Steam + GOG #comingsoon #steam #indiedev
neutral · AI labelView post →📣 Celebrate solo / small #gamedev teams during The Yogscast’s Tiny Teams Fest ☠ Forbidden Solitaire has been selected! A 1995 CD-ROM game buried for a reason — dungeon horror from the creators of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline. @tinyteamsfest.bsky.social @nightsignalentertainment.com
neutral · AI labelView post →if you tried the demo to forbidden solitaire and really liked that, you should play Shadowhand and Ancient Enemy. if you haven't tried the demo to forbidden solitaire, you should do that store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/...
positive · AI labelView post →[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38553778-All-about-Strategy-Games/] Follow my Curator Page for more Strategy Games! Ancient Enemy is a solitaire card battler. It's basically solitaire with a twist. While some levels are basically just solitaire, others have an enemy playing against you. You need to play solitaire in order to save energy which you can then use to play one of three cards you have equipped. You can play an attack or defend card. The first to reach zero HP is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In case you missed it - Forbidden Solitaire is coming to the home of 90s gaming, @gog.com! From the creators of Home Safety Hotline and Ancient Enemy comes a card-slashing CD-ROM dungeon horror straight out of 1995. 💜Wishlist Now: www.gog.com/en/game/forb...
neutral · AI labelView post →My dog came home with ticks AGAIN yesterday and I have found them on her, on the rug, on the kitchen counter (???) and one IN MY HAIR 💀💀💀 so now I’m playing a fun little game called “identify that black speck” all over my house. Is it a rogue poppy seed? A mote of dirt? Or MY ANCIENT ENEMY
neutral · AI labelView post →While I am tooting the sales horn, another game I enjoyed working on was Ancient Enemy, one of @greyalien.bsky.social's themed solitaire games, for which I wrote and did some art direction and audio. -75% off! Also, please beware of Jake's next game: store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/...
positive · AI labelView post →In the past week I've updated 4 previous games on Steam *and* our new game Shadowhand Solitaire! 💪💪💪 - Regency Solitaire (2015) - Shadowhand (2017) - Ancient Enemy (2020) - Regency Solitaire II (2024)
neutral · AI labelView post →📣 Celebrate solo / small #gamedev teams during The Yogscast’s Tiny Teams Fest ☠️ Forbidden Solitaire has been selected! A 1995 CD-ROM game buried for a reason — dungeon horror from the creators of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline. @tinyteamsfest.bsky.social @nightsignalentertainment.com
neutral · AI labelView post →Cool - thanks for hosting! Check out our card-slashing horror game about unearthing the contents of a cryptic 1995 CD-ROM that should have never existed. From the creators of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline. store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/...
neutral · AI labelView post →This game builds on the standard solitaire (one up / one down) type game play a little bit by introducing different colors corresponding to different actions in battle (defend, physical attack, magic attack). You play cards off the table to charge the action of the same color. Other than that though, there really isn't anything interesting in this game. There is no plot at all. It's the exact same game play over and over again for 11 chapters. And dear achievement hunters, please don't make the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just updated Ancient Enemy with some Steam Deck/Cloud enhancements and other improvements fixes: steamcommunity.com/app/993790/a...
neutral · AI labelView post →thanks for hosting #TurnBasedThursday! Forbidden Solitaire is a card-slashing horror game about unearthing the contents of a cryptic 1995 CD-ROM that should have never existed. From the creators of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline.
neutral · AI labelView post →OR! you can get Shadowhand AND two other fantastic solitaire games by the same devs, Regency Solitaire and Ancient Enemy, for just $8.60. all three are great on their own and a total steal as a bundle. store.steampowered.com/bundle/6129/...
positive · AI labelView post →Not to jump on @writnelson.bsky.social 's bandwagon too much, but Puzzle Quest was a direct inspiration for our combat solitaire games Shadowhand and Ancient Enemy. Furthermore our new game may feature something like that... Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing this game!
neutral · AI labelView post →Steam was only 50% of our casual game net revenue in 2023 (doesn't include Shadowhand or Ancient Enemy). The other 50% comes from other sites e.g. Big Fish Games, Game House, iWin, and a nice little chunk from our Patreon (thanks!) www.patreon.com/GreyAlien
neutral · AI labelView post →The games concept isn't bad, a solitaire-like card battler is new to me and is executed well. ...Until you get to the solitaire part. You are the only one that uses the board. The enemies simply just choose what action they'll do and its up to you to deal with it. They never affect the board, they don't even take the board into account in any of their action, its just you that has to deal with the solitaire board. Speaking of which, each encouter offers a new board. Its pretty neat, it helps…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Y'all, I am sad. Disappointed. Downhearted, even. I wanted to like this game so, so badly! But I just DID NOT enjoy it. I actually had to contemplate it for several days so I could gather my thoughts on why it was such a let-down. I purchased this game on sale since I already owned and enjoyed 'Regency Solitaire' and 'Shadowhand' also from Grey Alien Games. Having played the latter game quite repeatedly as only someone who hyperfixates can, I was hoping 'Ancient Enemy' would be just as good. I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like card battler games. Some of them can be very addictive. But this one is not. It's very shallow. The presentation, music, sound effects, and story don't mesh with each other at all. It's like five different things mixed together, and voila, a colorful porridge that's hard to swallow the more you try it. I think the music doesn't fit this game at all. The story is a snooze fest, and the backdrops are mostly the same throughout the whole game. It plays like solitaire, but in a more…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hi! Please consider purchasing Regency Solitaire II, by my friend @greyalien.bsky.social! You might recall we previously worked on Ancient Enemy together, and this is even more of Jake's card game designs, albeit with fewer enemies sewn together out of corpses. store.steampowered.com/app/2137470/...
positive · AI labelView post →Alright solitaire-based card battler, though not as deep as Shadowhand was. The RPG elements are lesser than Shadowhand- no outfits (gear) to equip to apply buffs or extra slots. Some pretty easy built-in exploits you can use to win every battle with 3 stars and get most achievements- the "combo of 50" achievement is likely the most difficult to get, as it requires additional planning, while the rest of the game really can be played without too much thought. (And no, I don't have that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →#44: Ancient Enemy. Okay now we're talking. Great solitaire game with a bit of RPG going on. They knew what they were doing almost a decade before Forbidden Solitaire, and I'm looking forward to getting to it soon. 9/10.
positive · AI labelView post →Ancient Enemy has an interesting mix of solitaire-style combat and dark fantasy presentation, but it never fully clicked with me. The card mechanics are decent enough and there’s some strategy in managing combos and debuffs, though the gameplay starts to feel repetitive after a while. The atmosphere is solid, but the progression didn’t feel rewarding enough to keep me invested for long. Not terrible, but more of a middle-of-the-road experience overall.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is ok. I am playing it alongside sister-game Shadowhand and its core game-mechanic looks way more polished. Cards are more readable, Options and special abilities are more reasonable, there is no frustrating competition with computer for cards at combat ... core mechanics are way better. So why I enjoy Shadowhand more? Becase it has a story. Basic story, but it is there, a story. It keeps me entertained through chapters. I know who Shadowhand is, what keeps ker going and why.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game isn't bad, but unless you're looking for solitaire with a bit of spice this game isn't for you.The gameplay is fine. It's solitaire with 3 suits and some abilities. When fighting a monster the game of solitaire serves to give you resources you need to attack or defend with longer combos letting you deal bigger damage. Trying to pick the right card to continue combos and leaving the right cards to pick up at on a key turn felt good and occasionally tense. The presentation is nice, with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Look to Shadowhand by the same developers, a much more interesting and engaging game. The combats in this game were very repetitive, and the game overall felt extremely drawn out. The story is all but nonexistent, and the art is pretty mediocre.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game reminds me of Ironcast, turning a classic puzzle game into tactical combat. However, I miss the depth and excitement I felt with Ironcast. The core gameplay is just as dull as the original pyramid card game. This one is not for me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Definitely not for me and not worth the full price. The game mechanics are extremely clunky. They are insipred from old solitaire games and they dont translate well to a rogue like game. Often time there is very little decision making and it all boils down to luck.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game offers some enjoyment initially but quickly became boring for me. The gameplay consists of: Choose map point to visit. Set loadout, including attacks and powers. Pick up cards 1 up or 1 down of your current card. Attack or block. The later maps simply became harder by limiting the chance of you having good turns, which did not feel rewarding. If it was really cheap and you like card games, go for it. Otherwise I don't feel it's worth it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a solitaire with minor RPG elements and not an RPG with solitaire-based combat. + unique combat system where you have to select cards with a number next to the previously picked card (e.g. 3454565434). Longer combos increase your the effects of your action in this turn (you can only do a single action each turn) + creating long chains can be fun, at least for the first few times +/- enemies have resistances and immunities and damage types so you are incentivised to pick correct…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Here we have a fine solitaire game with a pinch of RPG elements. So you have to choose the rigth set of skills depending of stats of the enemy. Story is unremarkable and for me it ended up with "skip story button". Overall a good one-timer no more no less
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is unfortunately a good idea with poor execution. The enemies are recycled randomly over and over and the "bosses" tend to just be normal enemies of the next area. I found myself trying to speed run the game just to avoid the annoying repetition. The item encounters are numerous and longer than regular enemy encounters for being largely unneeded when the game is easy enough to get by without them. I did really enjoy the game at the start, but the minimal content of the game is stretched…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Reviewing card games is what we do! I can't say I am a fan of solitaire style games, but Ancient Enemy does a great job and adding a few more bells & whistles to make it interesting even if you're typically not a fan of the subgenre, while keeping the core simplicity of solitaire intact. So let's talk about those bells & and whistles first. One of the most obvious one is combat. You have certain skills (that you pre-equip for that combat) such as defense, physical and spell attacks. These…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice solitaire with a layer of strategy and character building. Passive Skills and a small deck allow to manipulate odds to fuel your combat actions. Overall a fun experience while a bit repetitive.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You're probably here from Forbidden Solitaire, let's be honest. This is more of that, except more focus on "meta" mechanics than board mechanics. Combat gives you multiple actions to choose from, rather than just attack with as big a combo as possible, and they're not always ready... There are three suits, and each charges a different move. Meanwhile, while I'm not done, I have yet to see exploding (maggot/crystal) cards or poison cards, and likely some other mechanics I can't remember. It's…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'd like to showcase Ancient Enemy! Our turn-based combat game powered by a mutated version of solitaire. Check it out: store.steampowered.com/app/993790/A...
positive · AI labelView post →I quite enjoyed this game This is a solitaire game with minor RPG elements and not an RPG with solitaire-based combat.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →5/10 far better solitaire games on steam combat system is awful most of the play time is combat or choosing what items are needed for combat every single time.....
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Best twist on solitaire that I've played yet, cant wait to see if they release any other interesting twists on other card games 👀
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gameplay: 7/10 Graphics & Sound: 6/10 Narration: 3/10 ✔️ Fun solitaire mechanics exploited in interesting ways to interact with your opponent. ✔️ Nice music, okay visuals. ✔️ The game is long enough to exploit its implemented mechanics fully, and short enough to (almost) not feel repetitive. 💭 I wish the game tried to exploit its mechanics in more diverse ways - as it stands past the middle of the game you have already seen all the mechanics the game has to offer, which is a bit sad…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Grabbed forbidden solitaire, been looking forward to this for a while. I also got the bundle with Ancient Enemy, because it's a massive bargain and I can always use one more card game. store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/...
positive · AI labelView post →If you enjoy the one-up, one-down solitaire mechanic, worth checking out. Graphics aren't quite as nice and the story isn't as good as Shadowhand, which is the other solitaire RPG made by Grey Alien. The computer opponents don't use the cards in this game, so you don't have to worry about leaving a combo in the tableau (and sometimes it's better to leave something there for your next turn). Doing well is usually a matter of getting or keeping your combos going, particularly in the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh my god this looks so good. Ancient Enemy , while easy, was definietely hiuthitting that battle Solitaire game itch so hard.
positive · AI labelView post →It's fine for a solitaire combat game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fun casual game. If you are not up for a heavy gaming session and just want to chill, I'd say try this game if you like card games with spells where you battle enemies. Be sure to read the tutorial on how to play, it is not hard. I skipped the tutorial thinking I knew how to play. I thought I could play cards of the same color, nope, just me clicking like an idiot. The playing system is basically you have magical attack and physical attack cards and you can play from your deck if…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got a cat here. Friends passing by can touch her and click Like to pet her once. Award for good luck, Take My Points for infinite pets :) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ＿＿ ／＞ フ | _ _ l ／` ミ＿xノ / | / ヽ ﾉ │ | | | ／￣| | | | | (￣ヽ＿ヽ)__) ＼二つ
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →fun card game - quick to pick up, longer to master. plays fine on steamdeck
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I recommend this at historic low price to fans of solitaire who appreciate a card battler twist and RPG stats. It is very similar to one of the dev's earlier games called Shadowhand, but the enemy does not play cards (at least in the initial levels I have played so far) and there's magic. It is easy to learn & play with new mechanics over time, but plenty of strategic depth in terms of card choice, which items/attacks/spells to use, and when to defend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun mix of solitaire and card battler, with a good story & music. Just ran through story mode in one sitting initially, but looking forward to another playthrough on higher difficulty.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A decent solitaire RPG card battler. Good writing and enjoyable gameplay.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice and fun solitaire game. A bit short. Could be way more interesting if there would be special conditions on levels. Also, damage/defence types are heavily underused by the game. Still, got some good time with it and thus - if you like solitaire kind of games - recommended to try.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love solitaire games in general but this one is very special. Not only do you have the normal solitaire mechanic of having to try to think ahead for the best path that will give you the advantage of the match, you also have to think ahead on your actual map path to decide what risks are the best to take/avoid. As you play through the levels you are able to buy new skills and spells you can freely switch out before every battle to ensure you have the most effective hand for that opponent. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →pretty fun ngl. glad it introduced me to these developers!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No, the original version. I'd have liked to have used that but I didn't want to change tech for this game as we reused our Ancient Enemy solitaire engine.
neutral · AI labelView post →Can't wait to play this. For anyone that likes this game I recommend Regency Solitaire 1 and 2 and Ancient Enemy. All very different games with different takes on Solitaire. Good shit.
positive · AI labelView post →Oh I didn't mean it like that, just that people are discovering via this game, that our take on solitaire is fun. But we are also making some extra Ancient Enemy sales too because it's in a bundle with FS.
neutral · AI labelView post →Ancient Enemy is an all time fave so I’m all in on this game
positive · AI labelView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.