Cardaclysm
Cardaclysm
Game
Game2022
Gordian Quest
Developer Mixed Realms, SwagSoft Studios
An epic deckbuilding RPG inspired by old-school classics like Ultima and D&D, using modern gaming concepts like roguelite elements and turnbased strategic combat. Lead and nurture parties of heroes. Forge bonds and discover new skills among them. Guide them to unravel the curses laid upon the lands. From the Steam store page
204 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
70
Fresh
129 positive · 54 negative
95% range 64–77%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 129 | 54 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| Lemmy * | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 4 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,947 of 2,229 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
71% recommend · 127 yes, 51 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 178 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (5,366 of 6,057 positive).
Players praise the deep customization and addictive deck-building gameplay. [1][2][3] Some find the story forgettable and the game overly complex. [1][4][5]
Liked
Representative posts
- [5]
So, this is a weird review to write. I played this game a lot, and... it's my kind of game in many ways. I love StS, I love deck building, and adventures. But unless you're a die hard card game player for a game like this, and even then, I can't recommend this game. The basic gameplay loop isn't terrible... but the game system is terribly convoluted, and many of the fine detail mechanics aren't obvious. I played it …
- [1]
✅ Amazing turn-based card battler ✅ Addicting gameplay ✅ Several heroes to play with each with their own unique builds ✅ Equipment system was a nice twist for a card battler - you're gonna spend so much time tinkering and optimizing hero builds ✅ Huge skill tree system ✅ Artstyle looks pretty good ✅ Highly replayable ✅ Endgame content after beating campaign ✅ Can fully reset skill tree quite easily ❌ After Act 1, …
- [2]
excellent deck builder game, great strategies with soo many different build options, very fun for the genre. huge replayability between the choice of characters with an added option of 1 of 3 different decks to choose from to even make them more of a niche' build. good branching storyline. can see many many hours of my life sunk into this. def recommend.
- [10]
If you love deckbuilders and want a long-form RPG spin, Gordian Quest is a gem. Feels like a slightly easier Slay the Spire but stretched into a full RPG reminiscent of something you could play on a tabletop. It is battle-heavy and story-light, but sometimes that is exactly what you want. You get a hub town (a village square), "dungeons" to crawl (the rest of the village and its outskirts, which occasionally contain …
- [3]
It's actually a great game. I am someone who appreciates games where the micro adjustments of your characters is fun for me. This game allows you to customize just about everything which I will describe below. Gear - you get different pieces of gear and anyone can wear anything assuming you have the proper stats. The gear has different abilities that come with it or stat bonuses. You can also add both gems into the …
Summarised from 34 of the 201 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 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Gordian Quest talk about highly addictive with many build options; those who didn't talk about story is generic and forgettable. Which matters more to you?
Reactions
60 of 204 · most liked firstEverything about this game says that it should be right up my alley but nothing about it seems to land with me. Everything falls flat and I just end up feeling extremely bored after only a short time of playing. This is one of those games I keep trying to pick up and always find a reason to put down. A shame.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So, this is a weird review to write. I played this game a lot, and... it's my kind of game in many ways. I love StS, I love deck building, and adventures. But unless you're a die hard card game player for a game like this, and even then, I can't recommend this game. The basic gameplay loop isn't terrible... but the game system is terribly convoluted, and many of the fine detail mechanics aren't obvious. I played it through the first time on Roguelite mode on the Hard difficulty setting,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →✅ Amazing turn-based card battler ✅ Addicting gameplay ✅ Several heroes to play with each with their own unique builds ✅ Equipment system was a nice twist for a card battler - you're gonna spend so much time tinkering and optimizing hero builds ✅ Huge skill tree system ✅ Artstyle looks pretty good ✅ Highly replayable ✅ Endgame content after beating campaign ✅ Can fully reset skill tree quite easily ❌ After Act 1, you can't rest at an inn. And it becomes quite annoying to remove exhaustion…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In short you find a combo an repeat it infinitely, there is no reason to swap heroes and each hero progression is boring. After certain time new cards are worse then what you already have. Judging by the achievement stats 70% of players never made it past the ACT 1. They left all these positive reviews and stopped playing?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This one is a bit hard to write, as I've played quite a bit with a lot of enjoyment. All of the positive reviews are true. It is a fun deck builder and it crams a lot of good stuff in a good shell. if the game would end there, or build on it, i'd still rate this highly even in 2025. However, the reason i decided no not recommend this game in 2025 anymore, is because the bad isn't getting fixed. For anyone liking such a technical deck builder, with loads of options, a lot of it isn't supported…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While the gameplay foundation is good, the characters are extremely generic and uninspired. For a game with importance of party management, I really wish they could have been more creative than this. They might as well be named sword man and healer girl. Story is also boring.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Although I downvoted the game, I actually want to like it (as evidenced by my 72 hours of gameplay). It has nice graphics (in my opinion) and many card decks and roles to play—around 10 roles, each with 3 strategic sets of card decks. It seems like a lot, but they're actually grouped into a few core strategies: melee/ranged attack traits, support traits, and damage-over-time (DOT) traits. It's fun to discover each deck's potential, but the problem is... in my opinion, most of the decks are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gordian Quest - Announcement Trailer - Nintendo Switch. Coming October 26 > a deckbuilding RPG with roguelite elements and turn-based strategic combat.
neutral · AI labelView post →This game is good, but was abandoned just before it reached its potential. There are several issues with the UI, balancing and in general with QoL. But if you like card games you will enjoy this one as long as you do not expect a polished product. A good purchase on a discount.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I haven't been playing a lot of games recently, and I really wanted to make an effort and finally commit to something that's not only Marvel Snap. Maybe chip away at the endless number of game titles in my Steam library. When pressing play on Gordian Quest, I expected it to be a thirty-minute one-and-done try. Thirty HOURS later, I completed the game and quite enjoyed it in the process. Darkest Dungeon is one of my all-time favourite games, but I feel like I need to build up the commitment…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was really looking forward to this game; I purchased a long, long time ago but got sidetracked by a billion other things and it honestly looked so good that I used it as the carrot to help me finish other games. Would I recommend it? It really depends on what you're looking for. It is overall a very solid deckbuilder, well-tuned artistically and mechanically, and I don't regret the purchase because it supported a good dev. They're very responsive and constantly look at improving. I like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Has a lot of bugs that mess with game in later chapters. Scaling after Act 2 to Act 4 is ridiculous and causes a lot of unnecessary grinding. End boss has an a group instakill she can use every other turn and a passive that procs AOE damage for every character after X amount of cards are played by your characters. There's honestly very little prep for this and it seems you can get her through RNG and luck alone. I really like this game, but i think they went ham with the scaling and expectation…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gordian Quest - Launch Trailer - Nintendo Switch.
neutral · AI labelView post →Good game in many ways, unfortunately they added a d20 mechanic and made it important enough to ruin the game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm 13 hours in and plan to keep playing it so obviously I don't hate the game. That said, I bought it for the campaign but it is clear that a lot of the mechanics were created for a much shorter game. In Slay the Spire you get to choose 1 of 3 random cards after every fight and if you get a string of bad luck its ok because you are expected to start over every few hours. This game gives you new cards in the same way but you have to go hours between each chance at getting new cards. I just…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is obvious the devs wanted to put a little bit of every game they love into their baby: card battlers, tactical RPG, crazy constellation-like skill trees, loots with stats forging... it is as if they wanted to make a turn based diablo with deck building. The problem is that while trying to do everything, it excels at nothing, with some mechanics at odds with one another. For example, the card leveling makes it difficult to acquire new cards or discover new combos as there is a sunken cost…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I put about 5 hours into Gordian Quest back in early access and walked away, reasonably satisfied with what I saw and perfectly willing to let the game be until it reaches 1.0 and maybe accrues some further updates. Having revisited the game now, however, I'm left scratching my head, because the painfully mediocre and bothersome experience I got to witness doesn't line up with memories of my early access foray into Gordian Quest. I barely managed to make myself finish the first act, and I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →excellent deck builder game, great strategies with soo many different build options, very fun for the genre. huge replayability between the choice of characters with an added option of 1 of 3 different decks to choose from to even make them more of a niche' build. good branching storyline. can see many many hours of my life sunk into this. def recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's actually a great game. I am someone who appreciates games where the micro adjustments of your characters is fun for me. This game allows you to customize just about everything which I will describe below. Gear - you get different pieces of gear and anyone can wear anything assuming you have the proper stats. The gear has different abilities that come with it or stat bonuses. You can also add both gems into the gear to add extra effects/double the added ability into your deck, and also…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to say this is more like a neutral review. I'm still going through the campaign, but it really does feel like the most important part of the game, the deck building, plateaus at the end of Act 1??! (Spoiler: I think there's 4 acts in total). Unless there's some crazy new change to the cards after you cap them out or if equipment alters how my cards work, my 3 characters' decks are done. Upgrading the cards only change numerical values, so I guess I'm going to be doing the same thing…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →That is a game clearly made out of love and the devs deserve a huge praise for it. For a shy 20$, that game will give you a lot of content... there is so much content and mechanics, that you will probably not enjoy them as we should. The fights are great and the story is really huge (4 acts if I'm right). You can customize progression of heroes, gears and cards without seeing an end to it. While the game has so many great aspects, I could not finish the game, and I don't think I will. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →- you are shopping an item and it doesn't display what the hero is currently wearing, so you need to click between shop and the inventory - card description says something (Haste Upgrade), but wait a minute, there's a hidden restriction that's not even mentioned on the card maybe it's good eventually, but the latter really got on my nerve (especially the fact, that the issue was mentioned in 2020 and still not patched)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Okey, simply from professional courtesy, i'll revise my review and give a more serious touch, on why this game is so unfun to play. The main campaign of the game contains a 5 chapter story-line, where you start as a village guardian and go all the way to save the realm. Very typical JRPG story for a Deckbuilder, so let's evaluate the game from both sides: JPRG genre: Character: 1/5 There's barely any notable character, your caravan will acompany you through the game but there's like one or…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too complicated for my tastes. "Over-designed" was one word I saw describing it. Nevertheless, it appears to be one of the better Slay the Spire alternatives out there, along with Vault of the Void. Great artwork as well.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a true delight for Roguelite and Deckbuilder fans - it is highly addicitive and fully absorbed me for lots of hours. I don't understand why this game only has a fraction of the reviews that Slay the Spire has because for me this one is superior in nearly every way. Some games simply have the favour of the crowd despite having more flaws than the lesser known games of the respective genre. Gordian Quest comes with a campaign and a roguelite-mode that you can choose from - I played…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mile wide, an inch deep
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll be grabbing some of these games because: 🕹 Vambrace: Cold Soul is a simpler version of Darkest Dungeon. 🕹 Gordian Quest is a simpler version of a D&D game. 🕹 Aggelos is like combining Monster Boy and Zelda II, but a much shorter version. 🕹 Book of Demons is like a simpler Diablo game.
neutral · AI labelView post →This is an ambitious game, but from this perspective, it overpromises and underdelivers. The core gameplay is fun, but it is burdened by too many half-baked and shallow features, which turn the entire experience into a slog. Sometimes, less is more.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So far this is the best deck building game that I have ever played. Reaching your ultimate deck in the campaign mode is so satisfying! Each character has at least 3 to 4 strong builds that can be explored, and there are builds that synergize very well and even overpowered (e.g, Ida + Kudo, blood builds). However, luck plays a very important role in gear/card hunting and respec/re-roll. Very likely that you won't be able to get your dream cards or gears before you run out of your resources, so…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very solid mechanics. Inventive fun gameplay, that feels rewarding and explorative. A creative blend of genres. The only really negative point would be the story. It felt kina generic and honestly I tuned out half way through act 2. I dont really remember anything regarding the plot.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Today’s Black Video Game Character: Jendaya the Golemancer (Gordian Quest)
neutral · AI labelView post →This game is fun: but too easy. I'm playing on "hard" setting and my team barely gets a scratch. We're too OP. On the plus side: I like the "assemble your own learning tree" feature. It's worth the price: but don't expect a major challenge.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Progression in both campaign and rouge-like feels underwhelming. Too much management, too little effect.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Video Games that are basically Board Games, but could only exist as Video Games. I'm not sure how else I could describe what I'm seeking other than what I've put in the title. I love board games, and I love video games. My favorites are the ones that burn my brain and scratch it real good. Nothing relaxes my ADHD brain like being fully consumed and hyperfocused on some ridiculous puzzle. Lately, I've been seeking games that fit the criteria of the title. And just to be clear, I am NOT talking…
neutral · AI labelView post →I really want to love this game, but after 10 hours of trying to even like it, I'm just going to accept that it's got too many problems that go beyond a question of taste. The campaign mode is okay - if you're looking for a deckbuilder to play through once and never touch again, then this might work for you. It's got a lot of systems with interesting ideas, except that the more you interact with them the more poorly implemented you realize they are. For example, you can augment items. A…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So close, yet so far. This game has all of the features that I love, but it just doesn't deliver on accessibility. It has an option to disable screen shake, which is great, and is basically mandatory for modern games. It also has an option to disable the intense zoom on an enemy when you kill them, which is good because that sudden zoom is nauseating. But for some reason, there's a small zoom that occurs on the screen every single time you attack an enemy, which also makes me nauseous, and the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I do enjoy the game, but I can't recommend. It feels like I could be playing other games that execute on cards, story, tactical combat, and that this one does a fair amount of things ok, but nothing I would say "this is the killer feature of this game" It's a jack of all trades and master of none. I'm going to even recommend against getting on a sale. You can save your money for something else, or play a game in the backlog over this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Closest game I have found to MtG: Shandalar. So if you liked tht game you should like this one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you love deckbuilders and want a long-form RPG spin, Gordian Quest is a gem. Feels like a slightly easier Slay the Spire but stretched into a full RPG reminiscent of something you could play on a tabletop. It is battle-heavy and story-light, but sometimes that is exactly what you want. You get a hub town (a village square), "dungeons" to crawl (the rest of the village and its outskirts, which occasionally contain their own mini dungeons), and a 3-character party chosen from about ten…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Please do not abandon this game. Is there any sequel or DLC?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ROWS are horizontal. COLUMNS are vertical. Please devs, get these two simple, basic words STRAIGHT.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game where "just one more turn" becomes three lost hours. Smart deck building, fun tactics and nice mechanics. A great way to burn time.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a game where you control up to 3 heroes chosen from a list of 10, all with their unique highly customizable deck, going through various battles using cards on a grid as shown, in a somewhat RPG manner. Each hero has their own skill tree, talents and equipment, all interacting with the deck deeply. If you like most or all these elements, then this game is extremely wonderful, as it is to me. I mean, I am just not aware of any other game that combines so many elements well that I like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow, this is a really great game! I didn't fully appreciate it at first but i was playing it on steamdeck the other day and finally had a chance to really learn the systems of gear and combat and i must say, I'm hooked! I can't believe i was sleeping on this one for so long because it has been in my library for a while but i just never got around to playing it without distractions. Top-notch, 10/10.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Indonesia developer Melon Cat Games announced Wishseeker store page is live on Steam. From the looks of it, this game will be turn-based tactical roguelite that reminded me with Final Fantasy Tactics and Gordian Quest. Check out Wishseeker on Steam #indie #game #roguelite
neutral · AI labelView post →Good card game. Nice to finally have something which is not fully rogue-like and keep replaying over and over again. Many different classes and variety of builds for each, though as usual, its definitely not very balanced. Overall worth playing if you like a card game with class based system etc.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely great game!!!! I love RPGs and roguelikes and this is a mix of both. Great tactical fighting, enjoyable story, just a lot of fun overall. Totally recommended!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →On the one hand its a really cool game and on the other hand, it seems to be a bit on the repetitive side. This is not really a run-based game but you play a long campaign with your party so the deck you build is with you for a looong time. This means that almost all combats feel the same as you try to assemble your combo and blast away. It also has a run based mode but unless you challenge yourself with wonky decks, its basically the same repetitive "spam same combo every fight" as the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a bad game, but I honestly can't push myself to recommend it. If Steam had neutral reviews I'd leave one. The game is not unenjoyable, but the play loop never really ticks for me. It's something nice to do idling while hearing a podcast or some music and just disconnect, but mechanically it doesn't click for me. Animations are barely there, music is forgettable, deck building is meh and the inventory system has generally very little impact in your build. Campaign mode story is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →playing DARK SKY: expecting a bog-standard budget game & instead this is a more deep strategy rpg-lite. Gordian Quest type card combat, but w/pooled AP & you can flip defenses into attack buffs. nice art & above-average writing, too. 👍 #gamesky
positive · AI labelView post →Its "ok", but after act 1: boring, repetitive and overall forgettable. Wait for sale (70% or more). 5/10
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The idea and mechanics mix is very nice! But fights feels samey, cards, strategies and upgrades feel inconsequential. The gear is too random, too much of it and a single piece gives negligible benefits. Same goes for statistics and card upgrades. Playing 3 characters feels more of caotics than strategic.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really cool idea to try to make a full-fledged RPG out of a deck builder roguelike, but maybe a little beyond the scope of the team to pull off in a fun way.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Correct! Some other recent PC ports are Balatro, Hitman: Bloodmoney Reprisal, Gordian Quest, Xcom 2, Wreckfest, GRID and GRID Legends, Slice & Dice, Company of Heroes, Total War games. Older PC ports: Baldur's Gate, Star Wars KOTOR 1 and 2 (they were free on Android Epic Store BTW), Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, Dicey Dungeons, Dead Cells, Mindustry, and others. For console ports, there's lots more, especially from Quare Enix and Capcom, but not only! For example the Final Fantasy Pixel…
neutral · AI labelView post →I really liked beggining of the game it was very exciting, but after 9hours I'm too bored to launch this game anymore. Progress is very small, fights seem tedious, it lost it spark. With current price I can't say it's worth for ~10h of content it offers.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really fun. the problem that I had was balance. The last act of the campaing was so easy I stop playing (you can just become a bear and destroy everything alone). I believe they wanted solo character play to be viable, but it messed up with the balance in general. If I wanted a solo character card game I would play slay the spire... Harder difficulty seems to only give more HP to enemies too which is a bummer. I also tested the infinity mode, but the game started to break down. I will recommend…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely love this game. Such a hidden gem. Spent many hours enjoying this title. Will play again to teach game design to students.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →so i'm loving this game. it's everything you loved about Slay The Spire but with more. You get to maneuver your characters around a 9 or sometimes 12 "square" battlefield. So you can avoid some attacks just by moving your characters from one row or column to another. Each character gets their own base deck of cards and abilities to draw from with the option to specialize into 3 specific subclasses based on their initial class. Each character gets their own skill tree which upgrades cards,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Slay The Spire and Monster Train are both very good, but often recommended. Other card games that are worth checking out: Gordian Quest, Vault of The Void and Across The Obelisk! The latter is a lot of fun when playing sigh up to 3 friends but it's good as a singleplayer game as well!
positive · AI labelView post →just kind of a lot of interesting concepts that don't come together for me and plastered on generic story that does nothing for me. the little mini games like the campfire and exploration mini game feel really lacking and dull. the game would be better off without them. there some cool cards and what not but surrounded by bloat that just takes me out of it. if this card system and battler was more in the form of a slay the spire esque path that relies more heavily on the good gameplay elements…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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