Zoeti
Zoeti
Game
Game2023
Racine
Developer Dark Root Gardeners, Goblinz Studio
Racine is an Autobattler Strategy Roguelike. Use your cards to increase your heroes stats or cast powerful spells. Find some artifacts and new cards to develop your own play style. From the Steam store page
227 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 2, 2026 · last updated Nov 3, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
57
Mixed
93 positive · 71 negative
95% range 49–64%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 93 | 71 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 1 | 0 | 57 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
111 of 188 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
57% recommend · 94 yes, 72 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 166 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (226 of 363 positive).
Several reviewers note that build balance is poor, with some strategies being dominant and others unviable. [1][2][3] Some players feel the game is too slow and grindy, with slow progression and repetitive early gameplay. [4][5][6]
Representative posts
- [11]
It advertises itself as an auto-battler but the whole parry thing ruins that aspect of the game. You'll be watching the attack gauges very intensely (or the tells if you haven't unlocked the gauges) and then time the activation of the cards to exactly that moment not only to mitigate damage but also to activate card special effects. And if you don't do this, you'll die very quickly. That's not auto battler anymore. …
- [15]
Imagine a deck builder where what matters isn't what cards you play, but when you play them. That's Racine. The first overwhelming mechanic in Racine is "click a card to parry an enemy attack". It doesn't matter what card. All cards have the exact same parry. The second overwhelming mechanic is "the more cards you have, the faster you can play them". So this isn't a strategic or tactical deck builder where you …
- [1]
I recommend this game, but as of right now there is a MAJOR PROBLEM. Do not solely build reflect and armor, you will never win because of the enemies that never attack you. At a certain point you get enemies with so much HP that you cant beat them with basic attacks in a million years. I've been stuck in the same fight for almost 45 mintues because this fat blob WONT DIE and I have no way to increase my damage. Devs …
- [7]
For $10 it's a solid game. Had some good fun with it. Feels kind of like a really fun flash game. Negatives are it's sort of balanced with a dominant strategy on what to build. You can't quit a run once you start. Golden Boy achievement seems to be busted. I like the art. The music is pretty good. Feels pretty satisfying when you get into the flow of it.
- [4]
Interesting game idea, but it starts off way too slowly to make me want to come back and play more of it. Most of the cards you can get, you will only get in midgame or endgame, and up to that moment, you will have to use "+1% to this" cards over and over again, regardless of level. I did have fun and I did finish it, but its just okay, nothing more. 5/10
Summarised from 34 of the 223 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
The crowd is split on Racine: 94 recommend it, 72 don't. Which camp are you in?
Reactions
60 of 227 · most liked firstI recommend this game, but as of right now there is a MAJOR PROBLEM. Do not solely build reflect and armor, you will never win because of the enemies that never attack you. At a certain point you get enemies with so much HP that you cant beat them with basic attacks in a million years. I've been stuck in the same fight for almost 45 mintues because this fat blob WONT DIE and I have no way to increase my damage. Devs plz make this thing attack at least like, once a minute or something. UPDATE:…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Democrats eye Wisconsin Republican incumbent as congressional map expands in hopes of a blue wave. > Mitchell Berman knows voters are angry. It’s the Democrat’s best hope of defeating Rep. Bryan Steil in a Wisconsin district that Republicans have held for more than 30 years. > > “I know what it’s like to struggle,” Berman, a nurse and first-time candidate, told The Associated Press. “Folks are really looking for someone that they can turn to and say, ‘That guy’s walked a mile in my shoes.’” >…
neutral · AI labelView post →The good: - Overall game theme, concept, art style. - Fairly laid back. Nothing crazy complicated but simple and fun. - Characters and enemies are well done. Good enemy variety and cool boss fights. The not great: - Your starting build (cards you get) are random each run. Which can be a good thing in that it maybe forces variety on you but you often get put into a build you don't want or doesn't work well. I got stuck with a reflect damage back at enemies build but then you encounter enemies…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It advertises itself as an auto-battler but the whole parry thing ruins that aspect of the game. You'll be watching the attack gauges very intensely (or the tells if you haven't unlocked the gauges) and then time the activation of the cards to exactly that moment not only to mitigate damage but also to activate card special effects. And if you don't do this, you'll die very quickly. That's not auto battler anymore. Now combine this with very basic deckbuilding and bare bones combat that is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This Saturday will mark Michigan's first football game in Chicago proper since October 21, 1939, when Michigan defeated the Chicago Maroons [checks spreadsheet...double checks spreadsheet] 85-0. Michigan is 14-13 all-time in Chicago, including the very first game in program history, 1-0 over Racine
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm not watching the game. Is it more like the Rockford Peaches vs the Racine Belles, or DS9 vs the Vulcans?
neutral · AI labelView post →TL;DR: It is a neat little auto-battler with a unique twist on the roguelike deckbuilder category that you should get if you're interested in the genre. First of all, I really appreciate how the developers found a unique and sensible way to make an auto-battler game that can be influenced by constant player actions rather than just watching it. In Racine, you actively use cards to boost your character while it automatically attacks. The best thing about the auto-battler system in the game is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to like this game. I love the artstyle, the mechanics seemed fun, the story was interesting enough. Really tried to like it, finished the third world of the story mode. But every run is the same. There are different types of enemies, but they all feel the same. There isn't any strategy to picking cards. You start with a random jumble, and you pick every card you can, because more cards make your Ki build faster. And then there isn't any real strategy to playing those cards…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun fact: Michigan's first-ever game was played in a baseball park in Chicago. The 1-0 win over Racine in May 1879 was at White Stocking Park, which was located at the site of modern-day Millennium Park. So when it comes to football in ballparks in Chicago, Michigan's Bean there, done that.
neutral · AI labelView post →Many cool ideas. But ... It felt more like a rhythm clicker than a strategy game. There's not a lot of deck building as much as there is RNG on what powers you find. Chance builds your deck, you just click through it. So, not enough for me to recommend, 6/10
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just wanted to say I'm really enjoying your #paxeast posts. I'm 70 and it's been a while since I gamed regularly, but I have fond memories of Gary Gygax developing D&D in Racine and Gen Con in Milwaukee. My fav game since it came out is still Call of Cthulhu. Anyhow, thanks for the tour!
neutral · AI labelView post →3/10, cannot recommend. Had an amazing run up until the end. The boss sets up a wall that couldn't be broken because I had a more defensive build, despite me having crazy amounts of Speed, Crit, and Reflect. But the boss also wouldn't kill me because I had crazy amounts of Evade, Armor, and Shield. Which means the only thing to do was to remain AFK and let the game play itself out. Came back hours later, nothing had moved. Never played a roguelike deckbuilder that punished you for doing well.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Imagine a deck builder where what matters isn't what cards you play, but when you play them. That's Racine. The first overwhelming mechanic in Racine is "click a card to parry an enemy attack". It doesn't matter what card. All cards have the exact same parry. The second overwhelming mechanic is "the more cards you have, the faster you can play them". So this isn't a strategic or tactical deck builder where you carefully choose whether to add a card to improve your deck. All cards…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Happy birthday to Michigan football: The program earned its first of 1,012 wins on this day 146 years ago. U-M defeated Racine at White Stockings Park in Chicago in "the finest game of Rugby foot-ball ever played this side of the Alleghenies." 247sports.com/college/mich...
neutral · AI labelView post →I wanted to like this game, specially because I've been following Goblinz's game for a bit now. I'm into auto-battlers, but the mechanic of having to time when to use a card to avoid damage makes it more of a weirdly animated rhythm game. I got this game through humble bundle, and after playing for a bit, I had to go back to the store page to see if the game was still in alpha, but its been released 2 years ago. The UI in general feels bad, inconsistent fonts, weirdly distributed things,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pros: Nice style and good pixel art. Cons: Game is an "autobattler" but at no point can you sit back and watch a fight unfold. You must constantly play cards to give yourself permanent stat boosts, and you have to play the cards at the right time in order to 'parry' attacks. Meta-progression. Trash idea in every roguelite it's ever been implemented in. Enjoy spending dozens of hours grinding meta currency to unlock upgrades before you can play the game for real. They even lock the ability to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Interesting game idea, but it starts off way too slowly to make me want to come back and play more of it. Most of the cards you can get, you will only get in midgame or endgame, and up to that moment, you will have to use "+1% to this" cards over and over again, regardless of level. I did have fun and I did finish it, but its just okay, nothing more. 5/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a decently executed little game, but it's not for me. The dexterity/twitch based parry mechanic doesn't jibe well with an auto-battler. Progression is slow and limited, condemning you countless failed runs before anything changes, and then not by much. Pixel art is seriously overdone these days, but at least there's an artistic vision and style here. Ambiance is cool, but overall, not enough meaningful decisions and too grindy for me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tomorrow, for Free RPG Day, I’ll be at The Sanctum (in Racine, Wisconsin) doing a seminar on horror game writing and running a game session. #TTRPG #FreeRPGDay shop.thesanctum.games/free-rpg-day...
neutral · AI labelView post →Yes BUT. is how I'd review it. While not bad I got this game from Humble bundle and wouldn't pay more than 50% for this. Not all builds are equal / not all builds are even fun. I think if you are on the fence wait for 50% off at least.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to like this game more, because I really think the idea of a deckbuilder with an ATB system can work. I just don't think this pulls it off. I have multiple problems with the game: The game is just too slow and grindy, even for a roguelike. Combat is very slow, but I don't think the ATB system/reflex combat would work if it went any faster. It feels like every run is basically determined by what the random deck you start with gives you. The maps are too big. With how slow the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Feels like early access This is one of those games lies on the maybe scale. I will still recommend it because I see potential in this being really good but a large overhaul would be needed. There are really interesting mechanics that keeps the player engaged throughout the fights but that also means the player is more focused on the game's issues throughout the battles. Pros • Engages the player with an almost souls-like parry system. • Stats based buffs instead of skills allows for…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The seed is planted, and watered: #RACINE is in development! RACINE is an easy-going management game in isometric 3D with a cartoon and burlesque style where the player should create their village, By managing their Goglands, clumsy and naive little acorns. #gaming #indiegame #gamedev
neutral · AI labelView post →This is a fun rougelike deckbuilder with good RTS strategy. However, the balance of this game is not well designed and leads to limited and specific strategies being the only viable strategies. It even becomes so ridiculously difficult to try strategies that don't match up with the viable ones that it feels like the initial deck determines if you win or not. Meanwhile, if you have the right deck, a win is basically guaranteed with no difficulty. I would recommend if the balance of stats was…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game has the same problem as most Goblinz games: Interesting premise and fun graphics, but after the initial impact, quite shallow
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun fact: Michigan played in the first college football game in Illinois (1-0 over Racine (WI) in May 1879) and then hosted the first game in Michigan (in Detroit, at the site of modern Harper Hospital) when they battled Toronto to a scoreless draw. Both of these games were Michigan Scorigamis.
neutral · AI labelView post →Racine has elements that could be fun and really interesting, but it just falls short everywhere else. Unfortunately the card/ki system feels bad when paired with the shielding that requires you to only use cards right before an enemy attacks to reduce damage. This encourages a frantic play style where to maximize cards you discard and draw as fast possible while trying to align uses with an attack. Cards for stats seems fun until you start a run and kill things in a couple hits before ever…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You are either throwing out cards as fast as you can or stacking a multiplier for BIG STAT gains. There are a few gimmicks that might make you be a bit more intentional, but they can be overwhelmed by BIG STATS. Unfortunately this creates the awkward pacing of being faster than a walk, but slower than a run.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Imagine playing Slay the Spire, but it resents you personally. Enemies kept attacking while I was still reading the tutorial. It’s like being mugged while opening IKEA instructions.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are still two seats available in my game of Bump in the Dark this Saturday at the Sanctum Tabletop Gaming Emporium in Racine, WI! Join me! shop.thesanctum.games/free-rpg-day...
neutral · AI labelView post →1.5/10 minimislist game, almost nothing here... - sooooooooooooo sssslloooooow with no way to speed up and built so you cant afk it......why??? more humble bundle monthly filler garbage
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →More of a realtime clicker, forcing you to do timed clicks; something unique and at the same time odd and confusing
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decided to pick this game up since it was only $10 and being a fan of card games had to try something new. Thought I didn't know at the time Racine was a Auto Battler meaning you either have enemy waves running at you or you run at them like in another game I play called Rungore. Became very fond of Racine after spending my first session of 3 and half hours over time using the parrying system trying different builds and effects since each run will have different cards you can play. That being…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →From STATS: The Chargers are the second team in NFL history to lose back-to-back games by double digits with both coming at home against teams that had a sub-.200 win pct the previous season. The other was the 1926 Racine Tornadoes (Oct. 10-17), who played just one more game before folding.
neutral · AI labelView post →Story is pretty meh and I think the ending is really bad. The gameplay is fun, but there's really only one good strategy to progress through. Can't really recommend it as I kinda wish I would've played something else. Didn't bother with any ascension level
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game, but it's absolutely bare bones with settings. Similar to downloading some itch.io stuff with the lack of control. No mouse, no resolution control, no quality settings, and no FPS options. On a 4K monitor, this game looks incredibly blurry and feels like I'm playing an emulator rather than a full fledged game. The gameplay is pretty fun, but I wish it wasn't so damn small with resolution. I know it's pixel art, but there's 100s of ways to upscale pixel art, and its even native on some…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Racine is at least a genuinely made game, as I've been plodding through some far less ethical efforts lately, but what is it, and should you buy it? Well, answering the last question first, no. It's an experimental blend of CCG and an action/timing combat game... Slay the Spire with a minor element of the "block/dodge at just the right time or die" elements of Dark Souls as you perform realtime combat by clicking on cards, but timing is essential. So, we take the "thoughtful strategy"…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too much effort for little payoff. The tile system is the worst offender, with some areas being over 40 encounters. The real problem with the game is how much your character relies on stat grinding by stalling battles. You're not really playing Dance Dance Roguelike. You're playing, "Wait a few minutes while you play this stat combo to raise your damage."
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For $10 it's a solid game. Had some good fun with it. Feels kind of like a really fun flash game. Negatives are it's sort of balanced with a dominant strategy on what to build. You can't quit a run once you start. Golden Boy achievement seems to be busted. I like the art. The music is pretty good. Feels pretty satisfying when you get into the flow of it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →On one hand, the game is a lot of fun. I enjoyed it and for the price you're paying full or discounted, it's worth it. I will say though it deserves a negative review because A) the game crashes fairly often. I've had probably 6 crashes in total and they require a hard reset of my computer as I can't get the game to close/minimize. B) the achievements don't work sometimes. I've done a couple achievements I'm missing a few times and still have yet to get them. I would love to 100% this game, but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →it is labled as an autobattler. it requires you to not only constantly interact, but attempt to predict the future with the most basic enemies. the health is small the energy recharge takes forever forcing you to sit and watch as 3 enemies remove more than half your health in a single fight followed by several groups of these enemies in a single encounter it showed in the tutorial that the enemies would telegraph their moves, but the smallest enemies move too quickly requiring a response…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a bit buggy and likes to crash Playing Elemental cards when the elemental effect isn't happening causes a crash, so you either need to spend your energy/points to reroll the useless card or risk game crashing. So far have come across 4 cards causing this issue Steam achievements don't seem to register when completing a task, visited every node on the map and killed the boss, unsure if this is due to not being able to mark the village node off or not The fire map is horrible to play on…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is centered around timing your clicks to the prompts of an enemy attack. I honestly expected more, but perhaps I am not the intended audience.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Strategic auto battler roguelike? At first... kinda. Not really an auto battler as much as it is a parry timing deckbuilder. And then after you get 1-2 specific cards, that aren't even that rare, it just devolves into a spam clickfest as you cycle your deck as fast as possible, gaining like +50 to your overall damage stats as fast as possible, ignoring what actually is happening in the combat because enemies die instantly. Everything revolves around the same stats with no different characters…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty fun and intense when you get to high enemy level. Having a random starting deck each run really makes you try out and improve with every single playstyle. The art is really nice too.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Congrats to Aunt Gretchen from Racine, Aunt to the guy cheering loudly at the wild card game in 2019 who sat near us and was a great baseball fan. He kept shouting “do it for Aunt Gretchen!!!”
neutral · AI labelView post →Man. Abandoned outside Racine has REALLY upped its game since we were last there before Covid, and it was really great back then. The new course back where the corn maze used to be is fuggin' incredible. Hills Have Eyes raised the bar and Abandoned rose to the occasion, clearly
neutral · AI labelView post →Eastshade done! Upcoming Indie Impressions episode will feature it! Stay tuned. Stream is still going though! Checking Racine, a deckbuilding game with a parry mechanic. twitch.tv/chipdip18
neutral · AI labelView post →Barely a recommend. You can look at other not recommend and see many reasons why it is barely a recommend. I did enjoy it but it is way too slow at times. They don't use tooltips and some of the stats barely make any sense like shielding when you have armor. If you need to find anything you have to go into the book in the top left corner and look for it which is not fun with a game already pretty slow. Also look at the achievements... there are 5 with the same hint aka "Beat the first…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is just boring. The game boils down two types of cards cards that directly affect combat and cards that just increase stats. Since every time you use a card that increases stats its permanently. So it behooves you to focus mainly on those as combat only cards will only leave you too weak for future fights. The issue is stat increase is really slow and boring. For example a typical card will be +2% attack but since you start out dealing like 10 damage you need to cast that 5 times…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TIL that a huge scandal erupted after 3 Notre Dame players lined up for the Packers in a non-NFL game against Racine in 1921. They were then kicked out of the league only to be reinstated in the summer of 1922.
neutral · AI labelView post →Loving this game. There's deck building, real time strategy, and even some rhythm elements. The game gives you just enough information, and then lets you learn the rest on your own. Definitely gives some vague slay the spire vibes, but I love the mechanic of building up your skills every time you play a card. My efficiency-minded brain loves it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Indie Game Day~ Got Lots Of Little Bits And Bobs To Play So Lets Vibe Together <3 | Racine 🦎 #furrylive tikri.gay
neutral · AI labelView post →It's a nice game and it has potential to become better. It's being held back by the fate of RNG with many cards that don't flow well together even if you were to time most to all correct choices from selecting cards to play to parrying at the right time. This is an auto-battler that involves more interaction and your outcome is largely at the mercy of RNG. If there was more control in your choices rather than outside factors, then I definitely believe this game is great. Otherwise I believe…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Full playthrough here: https://youtu.be/1E-8W7h7TnU it's a pretty neat deck builder I think the parry system is pretty fantastic, but I'm not sure how many builds I would consider good I probably missed some op builds, but there seemed to be one that was just easy to make and all you needed to clear the entire game. I also found some trinkets that would entirely screw you if you're not built a very specific way which is another reason why I decided to play it safe with the main build instead…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The publisher Goblinz was kind enough to sponsor me to check out Racine, it looked fantastic so I was keen to give it a go. Here's my video showcasing the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q34WxsWB92k I was very impressed with how uniquely it plays, the atmosphere and and moreish feeling of incremental character growth. Racine is well worth a look if you like autobattlers or incremental games but want something a bit more action-packed. Thanks team! I have had a good time with the game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Racine is a pretty autobattler with a japanese atmosphere, the real time aspect of playing the right cards, right as the ennemies attack keeps you on edge. The variety of background is very nice to look while you go through the battles,
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gameplay Walkthrough - https://youtu.be/AMXUIspYGfs?si=vAfz7aIPs8jRkXP6 Really Unique Card Game , you need some serious learning curve to beat this game cause , I can bet you will die halfway the first level like 100 times . But then its always worth it cause you get to unlock these unique cards which you can then add to your deck and even if you die you will have the option to have them from the very start . So basically die 1000 deaths till you become unstoppable with the most insane deck of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’m sorry, Racine, I was unfamiliar with your game.
positive · AI labelView post →To get more specific: the Racine reroute should be bus & local traffic only. Addison & Irving should not have parking lanes on game days till at least Ashland.
neutral · AI labelView post →
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