"A beautiful hand-drawn deckbuilder that makes GPUs sweat."
About
Shroom and Gloom is a first-person roguelike set in a surreal, psychedelic world of fungi. Players navigate dungeons and engage in turn-based combat using a dual-deck system. The core loop involves gathering and growing cards to build powerful combinations against a host of fungal enemies. The game is currently in Early Access.
Verdict
Shroom and Gloom has the foundations of a genre classic. Its hand-drawn world is a morbidly beautiful place to get lost in, and the dual-deck system is a clever twist on a familiar formula. The game is a joy to look at and deeply satisfying to play when its systems click into place. It is, however, very much an Early Access title, weighed down by poor performance, game-breaking bugs, and a lack of content that makes runs feel samey. For those willing to endure the technical jank, there's a brilliant card game here waiting to fully emerge.
You'll like it if …
- +You're hunting for a new roguelike to scratch an Inscryption or Slay the Spire itch.
- +A unique, gorgeous art style matters more to you than flawless performance.
- +You enjoy the puzzle of making two separate decks work in concert.
You'll dislike it if …
- −Early Access bugs and performance problems are deal-breakers for you.
- −You need deep meta-progression to feel like your time is respected.
- −Repetitive enemy encounters quickly bore you.
Breakdown
- +The dual-deckbuilding system offers a fresh strategic layer.
- +Its core loop of dungeon crawling and card combat is satisfying and well-conceived.
- +Successfully creates the feeling of a run spiraling just out of your control.
- −Runs can feel repetitive due to a lack of enemy variety.
- −Meaningful choices during a run are sometimes replaced by pure RNG.
- −The meta-progression between runs feels flat and unrewarding in its current state.
- +Card interactions allow for deep and surprising synergies.
- +Multiple characters provide genuinely different playstyles.
- −The game currently lacks the content volume to support long-term replayability.
- −Card upgrades are often simplistic, linear improvements.
- −The optimal strategy often leans towards trimming your deck, limiting build diversity.
- +Establishes a weird, dark, and utterly unique atmosphere.
- +The worldbuilding and morbid environmental beauty are standout features.
- −Explicit storytelling is extremely thin at this stage of development.
- +The hand-drawn art style is exceptional and visually distinctive.
- +Sound design and music effectively build the game's strange, moody world.
- −Severe performance issues cause some systems to overheat.
- −The game is poorly optimised, a strange flaw for a turn-based card game.
- −Transitions and animations can feel sluggish, slowing down the pace.
- +The core design is strong enough that many players enjoy it despite the technical flaws.
- −Afflicted by numerous bugs, as expected of an Early Access title.
- −Localization is incomplete or broken for some languages.
- −Key inputs can fail to register, and loading screens may freeze indefinitely.
score
