Shroom and Gloom Early Access Impressions
There’s an abundance of roguelike deckbuilders on digital storefronts, and due to this, it takes something special to stand out from the crowd. Amping up the strategic layer by juggling two decks while mixing in a first-person dungeon-crawler formula, Shroom and Gloom has the potential to be the next essential title in the genre. Will this strange concoction create an addictive potion or fizzle out before reaching its full potential?
Runs in Shroom and Gloom have two distinct stages: settlement and battle. As you walk through the dungeon, you’ll encounter a base that allows you to prepare for the number of upcoming encounters. Here you must use your deck to dig the terrain, enchant items, search the area and much more. Cards can be used for a variety of tasks, which makes you consider the energy use and impact of each action. While you can use a tool to break a lock, this costs energy; however, you can just bash through it without using the limited resource, but this will affect your health. These micro-decisions help to make every action feel meaningful, forcing you to carefully weigh up the benefits and consequences.
Two Sides to the Story
As you explore, you’ll encounter shops to purchase items and also be able to upgrade cards, expanding the possibilities in and out of battle. Not only does this improve segments out of battle, but it adds an additional layer of strategy as you must carefully build both decks to get the most from each section.
Combat is well designed with lots of tactical options that allow you to approach the battle in different ways. In addition to selecting who to prioritise, you must also decide which attacks to use and whether to go all in or exploit vulnerabilities. Your opponents’ attacks are also signalled, allowing you to work out who to attack and when, removing some of the luck elements which often play a large part in similar games.
As you can continue to modify and develop your deck as the run progresses, it’s exhilarating to create builds which centre around a particular tactic. This helps to make each run feel distinct as you can experiment with each deck, crafting new builds and seeing how you can combine skills to conquer the array of enemies that creep up each round. While death is almost inevitable, the multitude of systems and options make it a blast to jump back in for another run. With plenty of updates planned during the Early Access period, this is shaping up to be a highlight of the genre.
Looking the Part
The overall presentation is dark yet charming. There’s a lovely cartoon aesthetic which helps the brooding colour palette pop, while maintaining its moody atmosphere. The game’s deliberate and subtle sound design further enhances every moment. Creeks build the ambiance, making it clear that you’re never truly safe.
Shroom and Gloom is a fantastic roguelike deckbuilder that will quickly dig its claws into you. While there are plenty of similarities to other games in the genre, it manages to carve out its own identity with its twin-deck system. Juggling the two decks is great fun and provides even more incentive to explore. With such a promising start to its Early Access period, I can’t wait to see how the game evolves and develops before its 1.0 release.
***Code provided by the publisher for preview***
