There are a lot of deck-builders on Steam that all tale very different approaches to the genre, but every now and again one comes along that really does look completely removed from anything else we've seen so far.
BLOODLETTER is one of those games, a medieval deck-builder that's all about using your cards to heal up a series of increasingly bizarre villagers and protect them from the torment of mind-destroying cosmic horrors.
It's a very cool premise and one that we really haven't seen anywhere else, placing the emphasis on defence above all else in a change that should make the approach to the game from players very different.
Its approach to card games draws inspiration from several real-world sources. In the developer's own words, BLOODLETTER is "a strategic deck-builder where cunning and craft are needed to vanquish evil. A deck-builder most strategic, its roots lie entwined with the arcane art of tarot, remedies of the flesh, and the surrounding superstitions. Evil entities have crept into the hearts of the common folk, who teeter upon the brink of madness and death. Only thy bathhouse stands as a bastion against the creeping corruption."
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The influence of the real-world medieval period on how the game is set up and presented is clear, and it's a really nice change from many of the more traditional fantasy themes often given to games in the genre by their developers.
To give you an idea of what you'll be doing specifically, you take on the role of a barber-surgeon who has to protect villagers from horrible creatures bent on their mental and physical destruction.
You will use your cards to heal and protect them before the monsters come at night, and in return they will "offer strange new arts and powerful boons" to make your next confrontation that little bit easier.
The game features over 80 cards with unique incantations and artwork, as well as six powerful Blessing and Curse cards, 10 villagers with their own individual backgrounds and four dreadful entities to contend with.
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The only annoying things for us players who think it looks cool, BLOODLETTER does not have a confirmed release date yet, with the Steam page only going as far as saying that it will release in 2026.
The good news is that a free demo is available right now, so we can at least try everything it has to offer in the meantime.
Topics: Steam, Indie Games