Despite deck building games gaining popularity since Slay the Spire took the world by storm, it never quite feels like any of them capture the cultural Zeitgeist in the same way. I’ve played dozens and dozens of these strategic and thoughtful games, and plenty rival Slay the Spire in creativity and even outright entertainment. Still though the needle rarely moves in quite the same way, at least in the circles I float around in. If ever a game could break this curse though it’s Shroom and Gloom, which is entering early access and is ridiculously gorgeous.
In case the title didn’t quite do it justice, Shroom and Gloom is a distinctly fungal themed take on the card formula. There’s a mysterious mushroom filled dungeon that needs exploring, and you’re obviously the only one for the job. So gather your cards and prepare your cooking pot, because surviving in this umami nightmare isn’t going to be easy.
Combat in Shroom and Gloom will feel familiar to most card fans, but that doesn’t make it any less satisfying. In battles against mushies you’ll need to use your energy to play cards in your hand, and these all have different effects to play around with. Whereas most games in the genre seem to centre around blocking damage though, here you’re more likely to get hit and then heal afterwards by eating leftover bits of mutant Portobello and Shiitake. This makes combat feel riskier, while also being rather thematic.
On my first successful run I decided to focus on a few things in the new cards and upgrades offered, effects that activate when you deal a fatal blow, and effects that activate on eating. I managed to combine these to get a steady supply of healing mushrooms, while boosting damage on future attacks. This is but one of several different strategies available to you, with different classes and runs offering lots of chances to experiment.
While the card combat of Shroom and Gloom is exciting, it’s only one card based element of the game. Between fights you’ll stumble across campsites where you can rest, upgrade cards, and gain loot. To fully utilise a campsite though you’ll need to use your survival cards, which you access from an entirely different deck. After each turn of survival you can rest for a day, but if you’ve not been careful the creatures lurking in the darkness will hurt you before you wake up.
I found the camping side of the game just as engaging as the actual battles, and only partly because it meant interacting with the gorgeous environments. The way your cards can be used while camping is so clever, because they almost all have multiple effects to choose from. You could use a bandage to heal yourself for 10hp, or you could use it to fix the coffee machine and give yourself an energy boost. You could use a lighter to drive away the darkness and make resting safer, or you could light a mushroom on fire for a snack. For using your camping time well you’ll be able power up your cards in battle too, adding boosted damage or extra effects to your favourite fighting tools. It’s a seriously satisfying loop that instantly hooked me and was rather intuitive to boot.
Although Shroom and Gloom is currently in an early access state, it should be noted it doesn’t feel that way when you play the game. There are multiple run locations to enjoy with different classes to play as, and plenty of unlockable cards you’ll gain access to between adventures. This already feels like the total package, so I’m excited to see it when it hits 1.0.
While all the mechanics and features of Shroom and Gloom are what’ll keep you coming back for more, it’ll likely be the drop dead gorgeous visuals that tempt you to buy it in the first place. The hand drawn environments of this game are absolutely spectacular to look at, and as you move through them in a 3D plane the 2D visuals only become more impressive. This is easily one of the best looking games I’ve played this year, and hopefully that draws people in to play it.
Shroom and Gloom could absolutely be the next breakout deck building game, with strong foundations and a gorgeous aesthetic. Even now it features a feast of fungal content, and with some time in early access it could easily be an all timer I never want to stop chewing on.
Shroom and Gloom is available now on PC via Steam early access.
