Deck Quest

Deck Quest is a free roguelike deckbuilding card game you play in your browser. Choose a hero, climb a branching map through three lands, and turn a small starting deck into a winning one, card by card. Every run has a new map, new rewards and new choices, and it saves after every move, so you can play a fight in two minutes and come back to it later.

How to play

Each turn you get three energy and draw five cards. Every card has a cost in its top corner. Tap a card to pick it up, then tap an enemy to play it; cards that don't need a target play when you tap them a second time. Press and hold any card to read it in full. When you're out of energy or ideas, press End turn and the enemies act.

The badge above each enemy is its intent: what it will do on its next turn. A sword with a number is an attack, a shield means it will defend, and other symbols mean it is powering up or trying to weaken you. Block stops damage until the start of your next turn, so read the intents and decide whether this is a turn to attack or a turn to defend.

The map

Each act is a map of paths from the bottom to a boss at the top. You choose every step: ordinary fights, tougher elites that drop relics, rest sites where you can heal or upgrade a card, a travelling shop where you can buy cards and relics or pay to remove a weak card, treasure chests, and short events with choices of their own. There is always a rest site just before the boss.

The heroes

The Knight is sturdy and patient: big blocks, Strength that makes every hit count, and armour that hurts whoever strikes it. The Rogue wins by wearing enemies down with Poison, throwing pins, and discarding cards for extra energy and draws.

Tips

• A smaller deck draws its best cards more often. Skipping a card reward is often the right choice.
• Remove your basic Strikes at the shop once you have better attacks.
• Elites are worth the risk when your health is high. Go around them when it isn't.
• Poison and Strength add up over long fights, which makes them strong against bosses.

Progress, daily run and more

Every run earns experience for its hero, and each new level adds fresh cards to that hero's reward pool. The Daily run gives everyone the same map and the same rewards for the day, so you can compare how far you got with friends. If you fall, you can watch a short ad once per run for a second wind with some health back, and once per act you can watch one to reroll a card reward.