Hero’s Hand combines Balatro, Slay The Spire, and Puzzle Quest

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Among all the games showcased at the Day of the Devs event during GDC 2025, none took me by surprise quite like Hero’s Hand. Crafted by the ingenious minds at Villain Games, this unique blend of a roguelike RPG and seven-card stud poker is unlike anything I’ve ever played. It seamlessly merges elements from acclaimed puzzle games such as Balatro, Slay the Spire, Inscryption, and Puzzle Quest. With a basic understanding of poker rules, grasping Hero’s Hand mechanics becomes a breeze. After just half an hour with the nearly finalized demo, I managed to outsmart the first level’s boss – something I wasn’t supposed to do just yet!

A card-carrying hero

The demo started me off in a challenging situation: I was just a Level 1 Knight of Spades, tasked with overcoming the initial region known as Cardunia’s Forests. To succeed, I had to choose wisely among the multiple paths through the area. Similar to Slay the Spire, each segment on the path often led to combat against opponents of different skill levels, culminating in a battle with the zone boss at the end. Encounters marked by question marks presented unexpected events, such as helping a wolf trapped in a snare or simply moving forward.

In my initial adventure, I started off with a moderate Luck that provided a 25% enhancement to all damage inflicted, yet the exact Luck you commence with is chosen at random. Some are inaccessible until a character has attained a certain level or are exclusive to particular classes such as knights, bards, thieves, and wizards.

In combat, the goal is to gradually reduce the opponent’s vitality by choosing the optimal five-card combination from a maximum selection of seven cards. At the outset of the fight and following each attack by your character, two mystery cards are dealt randomly. The remaining cards in your hand can be found on a 5×5 grid, with some cards face-up and others face-down. Your character must move in one of the four basic directions to pick up a card for their hand.

Each action you take on the game board incrementally fills the opponent’s turn meter. When it’s fully charged, an attack will automatically strike your character, potentially disrupting the game state by rearranging the cards on the board, discarding one of your hidden cards, or igniting flames on the field.

Fold and live to fold again

This situation necessitates a great deal of tactical planning because powerful five-card hands such as straights, flushes, and full houses can inflict significant damage. However, the board doesn’t always align favorably with our plans. At times, it might be more effective to gather just three cards from the board and launch an immediate attack, while on other occasions, holding out hope for a straight or flush by revealing hidden cards could prove beneficial.

A strategy worth considering is saving up your powerful attacks for optimal moments, as any excess damage will be converted into coins. This is especially useful if there’s a shop along your character’s path. Additionally, it’s crucial to know when to use certain items, such as scrolls that can inflict damage, decrease the enemy’s turn meter, flip cards on the board, or add specific suit cards to your hand.

Following four encounters, regrettably, my Card Knight succumbed to a spider and was transported to a unique location where three cards were presented as potential revival options. Unfortunately, I picked the incorrect one, resulting in my campaign’s immediate termination. However, the on-site developer, Randy Greenback, stated that such demise is inevitable. It requires numerous replays for a character to advance in level and upgrade their gear, in addition to acquiring the right cards and Fortunes, before overcoming the final boss in the ultimate region. Fortunately, during my second attempt, after I regained my footing, I managed to conquer the first zone’s boss by employing an ace for a five-card straight flush.

As an ardent admirer, I’m thrilled to share that Hero’s Hand is slated for release in the first quarter of 2026 across multiple platforms, including PC via Steam, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. The creative minds at Villain Games are considering a mobile launch too, and they’re planning to expand the game with additional classes, potentially as free or paid DLC. Intriguingly, they’re also on the lookout for a publisher, which strikes me as rather surprising given the game’s potential!

This sneak peek was showcased using a demo offered by the publisher, during the Day of the Devs: San Francisco Edition event that took place at GDC 2025.

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2025-03-19 17:28