Meet your next roguelite time sink: Stacklands

Stacklands starts simply: Open a pack of three cards, each with a resource like “rock” or “wood” on them, then stack them to craft new resources. To earn coins you can trade cards. These coins can then be used to buy larger packs with other resources. It’s a familiar gameplay loop for any management sim lover; it puts players into a catchy flow state that’s reminiscent of DorfromantikWith its tile placement puzzles and ambient lighting, it is a great place to be. But Stacklands’ deceptively simple package hides deep gameplay that sucked me in for hours.

Stacklands’ visual design is straightforward, making the game easy to jump right into. The banner at the top shows you which card packs are available. On the board, you have the ability to place and stack resources cards. It opens like a great alchemy game, where much of the fun comes from trying wacky combinations — like using two villagers to create a new villager (a third card is required, which I will let you figure out on your own). Some of these configurations are more obvious, like “stick” and “flint” making “campfire.” Eventually you’ll be throwing two corpse cards together to see what happens. But it’s not all on you to figure out: As you buy more card packs, you’ll encounter “idea” cards that offer recipes for more advanced crafting.

Although the challenge is increasing, it doesn’t feel like there are any steep learning curves. First, keep the village nourished. This was how my first run spiraled out-of-control. Berry bushes only have a limited use before they disappear, so I had the task of creating something sustainable. Before I was able to figure out what it was, my village became starving. My second run saw me stockpile food, before I realized there was a limit to the number of cards. There are also some unexpected twists and turns. Random chaotic cards show up in card packs, like a “chicken” that produced “egg” — great for crafting “omelet” — but the damn chicken also rambled about the play space, causing chaos. The disorganized mess I created from my neatly arranged piles of cards turned into a chaotic splay.

As you grow the number of villagers, you’ll need to defend against giant rats or goblins that emerge from “strange portal” cards that appear. I found that the late game, which took three hours to complete, naturally leads into battle planning. You can kit out villagers with weapons that will make them warriors or mages. Weapons and armor are described with a firm tongue in cheek, with helmets like “rat crown” or “rabbit hat.” Eventually, you’ll need to assemble your best A-team to fight a final boss. It’s in line with Loop Hero, where each pass — or day cycle, in Stacklands’ case — allows you to build a stronger fighter.

Stacklands rounds out to one of the most immediately accessible and engaging card-based roguelikes I’ve played this year. This was a quick game to master, and will continue to consume my time for many more years.