Action deckbuilders are one of gaming’s rarest subgenres. While turn-based deckbuilders like Slay the Spire dominate, combining real-time combat with card mechanics usually fails because you can’t strategize when bullets are flying. Solo developer Jameson Wilkins figured out the solution: slow-motion. His game Discard All Hope draws inspiration from forgotten classics like Phantom Dust, Megaman Battle Network, and FromSoftware’s Lost Kingdoms series, creating a twin-stick shooter where every attack, shield, and summon is a card with limited uses.
The demo launched on Steam in September 2025 with the full release planned for 2026 through publisher Wren’s Nest Games. What makes this particularly player-friendly is that demo progression carries over to the full game, meaning time invested learning the systems and collecting cards isn’t wasted. If you’ve been waiting for someone to revive the action deckbuilder genre that disappeared after the original Xbox era, this Lovecraftian horror shooter deserves your immediate attention.
- Every Ability Is a Card
- Slow-Mo Strategy Without Losing Action
- Cards Are Also Your Stats
- Loot System With Card Modifiers
- Lovecraftian Horror Setting
- Twin-Stick Shooter Combat
- Phantom Dust Spiritual Successor
- Demo Updates Based on Feedback
- Solo Developer Creating Niche Genre
- Diverse Enemy Roster and Environments
- FAQs
- Reviving a Lost Genre
Every Ability Is a Card
The core concept sounds simple but creates fascinating depth. You build decks of 15 cards representing your entire arsenal. Melee attacks, projectile spells, defensive barriers, summons, and buff abilities all exist as cards with finite uses per run. Unlike traditional deckbuilders where cards are abstract resources, these cards are your literal combat toolkit. Run out of attack cards and you’re defenseless until you find more.
This limitation forces constant decision-making during combat. Do you burn your powerful fire spell on this group of weak enemies or save it for the boss? Should you discard that healing card to restore health now or keep it for later? The tension between immediate survival and long-term resource management creates the strategic depth that makes deckbuilders compelling, but Discard All Hope layers it onto real-time combat rather than turn-based battles.
Slow-Mo Strategy Without Losing Action
The genius solution to making action deckbuilding work is the slow-motion mechanic. When activated, time crawls to a near-standstill while you assess the battlefield, plan your next moves, and select cards from your hand. This gives you the strategic thinking time that turn-based deckbuilders provide naturally without stopping the action entirely. Release slow-mo and your chosen abilities execute at full speed.
This design bridges the gap between action game reflexes and deckbuilder strategy. You need twitch skills to dodge enemy attacks and position effectively, but you also need the analytical thinking to construct efficient decks and make smart card choices mid-combat. Neither element dominates completely. Players strong at one aspect but weak at the other will struggle, but those who develop both skills discover satisfying mastery curves.
Cards Are Also Your Stats
Beyond serving as abilities, each card provides passive stat bonuses. Include cards that boost health and your maximum HP increases. Pack dodge cooldown reduction cards and you can evade more frequently. Stack elemental resistance cards and certain damage types barely scratch you. This dual-purpose system means deck construction involves balancing offensive capabilities against defensive survivability and utility benefits.
The stat system creates interesting build diversity. Pure glass cannon decks maximize damage output but leave you vulnerable. Defensive builds survive longer but lack burst damage for tough enemies. Balanced approaches work consistently but lack specialization advantages. Experimentation reveals synergies where specific card combinations enable strategies that individual cards don’t suggest. Finding these hidden interactions drives the theorycrafting that keeps deckbuilders engaging long-term.
Loot System With Card Modifiers
Cards drop with randomized modifiers similar to loot systems in action RPGs like Diablo or Path of Exile. A basic fireball might drop with increased damage, reduced energy cost, added status effects, or bonus projectiles. These modifiers transform generic spells into personalized tools that define your playstyle. Two players using the same base deck can have completely different experiences based on which modified versions they find.
The modifier system extends replayability substantially. Even after you’ve unlocked all base cards, hunting for perfect rolled versions with ideal modifier combinations provides ongoing goals. The thrill of discovering a card with multiple beneficial modifiers that perfectly complements your build mirrors the dopamine hit from finding legendary loot in traditional action RPGs. Discard All Hope successfully captures both deckbuilder satisfaction and ARPG loot addiction simultaneously.
Lovecraftian Horror Setting
The narrative places you as the Director’s personal bodyguard, a powerful sorcerer whose mind was warped by cosmic forces. You wear a cursed helmet that prevents your thoughts from literally spilling out of your skull. After a century away from active duty, you’re deployed to the coastal town of Brein where townsfolk have fallen prey to dark rituals and biomechanical monstrosities invade from the sea. A hidden threat lurks beneath the surface, naturally.
The Lovecraftian theming extends beyond narrative window dressing into mechanical integration. The horror comes not just from grotesque enemy designs but from the resource scarcity inherent to the card system. Running low on defensive cards while surrounded by cultists creates genuine tension. The cosmic horror aesthetic justifies the bizarre spell effects and twisted creature designs that populate the game world. Everything reinforces the central theme of fighting incomprehensible forces with limited tools.
Twin-Stick Shooter Combat
The moment-to-moment gameplay resembles twin-stick shooters like Super Stardust or Alienation from Housemarque. Movement uses one stick while aiming uses the other. Enemies swarm from all directions requiring constant repositioning and awareness. Projectile attacks function like traditional twin-stick weapons while melee cards require closing distance for powerful strikes.
What distinguishes Discard All Hope from pure shooters is the elemental interaction system. Detonate status ailments with melee cards for explosive damage. Counter enemy spells by matching their element. Draw cards from your hand to magnetically pull power-ups toward you from across the arena. Discard spells to convert stored healing into immediate health restoration. These systems add tactical depth that elevates combat beyond simple shooting gallery mechanics.
Phantom Dust Spiritual Successor
Jameson explicitly cites Phantom Dust as inspiration, which should excite anyone who remembers that criminally underappreciated Xbox exclusive. Phantom Dust combined third-person action combat with Magic: The Gathering-style deckbuilding in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Players built decks, collected abilities as they explored levels, and engaged in strategic battles where positioning and resource management mattered as much as deck construction.
Discard All Hope captures that same fusion of action combat and strategic deckbuilding that made Phantom Dust special. The twin-stick perspective shifts the camera and control scheme, but the core philosophy remains: every ability costs resources, deck construction defines your capabilities, and smart play requires balancing aggression against resource conservation. For the small but dedicated audience that’s been waiting nearly two decades for someone to attempt a Phantom Dust successor, this is the closest thing available.
Demo Updates Based on Feedback
The demo received significant updates during Steam Scream Fest 2025 incorporating player feedback. New cards expanded build variety. A challenging boss was added to test deck-building skills against focused encounters rather than just mob waves. Quality-of-life improvements streamlined the experience based on community suggestions. This iterative approach demonstrates Jameson’s commitment to shaping the game through player input rather than working in isolation.
The promise that demo progress carries over to the full release incentivizes engagement. Players can invest time learning systems, experimenting with decks, and collecting powerful cards knowing their efforts translate directly into the final product. This removes the typical demo frustration where you find amazing builds only to lose everything when the full game launches. It’s a smart move that encourages deeper engagement with the demo content.
Solo Developer Creating Niche Genre
Jameson Wilkins handles all development duties alone, creating everything from mechanics to art to sound design. Solo development of action games is notoriously difficult because they require so many interconnected systems working smoothly. Combat feel, enemy AI, visual effects, audio feedback, progression hooks, all these elements need polish for satisfying gameplay. That one person is attempting an action deckbuilder, one of gaming’s most experimental genres, makes the achievement more impressive.
The partnership with publisher Wren’s Nest Games provides resources solo developers desperately need like marketing support, QA testing, and platform relations. This lets Jameson focus on development rather than business logistics. The 2026 release window gives ample time for polish based on demo feedback without rushing to meet arbitrary deadlines. Solo developers choosing sustainable timelines over crunch culture deserve recognition and support.
Diverse Enemy Roster and Environments
Combat encounters span diverse environments including farms, forests, towns, and castles. Enemy variety ranges from cultists performing dark rituals to biomechanical invaders to creatures lurking beneath the surface. Boss battles test deck-building prowess and combat skills against focused challenges requiring specific strategies rather than generic damage output.
Environmental variety ensures visual diversity across runs while enemy types demand different tactical approaches. Some enemies might be vulnerable to specific elements, others require melee finishers, and bosses force adaptive deckbuilding where you need answers to multiple threats simultaneously. This variety prevents the repetitive feeling that plagues some roguelike deckbuilders where optimal strategies trivialize most content.
FAQs
What is Discard All Hope?
Discard All Hope is an action RPG deckbuilder combining twin-stick shooter combat with card-based abilities in a Lovecraftian horror setting. Solo developer Jameson Wilkins created the game with inspiration from Phantom Dust, Megaman Battle Network, and FromSoftware’s Lost Kingdoms series. It releases in 2026 via publisher Wren’s Nest Games.
Is there a demo available?
Yes, a free demo launched on Steam in September 2025. Importantly, all progress in the demo carries over to the full release, meaning cards collected, builds discovered, and skills learned transfer directly when the game launches in 2026.
How does action deckbuilding work?
Every ability including attacks, shields, summons, and buffs exists as a card with limited uses per run. You build 15-card decks that also provide passive stat bonuses. Slow-motion mechanics let you strategize and select cards without stopping the action entirely, bridging turn-based strategy with real-time combat.
What games is Discard All Hope similar to?
The primary inspiration is Phantom Dust, the Xbox exclusive action deckbuilder. It also draws from Megaman Battle Network’s grid-based card combat and Lost Kingdoms’ real-time monster summoning. The twin-stick shooting resembles Housemarque games like Super Stardust and Alienation.
Who is developing Discard All Hope?
Jameson Wilkins is the solo developer handling all aspects of creation. Wren’s Nest Games is publishing the title, providing marketing and business support while Jameson focuses on development. The game launches in 2026 on Steam.
Do cards have randomized stats?
Yes, cards drop with randomized modifiers similar to loot in action RPGs like Diablo. A basic spell might have increased damage, reduced cost, added status effects, or bonus projectiles. This creates build diversity where players using the same base deck have different experiences based on which modified versions they find.
What makes the combat unique?
Beyond standard twin-stick shooting, combat features elemental interactions where you detonate status ailments with melee cards, counter enemy spells by matching elements, magnetically pull power-ups by drawing cards, and convert discarded spells into instant healing. These systems add tactical depth beyond simple shooting mechanics.
Reviving a Lost Genre
Action deckbuilders disappeared after the original Xbox era, leaving a small but dedicated audience waiting for someone to attempt the genre again. Jameson Wilkins took that challenge alone, building Discard All Hope as a spiritual successor to Phantom Dust while incorporating modern roguelike and loot systems. The slow-motion solution to strategic planning elegantly solves the fundamental problem that plagued earlier attempts. Download the demo and discover whether this rare fusion of real-time combat and card-based strategy clicks with you. Your progress carries over, so time invested now pays dividends when the full game launches in 2026. Sometimes the best games come from solo developers pursuing niche genres that major studios consider too risky.