Deckbuilders and tactical combat games have both carved out passionate fanbases over the past decade. Mimyr Games is betting that combining them into one experience will create something special. The Vow: Vampire’s Curse is a dark fantasy roguelite that fuses card-based deckbuilding with turn-based tactical combat, wrapped in a story about a knight who literally won’t let death stop him from rescuing his bride.
You play as Richard, a righteous knight who gets resurrected with one goal – fight through seven cursed nights to reach the Vampire Lord’s castle and save your fiancée from an undead fate worse than death. It’s a race against time where every battle matters, every card choice shapes your strategy, and failure means starting over with lessons learned.
Deckbuilding Meets Tactical Positioning
The Vow’s core hook is blending two genres that don’t usually mix. Deckbuilders like Slay the Spire focus on building synergistic card combinations and managing resources across multiple encounters. Tactical games like Into the Breach emphasize positioning, terrain control, and thinking several moves ahead on a grid-based battlefield.
The Vow combines both. You build your deck by collecting powerful cards throughout each run, crafting synergies between abilities and effects. But when combat starts, you’re not just playing cards in sequence – you’re positioning units on a tactical grid, considering attack ranges, movement options, and environmental factors. A card that seems weak in isolation becomes devastating when used from the right position at the right time.
This creates a deeper strategic layer than either genre typically offers alone. You need to think about deck composition during the deckbuilding phase, then execute tactically during battles. A perfectly optimized deck won’t save you if your positioning is terrible. Brilliant tactical thinking means nothing if your deck lacks the right tools for the situation.
Seven Nights of Escalating Danger
The game structures its challenge around seven cursed nights. Each night brings new dangers, tougher enemies, and escalating difficulty as you push deeper into vampire territory. The seven-night framework creates natural pacing – you’re not grinding through endless floors hoping to get lucky. You have a clear goal with defined stages of progression.
Between nights, you prepare your village defenses and make strategic choices about which paths to take through the cursed lands. Do you take the shorter, more dangerous route to reach the castle faster? Or do you take the longer path with more opportunities to strengthen your deck and gather resources? These macro-level decisions complement the micro-level tactical battles.
The day and night cycle adds another strategic dimension. By day, you prepare your village, deciding how to allocate limited resources to strengthen defenses or improve your capabilities. By night, you defend against vampire attacks, putting your preparations to the test. It’s a rhythm that keeps the gameplay varied and prevents either phase from becoming repetitive.
Meta-Progression That Actually Matters
Like any good roguelite, The Vow includes meta-progression that carries between runs. As you progress through the story, you encounter various characters and unlock pieces of lore that flesh out the world. More importantly, you gain access to new abilities that expand your deckbuilding options for future attempts.
According to the developers, you select your starting deck at the beginning of each run, shaping your approach based on what you’ve unlocked. This means early runs aren’t just about reaching the end – they’re about discovering new strategies and unlocking tools that make future attempts more varied and interesting.
The meta-progression is tied to narrative advancement, which gives it more weight than arbitrary unlocks. You’re not just grinding for mechanical advantages – you’re uncovering the story of this cursed land, learning about the Vampire Lord, and understanding why your bride was taken in the first place.
Deadly Synergies and Build Variety
The developers emphasize mastering deadly synergies between cards and abilities. This is deckbuilder language for creating combinations where cards amplify each other’s effects exponentially. A card that deals damage might synergize with another that boosts damage against bleeding enemies, which combos with a third card that applies bleed effects.
These synergies become even more potent when layered with tactical positioning. Maybe your damage boost only applies to adjacent allies. Suddenly positioning matters not just for attack angles but for maintaining buff ranges. Or perhaps certain abilities trigger when enemies move through specific tiles, turning terrain control into an offensive strategy.
Build variety keeps roguelites alive long after the initial novelty fades. The best deckbuilders offer dozens of viable strategies with wildly different playstyles. The Vow aims for that depth by combining traditional deckbuilding synergies with tactical considerations. A deck focused on summoning allies plays completely differently from one built around direct damage or control effects.
Dark Fantasy Atmosphere
The game leans heavily into its dark fantasy vampire aesthetic. This isn’t a lighthearted romp through spooky castles – it’s a grim tale of resurrection, desperation, and fighting through literal hell to save someone you love. The Gothic horror vibes should appeal to fans of Darkest Dungeon, Bloodborne, or classic Castlevania.
The story setup immediately establishes stakes. Richard died. He was brought back. His bride is held captive by vampires with plans worse than simple death. He has seven nights before whatever curse threatens her becomes permanent. That ticking clock creates urgency and gives every run narrative weight beyond just reaching the end.
The village defense mechanic ties into the atmosphere nicely. You’re not just a lone hero charging into darkness – you’re protecting people who depend on you, making difficult choices about resource allocation, and watching the consequences of your decisions play out when night falls and the vampires attack.
Development Status and Playtest
The Vow: Vampire’s Curse is currently in development by Mimyr Games LTD, a small indie studio. Based on recent social media activity, they’ve been preparing for a closed playtest to gather feedback and refine mechanics before a wider release. The game has Steam and itch.io pages where interested players can wishlist it and follow development progress.
The developers have been sharing gameplay footage and engaging with the roguelite community on Reddit and other platforms. They’re clearly inspired by genre heavyweights like Slay the Spire and Into the Breach, which is apparent in both the mechanical design and the focus on creating deep strategic gameplay with high replayability.
No official release date has been announced yet, which is typical for indie projects in this stage of development. Closed playtests usually indicate the game is functional and feature-complete enough for outside feedback, but still needs polish and balancing before a public launch.
Why This Combination Could Work
Genre fusion is risky. When done poorly, you end up with a game that’s mediocre at two things instead of great at one. But when done right, combining genres creates experiences that feel genuinely fresh and attract players from multiple communities.
The Vow’s combination makes conceptual sense. Deckbuilders thrive on decision-making – which cards do you add, which do you remove, how do you build synergies. Tactical games also thrive on decision-making – where do you position, when do you attack, how do you control the battlefield. Both genres reward planning, adaptation, and learning from mistakes.
Roguelites live or die on their gameplay loop. Can players enjoy repeating the core experience dozens or hundreds of times? By combining deckbuilding depth with tactical combat execution, The Vow offers two layers of mastery to pursue. You can improve at deck construction and improve at battlefield tactics independently, giving players multiple paths to skill growth.
The vampire theme is well-trodden but still works when executed well. Players clearly haven’t tired of Gothic horror – look at the success of recent titles like V Rising, Darkest Dungeon, and even indie hits like Vampire Survivors. There’s room for another quality entry in this space if the mechanics deliver.
FAQs
What is The Vow: Vampire’s Curse?
The Vow: Vampire’s Curse is a dark fantasy roguelite that combines deckbuilding with turn-based tactical combat. You play as Richard, a resurrected knight fighting through seven cursed nights to rescue your bride from a Vampire Lord’s castle.
Who is developing The Vow: Vampire’s Curse?
Mimyr Games LTD is developing and publishing The Vow: Vampire’s Curse. They’re a small indie studio focused on creating this tactical deckbuilding roguelite.
When does The Vow: Vampire’s Curse release?
No official release date has been announced yet. The game is currently in development with closed playtests being prepared. Interested players can wishlist it on Steam and follow development updates.
What platforms will The Vow be available on?
The game is confirmed for PC and will be available on Steam and itch.io. No console versions have been announced at this time.
How does the deckbuilding work?
You collect powerful cards throughout each run and build synergistic combinations. At the start of each run, you select your starting deck from unlocked options. As you progress, you add new cards and create deadly synergies between abilities and effects.
What makes the tactical combat unique?
The Vow combines card-based deckbuilding with grid-based tactical positioning. You don’t just play cards – you position units on a battlefield, consider attack ranges, movement options, and environmental factors. Cards become more or less effective based on positioning and tactical execution.
Is there meta-progression between runs?
Yes. As you progress through the story, you unlock new abilities that expand your deckbuilding options, encounter characters, and discover lore about the cursed land and the Vampire Lord. These unlocks carry between runs.
What games inspired The Vow?
The developers cite inspiration from Slay the Spire for deckbuilding mechanics and Into the Breach for tactical combat elements. The dark fantasy atmosphere draws from Gothic horror traditions in games like Darkest Dungeon.
How long is a single run?
The game is structured around surviving seven cursed nights to reach the Vampire Lord’s castle. Exact run length will depend on player skill and the paths chosen, but the seven-night framework provides clear pacing and structure.
Worth Watching
The Vow: Vampire’s Curse represents an ambitious fusion of two beloved indie game genres. Whether it successfully balances deckbuilding depth with tactical complexity remains to be seen, but the concept has strong potential. The roguelite space is crowded with talented developers, and standing out requires either perfecting an established formula or doing something genuinely different.
Mimyr Games is attempting the latter. By making tactical positioning as important as deck composition, they’re creating a game that requires mastery of two skillsets instead of one. For players who enjoy both deckbuilders and tactical games, this could scratch two itches simultaneously. For players new to either genre, the combination might provide a more varied and engaging experience than pure examples of either category.
The seven-night structure, village defense mechanics, and story-driven meta-progression add narrative weight that pure deckbuilders sometimes lack. You’re not just climbing a tower – you’re racing against time to save someone, making difficult choices about resource allocation, and uncovering a dark fantasy story along the way.
If you’re a fan of roguelites, deckbuilders, or tactical games, add The Vow: Vampire’s Curse to your Steam wishlist and keep an eye on its development. Join their Discord if you want a shot at the closed playtest and a chance to influence the game before it launches. The concept is strong enough that even if the execution is merely good rather than great, it’ll be worth experiencing. And if Mimyr Games nails the balance between its two core pillars, this could become a standout title in an already excellent genre.