Being a fan of deckbuilders, I’m always excited to check out the new kid on the block when it comes to card games, especially if they are spicing up the genre. Demon’s Mirror combines a number of different gaming genres that has devs Be-Rad Entertainment dub their creation ‘a unique experience where Slay the Spire meets Puzzle Quest.’ Demon’s Mirror is a big ol’ magical cauldron of a game that stirs in deckbuilding, rougelike and puzzle matching mechanics so that the player has different ways to attack the enemies they encounter.

You are unexpectedly pulled into a magical mirror found near your families’ home in the forest. Your aim is to advance through the game’s three maps to find your way back home again. Each of the three maps consists of twelve encounters before you meet the map’s final boss.

These encounters are a mixture of battles, treasure chests, a campfire where you can recover health and random encounters which see you deciding between two written scenarios that will render two different boons. With a full view of the randomly generated map at the start of the run, you have the chance to strategically plan your route. With this foresight, I could steer my character towards bonuses like campfires for a 30% boost to my health. Most of these are useful to your progress, excluding those focused on narrative beats. While it’s present, the story is servicable but uninspiring. It doesn’t elevate the gameplay or experience in anyway, sadly.

To get through these maps, you have three characters to assist you, each with very different skills and powers. Your starting character is the brutish Wulf, a raw power character with cards mainly consisting of attacks. At the end of each run you receive a summary of your progress and also a round up of your run statistics, such as damage dealt, tiles you chained and fights won. These points are combined and once you have accumulated enough, the other two characters, Draga and Axo, are unlocked. Unlocking them luckily doesn’t take long as runs are fairly quick. While roguelikes are great for replayability, you may become a little bored with the reptitive encounters and battles in Demon’s Mirror.

What the game does very well is creating three unique playable characters. Where Wulf is all about brut force, Draga is a mage who can chain powerful cards together and their combat mainly focuses on damaging the enemies’ current status. Axo, my personal favourite and who is the last character to be unlocked, is an archer and an engineer meaning that his combat focuses on electricity. Axo’s special special ability Conductor Tiles can be used on the grid and are equal to an action point, meaning that if you do not have enough action points, you can use the tile to play another round. A really fun gameplay tool.

Characters come with a special starting trinket which is based on their skill set and is used automatically at the start of a turn. Wulf has a Broken Momento trinket, which means that your first tile chain will cost zero action points. Draga’s Oracle Pendant trinket will take the cards from your hand and reduce their action point cost, meaning that Draga can create massive chaining combos.

I completely forgot I had most of my trinkets throughout my runs but when they did come into force it was always a welcome relief. Trinkets can be found throughout encounters and in the shop. You will see all your trinkets at the top left of your screen and can hover over them to be remembered of their function and power. One-use Scrolls can also be purchased in the shop, along with special cards and upgrading cards to bolster your forces. All these items can be paid for with coins, which are earned after each successful battle. A gratifiying way to spend rewards from victory.

The meat of the game is in the battle encounters, which consists of standard or elite battle; the latter being more of a boss style fight. You can face up to three enemies in battle and all encounters are turned based with the player starting first. You are given three action points at the beginning of a battle which can either go towards using one of your five cards or chaining tiles in the 6×6 tile grid. When starting the game, you will obviously be given a hand of standard cards. As the game consists of 200 cards, your deck will slowly increase and evolve through random encounters and purchasing more through the store. Select encounters will let you pick which card you decide to modify, which gives you autonomy over the playthrough, something that Demon’s Mirror does really well.

Tiles on the board come in four types: Shield (gives you block), Swords (attacks the enemy), Willpower (once you collect 10 a special event occurs) and Essence (used by card to gain special effects). Combining the same tile will add up your hit metre and depending on the tile, it can lead to huge, satisfying attacks on your enemies.

The use of sound when using the 6×6 grid makes battling that extra bit special and adds an extra level of immersion. When you chain tiles together, a clicking noise activates with every tile you connect. When you strike your enemies, they make a incredibly satisfying welp of pain. I may be a masochist but knowing that I have inflicted enough pain on my enemy for them to cry out in pain—that’s a good feeling!

Unfortunately, enemy types are extremely repetitive. They can include rats, knights, and big weird Kang and Kodos (the aliens from The Simpsons) style baddies. Enemies can attack you via status abilities (infecting you with brainwash, muddled, etc) standard attacks, and by also placing their own special tile on the grid. This tile displays the amount of power it has and also the amount of moves until it will attack the player. You can attack this tile by chaining as many of the same tiles together as possible, which will lead to the amount of damage you inflict not only on the tile itself, but a selected enemy. Allowing the enemy to attack the grid in this way intensifies gameplay and reiterates that Demon’s Mirror is a game that provides multiple opportunities for the player to be challenged but also have a damn good time in the process.