Deck of Haunts PS5 Review - Welcome to the House of Horrors

There is something inherently appealing about a game that turns the traditional haunted-house concept completely upside down. Instead of being the unfortunate victim wandering through a terrifying mansion, Deck of Haunts puts you in control of the mansion itself. Developed by Mantis and published by DANGEN Entertainment, Deck of Haunts combines deck-building, strategy, mansion construction, resource management, and roguelike elements to create a unique horror experience where your primary goal is to make sure the people entering your home don't make it back out.

The Gameplay ...

The basic premise is simple but incredibly entertaining. During the day, you build and expand your haunted mansion, arranging rooms and preparing your defenses for the unsuspecting visitors who will arrive after nightfall. Once the intruders enter, the game shifts into a strategic battle where your deck of Haunt cards becomes your primary weapon. These cards allow you to summon supernatural entities, unleash frightening events, manipulate the mansion, and attack the physical and mental condition of your victims. Rather than directly controlling a character, you're essentially directing the entire nightmare from behind the scenes.

One of the more interesting aspects of Deck of Haunts is the way it handles the health and sanity of the people entering your mansion. You can physically weaken your victims, drive them toward insanity, or combine the two approaches depending on the situation. This creates some entertaining strategic decisions because the most obvious way of dealing with an intruder isn't always the most effective. Sometimes it is much more satisfying to slowly destroy someone's sanity before finally finishing them off.

The mansion itself is just as important as the cards you have available. Rooms can be strategically arranged to influence the paths your visitors take, while specialized rooms and abilities give you additional opportunities to manipulate the people wandering through your halls. Protecting the mansion's Heart is especially important, because allowing your enemies to reach it can quickly turn a successful run into a disaster. This reverse-dungeon-crawler approach is one of the game's biggest strengths. Instead of figuring out how to survive a terrifying house, you're constantly thinking about how to make your house as terrifying as possible.

The deck-building mechanics provide the foundation for nearly everything you do. As you progress, you'll gain access to additional cards that provide new ways of frightening, attacking, and manipulating your victims. The most satisfying moments come when you manage to combine several of these mechanics together. Moving an enemy into a specific room, weakening their sanity, triggering a room ability, and then using the perfect Haunt card to finish the job can make you feel like you've orchestrated an elaborate horror movie from behind the curtain. Of course, the card-based system also means that you won't always have exactly what you need when you need it, so being able to adapt your strategy is an important part of succeeding.

As the game progresses, the threats become more challenging, forcing you to rethink strategies that worked against earlier visitors. Different types of intruders bring different challenges, and eventually you'll encounter tougher opponents who can pose a serious threat to your carefully constructed nightmare. This gradual escalation helps keep the gameplay from becoming completely predictable and gives you a reason to experiment with different mansion layouts and card combinations.

The Presentation ...

Visually, Deck of Haunts takes a different approach from traditional horror games. The top-down perspective allows you to see your mansion and everything happening inside it, while the dark visual style complements the game's supernatural subject matter. There is also a nice dark sense of humor running through the experience, preventing the atmosphere from becoming overly serious and helping reinforce the idea that you're essentially playing the villain in your own horror movie.

The Verdict ...

Ultimately, Deck of Haunts succeeds because its central concept is so much fun. The idea of actually becoming the haunted house is something that immediately stands out, and the developers have built a surprisingly engaging strategy game around it. The combination of mansion construction, deck-building, resource management, and roguelike progression gives the game a gameplay loop that can become surprisingly addictive once you begin understanding how its various systems work together.

There are certainly some areas where Deck of Haunts could be improved though. The randomness of the card system can occasionally be frustrating, and some of the mechanics take a little time to fully understand. The progression can also begin to feel less rewarding once you've spent a considerable amount of time with the game. However, those issues don't take away from what makes the game so enjoyable in the first place.

Deck of Haunts, regardless of any shortcomings, is a clever twist on the horror genre that gives players an opportunity to experience the haunted-house formula from the opposite side of the door. Rather than desperately trying to escape the monsters, you're creating those monsters, controlling the environment, and deciding exactly how your unfortunate visitors are going to suffer. For horror fans who enjoy strategy and deck-building games, there is a lot to like here.