As We Descend dares you to master steampunk horrors and outwit relentless foes in its unforgiving roguelike deck-builder.
In As We Descend, you discover an equal parts brilliant and punishing roguelike deck builder from first-time developer Box Dragon that delivers precisely what you’d hope and expect to see from an early access title. You’ll immediately sense how this game feels like a fresh, mechanical, and stylistic take on an increasingly crowded genre.
As you begin As We Descend, you’ll soon realize it will be both deep and complex. You’ll enjoy the careful balance between risk and reward that guides every choice you make as you go along. You are told to lean into every strategic choice from the moment you enter the game’s scary underground world because one mistake could end your run.
This review will guide you through every aspect of the experience, examining combat, city management, style, narrative, and technical performance to give you a comprehensive view of what awaits.
When you begin combat in As We Descend, you’ll immediately notice that there are two distinct zones of engagement: a frontline guard zone and a backline support zone. In the guard zone, your units are first in line to absorb punishment, and they’ll retaliate automatically when attacked.
Meanwhile, units in the support zone can only be targeted by ranged “lob” attacks that bypass your guards or by splash attacks that damage everything in play, including your mysterious lantern. Within As We Descend, that freaky golden-robed skeleton man—your lantern—looms ominously behind your support zone.
You might not fully understand how or why this lantern exists, but you’ll be glad it does because it can apply barrier shields to your units and even pack a punch itself. If the lantern falls, it’s game over since all enemy actions are telegraphed before they happen in the form of intent tooltips.
Every decision revolves around maneuvering troops between these two zones, staying out of harm’s way while lining up your attacks. Given the handful of cards and action points you have each turn, you’ll find that half of your strategizing focuses on mitigating damage and the other half on maximizing lethality.
Speaking of lethality, every few cycles—which serve as the game’s turn intervals—in As We Descend, you’ll face a challenging siege in the form of a mini-boss or not-so-mini-boss. These hulking monstrosities can absolutely level your squad and city if you’re unprepared.
Still, if you land enough heavy hits, they’ll stagger, falling over for a couple of turns and revealing weak points you can target for extra damage or destroy a specific perk. This mechanic transforms each boss encounter into a satisfying dance of strategic card combat that you can really sink your tactical teeth into.
When you’ve had your fill of combat, you’ll retreat to your city and enjoy As We Descend‘s second, arguably equally strategic half. Scattered throughout your rotatable city are around twenty NPCs that you’ll gradually unlock, each providing a distinct service that you need to prioritize carefully.
Each NPC prefers different card types and currencies, chief among them being force field—your bubbly blue energy source that protects the city from invaders. Every cycle, you can launch expeditions to scavenge for force field reactor rods to power up the city shield or search for other items that can strengthen your deck.
In As We Descend, you’ll also manage favor, a secondary resource used to play special cards that power up troops, and copper, which can be cashed in for single-use combat consumables. Even your non-combat actions remain strategic deck-building exercises: deciding which NPC to visit, which cards to spend, and which resources to conserve becomes as tense as any battlefield maneuver.
These choices carry weight because your limited hand of cards dictates what services you can access each turn. You’ll quickly learn to balance immediate combat needs with long-term city development, ensuring that you have the right mix of resources to survive the subsequent siege.
You will notice that As We Descend‘s artistic style leans heavily into a demonic yet theatrical aesthetic. The textures may look a bit old, but you’ll really like how the bug-like enemies were designed, with demonic features mixed with a creepy, dramatic flair.
The orchestral soundtrack adds to the mood with disturbing, atmospheric pieces that support every choice. Crisp sound effects make every card play and enemy attack feel important. Even the animations of units attacking or staggering bosses contribute to a sense of weight and consequence.
Although you might question some visual choices, the overall presentation of As We Descend makes you feel like you’re commanding a steampunk operation in a giant vault attached to a massive drill. The background of bubbling forges and scary tunnels goes well with the mix of mechanical grit and eldritch horror.
The game has a consistent tone that comes from its art and sound design: you are both the attacker and the defender in a world underground that is full of dangerous creatures. There is a change in style that helps you immerse yourself in the experience, giving each run a unique feel.
As you read more of As We Descend, you’ll see that the story is still trying to find its feet and is currently a jumbled mess of themes. Your city is a giant vault attached to a drill used to explore and exploit planetary cores, casting you as the invader against these flamboyant, theater-inspired bugs.
However, it’s never made clear why mobilizing a steampunk city full of civilians is the best means of subterranean conquest. The idea is cool, but the story makes you wonder why you’re using a city to drill into the planet’s core and why the bugs are so interested in acting.
In the first few minutes of the game, when you have to make a choice that stops the run right away, there are some interesting things to say. This intriguing scene offers hints about other stories. But this is the only choice that can lead to a different outcome; the rest of the conversation feels like it’s stuck in one place.
The lore of As We Descend suggests more profound mysteries—giant underground cities, humanoid lanterns, and demonic insect armies—but the game has not yet woven these elements into a cohesive tale.
You are left to guess what your figures and the people around you are thinking. This lack of clarity can be interesting, but it can also be frustrating for players who want clearer stories and more meaningful decisions.
In your time with As We Descend, you may encounter crashes and bugs that, while not game-breaking, prove annoying. Some difficulty spikes come without warning, making carefully prepared runs feel pointless when you suddenly face an overwhelming onslaught.
Without a manual save feature in As We Descend, you might worry about losing precious progress, but you’ll discover that you can “save scum” by returning to the menu if a battle goes poorly; the game will reload you to the last time you were in your city. While this workaround helps, the lack of an explicit save system feels like an oversight in an otherwise thoughtfully designed experience.
You’ll also notice cryptic endgame mechanics involving dissension multipliers—difficulty increases that can be toggled on or off, along with various units you unlock. It’s not clear which mix of these choices will let you see the real ending, and you might have to try a few times before you find the right one.
For players who like to discover new things, this trial-and-error method can be fun. Still, some people might find the uncertainty annoying, especially after spending ten hours or more getting to what looks like the final win screen.
If you enjoy strategic deck builders, As We Descend is worth experiencing. You’ll find a satisfying blend of tactical card combat and city management that challenges you to think several moves ahead. Despite some narrative and technical rough edges, the core mechanics deliver a fresh, engaging take on the genre.
With its punishing difficulty, dynamic combat zones, and theatrical aesthetic, As We Descend offers an early-access adventure that rewards strategic planning and adaptability. As you delve deeper into its subterranean world, you’ll uncover moments of true brilliance—and, occasionally, punishing setbacks—that make every run through this roguelike deck builder feel distinctly your own.
