News: Deck of Haunts - Major Demo Update v2.00 Out Now
DANGEN Entertainment and Mantis Games have released Deck of Haunts Demo v2.00 on Steam on February 20, 2025, ahead of Steam Next Fest. This sinister deckbuilding roguelike casts players as a malevolent haunted house, building the mansion, luring humans inside, and using haunting cards to terrify them into madness or death. The major update overhauls core mechanics for deeper strategy, expands content with new cards and rooms, and adds fan-requested features for more immersive haunts. Investigating humans now behave more realistically and pose greater challenges, while the demo extends to additional nights for prolonged terror.
Key improvements include a revamped building system that encourages strategic layout around the Heart Room and discourages clustering small rooms, complete with an undo button for flexibility. Dynamic pathing allows breaking paths to the Heart Room during building, as long as a valid route exists before nightfall; the Entrance room is now repositionable. Human encounters heighten tension with staggered arrivals instead of simultaneous entry, and some bear the Pathfinder trait to sneak in via backdoors, bypassing the main entrance. Five new powerful cards introduce fresh strategies, enhancing deckbuilding options.
New room types add tactical depth: the Mechanical Room reduces Sustain costs for adjacent rooms, the Weapon Room doubles damage to humans inside, and the Phobia Room now drains Sanity based on adjacent rooms. Players can input custom name lists for personalized human victims, polishing the eerie narrative. Visual and mechanical tweaks improve immersion, and the mysterious cat Azrael roams the halls, adding charm to the frights. This update makes Deck of Haunts more engaging, inviting players to test the expanded demo and build their ultimate haunted mansion.