Deck of Life: No Turns, Individual Card Permadeath

Cards aren’t just a hand to play here, they’re the only thing standing between a hero and total defeat. Every card sitting on the field can be blown apart by enemy fire, and once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.

Deck of Life: No Turns, Individual Card Permadeath is a real-time card battler roguelite from developer Home Fire Games. Constructing defenses and launching projectiles to destroy an opponent’s hand, protecting cards that double as health, and choosing a path through unique card pools, you’ll clear floor after floor while building an ever-evolving deck shaped entirely by the choices made along the way.

What Makes It Different?

• Play cards as your health, with every card physically vulnerable on the field
• Fight in real time with no turns, launching projectiles and constructing defenses at once
• Lose cards permanently when enemy attacks land, thinning your deck run to run
• Choose between two floors each level, each offering a unique card pool
• Branch into new card types or double down on a working strategy
• Unlock new starting decks by clearing a floor’s unique challenge
• Face rising difficulty as random floors escalate the deeper a run goes

Every Card Is a Target

Deck of Life flips the usual deckbuilder formula by putting cards directly in harm’s way. Rather than an abstract health bar ticking down, the cards making up a hand sit physically on the field, meaning an unblocked attack doesn’t just cost a turn, it permanently removes that card from the deck. Balancing offense and defense becomes a constant tightrope walk, since overcommitting to attacking can leave a hand dangerously exposed.

Build a Deck by Choosing Its Path

Clearing enemies and events rewards cards unique to whatever floor was just conquered, and choosing between two available floors each level shapes an entire deck’s identity over time. Sticking with a card type that’s working, or branching off into something new, is a genuine strategic decision, and defeating a floor for the first time unlocks a fresh starting deck built entirely around that floor’s unique cards for future runs.

How Long Does a Run Take?

There’s no official or tracked average run time data for Deck of Life due to its niche player base on Steam. As a real-time card battler where cards act as health and individual cards suffer permanent death, failed runs can last just a few minutes, while a successful full run typically spans 30 to 60 minutes depending on pace and deck evolution choices.

Controller Support

No information provided.

Good If You Like…

If you enjoyed Slay the Spire, Roguebook, or SpellRogue, Deck of Life’s mix of card-based combat and roguelite deck evolution should be well worth a look.