The Killing Stone is a gorgeous, dreadful deck builder that just entered early access

Back in 2019, I played a bizarre and inventive game called The Blackout Club, which was a co-op immersive sim game set in a suburban neighborhood full of indoctrinated adults, hidden conspiracies, and burgeoning gods. The same studio is now making a narrative-rich deckbuilder, and while it takes place in a different time, place, and continuity, The Killing Stone plays with similar themes of the infernal and divine in a way I find fascinating.

Deckbuilders are often used for endless roguelite loops (Slay the Spire or Balatro) with escalating power and ridiculous combinations. There are exceptions — Inscryption is an obvious example, and a major inspiration for The Killing Stone — but the genre rewards experimentation with splashy displays of power. The more one masters the game, the more they get the dopamine spike from big numbers and ridiculous combos.

That’s not quite the case with The Killing Stone, because the premise of the game is that you are alone in a folk horror story, set in the 17th century, isolated in the Arctic Circle. A matriarch has doomed her family, and in order to save their souls, you’ll need to play a series of card games and attempt to trick the devil. So, no pressure.