CFK announced the Steam Early Access launch of DeckLand, a position-based deck-building roguelite developed by Korean indie studio JellySnow. The game introduces dodge-and-move mechanics to the deck-building genre, and it’s also getting a 20% discount for two weeks.
The developers shared a snippet of their developer story via press release:
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DeckLand began when JellySnow CEO Kim Tae-hun saw “capsule monsters moving on a board” in a manga. “What if card games used tiles too?” That question sparked two years of development. The pixel art team tackled illustration work for the first time, investing countless hours to create the game’s elegant, fantastical visual style.
The dedication paid off: DeckLand achieved 823% funding on Tumblbug crowdfunding with 800+ backers. The Steam Next Fest demo (February 23 – March 3) earned praise from global players for its innovative position-based combat and limitless card combinations.
Following Steam Early Access, CFK and JellySnow will incorporate player feedback and content updates toward full release. Console versions for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PlayStation 5 are in development, but there is no release window just yet for consoles.
What is DeckLand?
Moving away from the traditional “number gets bigger” of deckbuilders as a genre, the game introduces spatial positioning as a core strategic element. With position being key, players move one square at a time using cards, physically dodging enemy attacks and leaping over opponents on a tactical grid.
With position-based combat, there is more to it than just getting the best cards. Additionally, the game features a Card Fusion system that lets players combine multiple cards to create new abilities.
But what Deckland touts as its biggest factor of difference compared to other deckbuilders is that it has a “massive” number of cards. Those who played the demo had access to 100 cards; now players will have access to 1,000+, which will unlock progressively through chapters.
What can players expect from Early Access?
In a release to the press, CFK and JellySnow outlined exactly what players can expect from this EA launch as they jump in to play:
- Four story chapters featuring protagonist Lang and supporter Lilith
- Boss battles against mythological creatures, including Chi You (蚩尤, war god from Eastern legends) and
- Gangcheori (fire-breathing monster from Korean folklore)
- Strategic progression with card unlocks tied to chapter completion
- Reincarnation system (unlocked after first clear) featuring escalating difficulty multipliers for endgame
- challenge
- 60 flash-animation-style memory fragments revealing the story non-linearly
- 5-7 hours for first completion, 20+ hours total gameplay
