Astrea is a DICE-deck-building roguelike that flips the script on deckbuilders by using dice instead of cards and a unique dual “damage” system: Purification vs Corruption. Build a dice pool strong enough to purify Astrea's out-of-control corruption and save the Star System.
Astrea is a dice-based deck-building roguelike with six playable characters. He admires how it solves the usual strategy-versus-randomness problem of dice games: every die face has a usable effect, and the game is built around deliberately swinging your health up and down. It is very complex, with long fights and heavy keyword load, so he recommends it mainly to experienced deck-builder fans. Audiovisuals are excellent, and he places it in A tier.
Liked
Dice design keeps strategy meaningful: every face (including self-damage) can be exploited, so no roll is wasted
Health-bar mechanic where low/high health thresholds unlock abilities, encouraging a constant take-damage/heal loop
Six characters, each with roughly ten unique, complicated keywords
Great music, amazing art and strong visual effects
Secret final boss unlocked by beating the game with all six characters gives long-term progression motivation
Unique events and companion 'friends' with their own mechanics add depth
Disliked
Extremely complicated, possibly one of the most complex deck builders he has played
Keywords are numerous and dice show only small icons, making it hard to remember what each does (harder to read than cards)
Fights are very long (only about three fights per floor); final boss took him about an hour
Both worlds look too similar (mostly blue), so it is hard to tell which world you are in and it is less immersive
The default starting character is the least interesting one
Top 10 of 2024 (#5)
Astrea is a turn-based roguelike deckbuilder that uses dice instead of cards, with a Slay the Spire-style map of shops, events and elites. He calls it one of the most complicated deckbuilders he has played. Its core is a dual purification/corruption system where dice can heal or damage either side, and a virtue bar that only unlocks when your health is low. He finds it very rewarding when everything clicks, but would not recommend it to casual players. He ranks it fifth of the year.
Liked
Multi-purpose dice effects and self-damage make every roll usable, which reduces the luck factor
Each character plays very differently, with roughly 30 unique mechanics apiece
Turns and fights are puzzle-like, and winning with efficient use of technical mechanics feels very satisfying
Sentinels, dice editing/destroying/duplicating and blessings (passives) add depth to builds
Beautiful visuals and a fantastic soundtrack
Meta-progression via unlocking characters and a teased mystery locked door
Disliked
Very complex and not suited to casual players, and hard for newcomers
Dice symbols are small and harder to remember than card text
Luck still matters, and he wants more rerolling options to cut its impact
The first available character is probably his least favorite
One misplay can cost all your health given the low max-health cap of seven
What players say
A Slay the Spire-style roguelike deckbuilder by Little Leo Games where you build a pool of six-sided dice instead of cards, with a dual Purification/Corruption damage-and-healing system.
Astrea is well regarded: Steam shows about 4,561 reviews at roughly 92% positive (Very Positive), Metacritic critic score is 85 and OpenCritic top-critic average is 87 (all critic reviews recommend it). Critics and players praise the fresh dice-building spin, the Purification/Corruption health-as-resource idea, six distinct Oracles and the striking art. Complaints cluster around heavy RNG, information overload and unclear iconography, weak damage previews, and (from some) runs that are either too easy or too samey. It is a finished game, not early access: PC launched Sep 2023, consoles Sep 2024, mobile Jul 2025, with post-release balance passes and content still appearing on Steam into 2026. Metacritic user score (6.9 on only 14 ratings) is far lower than Steam and is too small a sample to trust.
Players love
Purification vs Corruption turns your health bar into a resource: players deliberately take damage to unlock health-tied Virtues, and the risk/reward balancing is called addictive
Safe / Balanced / Risky dice tiers let you choose your own volatility, and die faces can be rerolled, inverted, forged or permanently converted, giving real control over the randomness
Six Oracles with very different playstyles, each with several viable archetypes; critics say all feel viable
Huge content pool for replay: 350-750+ dice (store-page vs GameGrin counts differ), 170+ Blessings, Sentinel companions and ascension-style Anomaly difficulty levels
Distinctive art direction with crystalline character designs and a blue/red palette; soundtrack also praised by some critics
Three regenerating lives forgive mathematical mistakes and encourage greedy builds
Fresh feel in a crowded Slay the Spire-like genre; many reviewers call it one of the better recent deckbuilder variants
Common complaints
Iconography and UX overload: each Oracle has its own keywords and symbols, and every die has six faces to read, so evaluating choices is mentally exhausting
RNG is heavy and not fully seeded (random targets, values, crits and the rolls themselves), so losses can feel undeserved and first turns differ even with identical choices
No damage or outcome preview, and some corruption values are hidden, so players resort to pen and paper to avoid being blindsided
Runs can feel samey: fewer random encounter types and less enemy variety than Slay the Spire, with the first act reportedly identical in demo and full game
Balance: some critics and players say it is too easy or breakable once you find each character's best approach, while others hit brutal bosses and luck spikes at high Anomaly levels
Safe dice and some Blessings are called too weak or too keyword-dependent, pushing builds toward Risky dice
Later Oracles are very micro-heavy and slow to play, and some reviewers say too many systems make turns play themselves
Short runs and price: several top negative reviews say a roughly 1-hour run feels shallow for $24.99 (would be fine at a discount); Steam listing is Windows only
Can feel tedious
Reading six faces on each of several dice every turn and every reward screen
Micro-management on later characters that makes early turns painfully slow until a build forms
Saving-scumming or restarts felt necessary at high Anomaly levels because of dice variance
Short runs (often about 1 to 1.5 hours) that some find shallow, while others say they get repetitive quickly
Each character starting from the same difficulty with separate progression, which some found grindy
Performance and UI issues reported on handheld devices (freezes, long autosaves)
What's unique
Dice instead of cards: each die has six faces with different effects and you can edit those faces over the run
Dual-direction Purification/Corruption damage: purification damages enemies or heals you, corruption the reverse, so the same effect can help or hurt depending on target
Health-linked Virtues: repeatable passive abilities unlocked by your current health level reward playing near the edge
Black Hole Blessings (powerful with notable downsides) and Star Blessings (smaller, no downside), plus Sentinels as companions
Risk-tiered dice (Safe/Balanced/Risky/Epic) as the core build axis, with self-inflicted corruption dice you must play or swap
Players want
Add a damage/effect preview (e.g. like Monster Train) and clearer surfacing of hidden corruption and damage sources
Simplify or clarify iconography and die-face readability; some players shelved the game waiting for a UX fix or mod
Fully seeded or more deterministic RNG and more consistent balance across Oracles and Anomaly levels
More event and encounter variety plus more enemy variety to reduce repetition between runs
Rebalance Safe dice and underpowered Blessings, and tighten keyword clutter across characters
Reviewers and players wished for a richer story (the narrative is short and generic) and better Japanese/Korean localization
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Tier list Part 2 (2024)
Astrea is a dice-based deck-building roguelike with six playable characters. He admires how it solves the usual strategy-versus-randomness problem of dice games: every die face has a usable effect, and the game is built around deliberately swinging your health up and down. It is very complex, with long fights and heavy keyword load, so he recommends it mainly to experienced deck-builder fans. Audiovisuals are excellent, and he places it in A tier.
Liked
Disliked