Part 2 (May 2024) · #6 of 13 in that tierWatch the moment (2:39:45)
Wildfrost
- Developed by
- Deadpan Games, Gaziter
- Published by
- Chucklefish
$19.99
Take on the elements in Wildfrost, a tactical roguelike deckbuilder! Journey across a frozen tundra, collecting cards strong enough to banish the eternal winter…
Consensus
A76.4/100
Steam players82.9% positiveVery Positive8,860 reviews
Metacritic ↗80/100Users: 8/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈266K copies · ≈$4.1M gross
What creators say
Ranked Jun 2023 · #7 of 11 in that tierWatch the moment (0:47:25)
Ranked Apr 2023 · #13 of 42 in that tierWatch the moment (2:03:54)
What players say
A tactical roguelike deckbuilder from Deadpan Games and Gaziter (published by Chucklefish) where you lead a tribe leader and companions through a frozen tundra in cooldown-based card battles on a two-lane, six-slot board.
Wildfrost is well received by both players and critics: Metacritic PC sits at 80 (17 critic reviews) with a user score of 8.0, and Steam shows Very Positive (about 83% across roughly 8,860 reviews in our local snapshot; the store page itself showed a higher figure, so treat exact percentages loosely). It is praised as a distinctive, hard, synergy-rich alternative to Slay the Spire with standout art and music. The main friction is difficulty and perceived RNG unfairness, a grind-heavy unlock structure, and a divisive post-win 'previous champion becomes the final boss' mechanic. It is a finished, released game (Switch/PC April 2023, mobile April 2024, Xbox December 2024) with Steam Workshop support, daily runs and difficulty customisation via Storm Bells; one reviewer notes balance patches fixed early turn-0 infinites and overpowered final bosses. Players still ask for more content.
Players love
- Distinctive cooldown-counter combat where every card played ticks down both your units and enemies, making turn order and positioning the core puzzle
- Charms (up to 3 per card) allow deep, creative unit customisation and exponential combo builds, often compared favourably to Inscryption-style run modification
- Huge variety of companions, cards and keywords across three tribes (Snowdwellers, Shademancers, Clunkmasters) gives many viable strategies
- Strong, charming cartoon art style and animation; critics and players both single out the visual polish
- Well-liked music and atmosphere; one reviewer discovered the game via its soundtrack
- Satisfying skill-testing difficulty: failures usually traceable to misjudged turn order or overlooked enemy effects, and wins feel earned
- Accessible to learn but deep; some families play it together, and reviewers say it stays as dynamic on the twentieth run as the first
- Meta-progression through Snowdwell town building, daily runs, challenges and Storm Bell difficulty scaling adds replay value
Common complaints
- Unfairness and RNG: random starting leader stats, bad character/enemy rolls, and enemy groups that feel like they counter-pick your strategy
- Turn outcomes are hard to predict because of many interacting mechanics and poorly explained order of operations; players lose turns they thought were perfect
- Uneven build viability: a few keywords and archetypes per tribe dominate, and many unlocked companions or cards are conditional or worse than starter options
- Early pacing is tough because placing a single unit costs a whole turn while multiple enemies already race ahead
- Steep learning curve and a high barrier to entry for genre newcomers (Twinfinite cautioned this); IGN France cited very high difficulty and inconsistent card balance
- Post-victory 'posse' final-boss design can lock players out of repeating a win if their winning run was very strong
- Windows-only on Steam (no Mac/Linux); a top-voted negative Steam review is purely about publisher Chucklefish's alleged treatment of unpaid interns, not gameplay
- Limited content depth for some players who finish unlocks and want more
- The leader doubles as your lose condition, and the abundance of area attacks, counter-attacks and reflects can make the leader's own attack kill it in retaliation (tactics-minded players find this infuriating)
Can feel tedious
- Unlock grinding that reveals conditional or weak content, frustrating players who put tens of hours in
- Restarting runs or cancelling them from the town just to reroll better starting leaders
- Hour-long runs ending in a loss to a boss built from your previous best run
- Having to mentally simulate many stacked effects each turn and losing runs to misunderstood ordering
- Feeling forced into a small number of dominant keywords per tribe on higher difficulties
- No quick-restart option, and manually calculating every stacked effect each turn because the game shows no damage predictions
What's unique
- Cooldown-counter (tick-down) combat on a six-slot, two-lane board instead of energy/mana-based hands
- Losing your leader ends the run instantly, while allies can be rescued in later attempts
- Charms applied to cards for extreme per-unit customisation, with some players saying it does this better than Slay the Spire 2's augmentations
- The previous run's winning champion returns as the next final boss, scaling difficulty with your own success
- Secret true boss unlocked at maximum Storm Bell difficulty
Players want
- Add a preview or simulation mechanic for a turn so players can confirm the outcome before committing, given the many interacting effects
- Offer an alternate or less punishing boss mechanic after the first win so a strong champion does not soft-lock replayability
- Reduce or smooth randomness in starting leaders (for example, reroll or choose stats) so bad draws do not force restarting runs
- Rebalance weaker cards, companions and keywords so more archetypes are viable, and make unlock rewards less conditional
- Explain unusual mechanics and interactions better in-game
- Release more content (cards, tribes, modes), which reviewers explicitly request
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Card BattlerDifficultRoguelike DeckbuilderCard GameTurn-Based TacticsRogue-liteDeckbuildingRogue-likeSingleplayerTurn-Based
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Tier list Part 2 (2024)
Wildfrost is a board-focused deck-building roguelike where you play one card per turn and units act on countdown timers. He adores its visuals, music and approachable-yet-strategic gameplay, and has played it heavily, near 100%. His main complaint is the complete lack of card rarities, which makes finds feel random and flat, and he wants a larger card and unit pool. He still calls it a phenomenal game and lands it in A tier.
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