Two deck-building games in one
Play two sides of the same story in the premium card game Deliverance & Reign. Also currently available as a free demo, it walks players through two vastly different rogue-like deck-builder modes, named Deliverance and Reign. Both modes feature the same villain, Alaric, but differ in terms of gameplay and storyline.
In Deliverance & Reign, you get to play both the good and the evil sides. In Deliverance, you sweep through the castle floors in Slay the Spire style and attempt to kill Alaric. On the other hand, Reign will have you defending the villain’s lair à la Monster Train mechanics.
Play your cards correctly and choose your path
Whatever mode you choose, Deliverance & Reign promises a session filled with adrenaline and strategy. If you choose to play the Deliverance mode, you get to pick a class from six different ones, each with a unique resource and one interchangeable buff or debuff slot. Survive four levels of eradicating Alaric’s minions before facing the big boss himself. After every round, you get rewarded with new cards, which can be abilities or weapons.
On the other hand, playing Reign will employ you as Alaric’s strategist of sorts, as you need to protect him while heroes try to lay siege to his castle. There are six factions to choose from as well, each coming with nine kinds of Champions, upgrades, and unique units and spells. Once you clear either mode for the first time, you will unlock Hell levels, which are basically the same rounds but with boosted difficulty.
While Deliverance plays like a classic, linear deck-builder with you attacking enemy cards with your own numbered deck and the level ends once all foes are wiped out, Reign has you spreading out your cards throughout three lanes while waiting for the onslaught. You can switch between the two modes and retain achievements smoothly. However, audio can sound imbalanced at times, plus all of the rules and text can get confusing for beginners.
Compelling premise and varied game modes
With two discrete modes of play, Deliverance & Reign sure holds a lot to unpack even for experienced card players. It meshes rogue-like and strategic deck-building elements in one game well, although long-time fans of the genre will likely find tons of similarities with other titles. Regardless, the game features two playable sides of the same story, where you can go down the paths of good and evil as you wish.
