Heretic's Fork

My first thought when I saw the Windows 95 desktop parody staring back at me from the main menu was that this was going to be a novelty gimmick with maybe two hours of ideas underneath it. I was wrong, and pleasantly so. Heretic's Fork, built almost entirely by a one-person studio, is a surprisingly disciplined hybrid that stacks roguelite deckbuilding on top of automated tower defense, wrapping the whole thing in a bureaucratic-Hell aesthetic that commits harder to the bit than most games with ten times the budget. The core loop works like this: you pick an employee character, each carrying their own starter deck and perks, and then defend a central tower from waves of sinners trying to escape through a rift. The tower does not exist in physical space the way traditional tower defense games work. Instead, you build it vertically by playing cards drawn from your deck between waves. Cards cover tower weapon sections (flamethrowers, rotating flail rigs like the Judgement tower, machine gun batteries like the Unholy MG), garrison units (exploding imp kamikazes, sniper demons), and a third category of stacking modifier cards that amplify specific damage types: Holy, Unholy, and Hellfire. Merging two cards of equal tier into a single higher-tier card is where the real decision-making lives. Do you bank the merge now for a stronger weapon, or hold lower-tier cards to fish for a buff synergy? That tension is consistent and it is the game's best quality. Character selection matters more than first-run players will realize. Starting as Intern Ruby, who has zero passive perks and no bonus weapon slots, is a genuine slog. The early game is slow, and the lack of interaction during the combat phase itself (everything autofires once placed) can feel passive to players expecting hands-on control. Push through and unlock the next employee, though, and the run variety opens up. Gilbo Gibbins introduces a gambling mechanic for high-risk card draws. Other unlockable employees tilt the meta toward specific damage-type builds or extra slot availability. With over 280 cards in the full collection, there is real build variety here for players who want to spend time finding synergies rather than settling on the first winning formula. That said, critics are not wrong that once you crack a dominant combo, the fixed maps and predictable enemy patterns reduce the replay pressure. The nine circles of Hell provide structural progression, but the RNG spread across a full run is thinner than what Slay the Spire veterans will demand. Production values for an indie at this price point are well above average. The pixel art pairs muted grays with hard reds to land a genuinely gothic atmosphere, and the music deserves specific mention: the soundtrack pulls in artists like Occams Laser and Metalhonic, with an in-game playlist selector that lets you curate your own set before a run starts. The Klippy mascot (a darkly comic riff on Microsoft's old Clippy) delivers tutorial nudges and story scraps in a way that respects your time without drowning you in tooltips. As a rule, I am skeptical of tutorials in small strategy games, and this one clears the bar. The interactive fake-desktop UI hides secrets and unlockable lore that reward the curious without gating anything mechanically important. For newcomers to the deckbuilder-tower-defense crossover, the entry curve here is one of the gentler ones I have seen in the genre. The automation handles the moment-to-moment combat, so attention goes toward card triage and build direction rather than hand-eye coordination. That is a real accessibility win. The honest ceiling concern is replay depth at the high end: after 15 to 20 hours, min-maxers may find the loop solved. For everyone else, it is a lean, focused package that consistently punches above its production weight.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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