Beneath Oresa

I keep a mental checklist for every new deckbuilder that lands on my desk: does it add a real decision layer on top of the card loop, or does it just reskin Slay the Spire and call it a day? Beneath Oresa passes that test, and it does so in a way that took me a run or two to fully appreciate. The core twist is spatial: the battlefield is split into zones, and where enemies stand relative to you is not flavour, it is leverage. Knock a heavy hitter into the far zone, seed the space with damage traps, and watch your counter-attack plan come together. That kind of pre-combat geometry thinking is rare in the genre and it gives every fight a second axis of strategy beyond "play biggest number first." The faction and companion system is where the build variety actually lives. Three factions play genuinely differently. The Tainted Ones lean on virus card management, accumulating those otherwise-dead cards until specific thresholds trigger burst effects like extra actions or bonus damage. House Agiça de Ferady operates on a counter-attack charge gauge - fill it, brace for the enemy's hardest melee hit, and punish them for swinging. Each faction has three heroes underneath it, and each hero slots into the companion role for a different pairing, giving you dozens of meaningful duo combinations to work through. Achievements are tied to clearing the game with unique hero-and-companion combos, which is one of the smarter engagement loops I've seen in a genre that often runs out of reasons to push past the first clear. Ten Ascension levels, unlocked progressively, layer on run modifiers for players who want to keep tightening the screws. The upgrade system deserves a specific call-out. When you improve a card, you are not just watching a number go up - you choose between two divergent upgrade paths that can push the card toward a completely different role in your deck. That forked improvement design forces you to think about your current build's direction rather than mindlessly pressing "upgrade." Combined with the fact that card rewards cannot be skipped (you must always take one when offered), your deck shape is constantly being nudged, and lean deck discipline becomes a real skill. Pruning options exist, but they are currency, not free. That said, Beneath Oresa is not without frustration points. The run pathing is more linear than genre veterans might expect - there is essentially one route per floor with only a handful of branch nodes choosing between regular and elite fights, so the map-level strategic planning you get from something like Slay the Spire is largely absent. The information density can spike suddenly: statuses, passives, positioning modifiers, and animation chains all pile on in elite fights, and the interface does not always make it obvious which passive triggered off what. Misclicks carry no undo or confirmation window, which stings when a card position shifts mid-hand and you fire the wrong one into a critical turn. Replayability is also a real concern for the long haul - players who push through all the faction combos report that the enemy and location variety starts feeling thin, and there is almost no narrative scaffolding to give runs meaning beyond the mechanical loop. For a strategy-focused player, the entry is honestly friendlier than it looks. The first few runs will feel opaque and punishing, but the game is generous with experience points regardless of run outcome, unlocking characters quickly and letting you sample all three factions without grinding. Once you internalise the zone system and pick a faction that clicks with your instincts (the counter build is a particularly clean on-ramp), the difficulty curve smooths out and the combo-crafting satisfaction kicks in hard. It holds a 78% positive rating across over a thousand Steam reviews, which is an honest reflection of a game with a strong mechanical core and real room to grow. Worth your time if the genre has any traction with you. Diego, Scout Team

Valve rates this game Steam Deck Verified. Runs flawlessly on Linux out of the box. Based on 9 ProtonDB community reports.

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