{"id":1136170,"date":"2026-02-04T19:27:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=531867"},"modified":"2026-02-04T19:27:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:27:53","slug":"whats-more-fun-than-crawling-dungeons-designing-them-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/whats-more-fun-than-crawling-dungeons-designing-them-first\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s more fun than crawling dungeons? Designing them first"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/whats-more-fun-than-crawling-dungeons-designing-them-first.jpg\" \/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\"><em>Into the Restless Ruins <\/em>is a roguelike deckbuilder in which\u2026 no, wait, come back!<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">I get it, it can be hard to overcome your cynicism when faced with the conjunction of \u201croguelike\u201d and \u201cdeckbuilder\u201d, the two most pervasive buzzwords in indie gaming \u2014 especially in the wake of such perfect expressions of the form as <em>Slay the Spire<\/em> and <em>Balatro<\/em>. And it\u2019s true that <em>Into the Restless Ruins<\/em>, which is currently available to play as a Steam Next Fest demo, isn\u2019t trying too hard to differentiate itself with its pixel art and its dungeon-crawling premise. But it has one new idea, and it\u2019s a really good one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">In this game, the cards in your hand are the rooms of the dungeon, which you build out a little further each day before exploring it at night. You\u2019re both architect and adventurer, and the game is consequently split into distinct, yet closely interlinked halves: a puzzle game in which you use the hands you\u2019re dealt to build a labyrinth that\u2019s survivable and logical; and a dash through those ruins in a <em>Vampire Survivors<\/em>-influenced, auto-attacking dungeon crawl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Developer Ant Workshop is from Edinburgh, and says it has rooted <em>Into the Restless Ruins<\/em> in Scottish myths and legends. It certainly has a folkloric feel. Your adventurer is tasked by the Maiden with harvesting Glimour from spooky apparitions and besting the Warden of each ruin. The more Glimour you earn, the more Favours she grants you. (The Favours, of course, are cards.) But Curses also accrue with each death and with the passing of time, increasing the hostility of the ruins.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/whats-more-fun-than-crawling-dungeons-designing-them-first-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/whats-more-fun-than-crawling-dungeons-designing-them-first-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">In the building phase, you\u2019re given a certain number of Build Points to spend on playing cards from your hand to place rooms in the dungeon. You\u2019re building toward an endpoint, the Warden\u2019s lair, but also trying to link up preexisting, fog-shrouded rooms on the way, which might contain the Seals necessary to open up new dungeon areas, or the Relics that upgrade your cards. Standard rooms \u2014 corners, hallways, and crossroads \u2014 have no effects, but are usually larger and have more useful door placements. Other rooms can be tricky to work into a logical layout, but you\u2019ll want to, because they can dispel fog or bestow buffs, health, and time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Time is symbolized by your torch, and it runs out fast, the pool of light it casts around your warrior contracting all the time. You need to make it back to the exit before your torch runs out each night and you can\u2019t view the map while exploring. So the nightly Harvest takes the form of hasty, there-and-back forays that will go much better if you\u2019ve managed to create a straightforward layout that\u2019s easy to memorize. That\u2019s easier said than done when dealing with the luck of the draw.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\"><em>Into the Restless Ruins<\/em> exists in the pleasing tension between the randomness of the draw, the careful problem-solving of the layout phase, and the swift desperation of the Harvest. Each feeds into the next, and when a run comes together, this game really hums. Maybe we\u2019re not done with deckbuilding roguelikes yet.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/impressions\/531867\/into-the-restless-ruins-steam-next-fest-demo\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Into the Restless Ruins is a roguelike deckbuilder in which\u2026 no, wait, come back! I get it, it can be hard to overcome your cynicism when faced with the conjunction of \u201croguelike\u201d and \u201cdeckbuilder\u201d, the two most pervasive buzzwords in indie gaming \u2014 especially in the wake of such perfect expressions of the form as Slay the Spire and Balatro. And it\u2019s true that Into the Restless Ruins, which is currently available to play as a Steam Next Fest demo, isn\u2019t trying too hard to differentiate itself with its pixel art and its dungeon-crawling premise. But it has one new idea, and it\u2019s a really good one. In this game, the cards in your hand are the rooms of the dungeon, which you build out&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/whats-more-fun-than-crawling-dungeons-designing-them-first\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1136171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1136170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s more fun than crawling dungeons? Designing them first | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Into the Restless Ruins is a roguelike deckbuilder in which\u2026 no, wait, come back! 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