REVIEW: Rogue Quest (2026 Video Game) - on PC Steam

Review by Jon Donnis

Rogue Quest is a 2026 PC roguelike deckbuilder on Steam that builds its entire identity around poker hands as combat actions. You climb a cursed spire where every encounter is a fight and every floor pushes the difficulty higher. It presents itself less as a puzzle game and more as a dungeon crawl where your decisions are shaped by cards, risk, and incremental build crafting across repeated runs.

At the centre of it all is a deceptively simple combat loop. You draw five cards, assess what you have, then decide which poker hand to play. A Pair will chip away at enemies, a Two Pair hits harder, and stronger combinations like Flushes and Straights scale into serious damage. It is not poker in any competitive sense. There is no bluffing or outthinking an opponent in card terms, only using poker rankings as a framework for damage output and tactical choice each turn.

Where Rogue Quest begins to show more depth is in its Power Card system. These passive modifiers sit in limited slots and trigger under specific conditions, shaping entire builds around synergy rather than raw draws. Effects like lifesteal on damage, bonus damage on the first hand of a fight, or increased power when health is low can radically alter how a run plays out. Some combinations feel almost reckless in design, like trading health for gold or turning low health into a damage multiplier, but they are precisely what make late runs more unpredictable and engaging.

The five classes help reinforce this sense of variety. The Warrior leans into sustained fights and grows stronger through kills, the Rogue plays faster with extra draws and crit potential, the Wizard rewards high value poker hands with boosted damage, the Paladin mixes durability with self healing, and the Warlock thrives on risk with life drain mechanics and higher payoff hands. Each class also has its own progression track and exclusive Power Cards, which makes early experimentation feel worthwhile as you learn what each style can evolve into.

Outside of combat, the structure follows familiar roguelike expectations. Branching paths lead you through shops, healing points, blacksmith upgrades, mystic events and random encounters. Runs gradually shift as you refine your deck, and the forge system in particular begins to change the identity of your cards entirely, turning simple starting tools into heavily modified weapons that define your build. Between runs, a persistent town system allows upgrades that steadily improve future attempts, which helps soften the sting of permanent death while keeping momentum intact.

The positives come through most clearly in how easy it is to fall into one more run. It has that familiar loop where failure rarely feels final, especially once town upgrades start stacking and each attempt pushes a little further than the last. The systems are straightforward to grasp, and there is a quiet satisfaction in watching simple card plays evolve into powerful combinations over time. Visually it keeps things clean and functional, with a dark fantasy presentation that does the job without overcomplicating the experience.

Where it falters slightly is in expectation versus reality around the poker concept. Despite the framing, this is not a poker game in any meaningful strategic sense. You are not outplaying enemies through card psychology or competitive mechanics, but simply using poker hands as a damage hierarchy. For players expecting deeper card game tension rooted in poker itself, that gap may feel a little misleading once the novelty wears off.

Rogue Quest ultimately lands as an easy game to recommend to roguelike deckbuilder fans, even if it does not fully commit to its poker premise beyond surface level mechanics. It is simple to pick up, surprisingly sticky in its progression loop, and capable of pulling you into extended play sessions without much effort. A strong foundation with enough variety to keep it engaging, even if it never quite becomes as mechanically deep as its theme suggests. It earns a solid 7.5 out of 10.

Out Now on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4669610/Rogue_Quest/