Shroom and Gloom
A first-person deckbuilder where exploration is a card game too. Two decks, no block cards, and a healing system built entirely around cooking the mushrooms that tried to kill you. It entered Steam Early Access today (September 10, 2026) at $14.99, published by Devolver Digital.
Two decks, one run
Most deckbuilders give you one stack. Shroom and Gloom gives you two, and the swap happens automatically: the moment you walk into a fight, your Explore deck vanishes and your Combat deck lands in your hand. Win, and you're back to exploring. The two halves feed each other — Explore cards dig up weapons, modify Combat cards, and interact with the world, while Combat wins fund everything the Explore side wants to do next. PC Gamer compared the idea to Griftlands' two-deck split, and the closest big-name relative is still Slay the Spire, whose shadow the developers are openly working out of.
| Explore deck | Combat deck | |
|---|---|---|
| When it's in your hand | Walking between rooms, at camp | Only during fights |
| What it does | Interacts with the dungeon: dig up keys with a shovel card, light torches with a matchstick, bash locks, rest up | Kills monsters — by feeding them, mostly. Damage, seasoning, roasting |
| Why you care | It decides which buffs and upgrades you can reach between fights (training dummies, frog statues that let you forget cards) | It's where your build actually comes together; one good card can snowball into the centerpiece of a run |
| The catch | Every room is a card decision, so "just walking" still costs thought | No block cards at all — defense is max HP, food, and nerve |
No block cards. You cook instead.
The healing loop is the weirdest and best idea in the game. Instead of blocking damage, you generate food. Certain attacks Season enemies, others Roast them, and when a monster dies you can cook it — in a pan, or tossed into a pot for soup with extra benefits. Season well, eat well, and your health bar climbs back. GameRant's previewer called it "a pretty hilarious solution for staying alive," and it changes the risk math of every fight: the safest play isn't turtling, it's killing fast and seasoning properly.
Death still ends the run — it's a roguelike — but the demo's Foresight cards let you shape the next one, so a lost run isn't a total wipe of progress.
Why it looks like nothing else
Team Lazerbeam — a small studio out of Cape Town, South Africa, self-described as "a video game band" — draws everything in exactly three colors: white, black, and grey. All the color you see comes from lighting. They built clay models of the monsters to work out their proportions (models that top-heavy in early sketches literally fell over), grew real mushrooms at home with grow kits for reference, and ran the whole concept through three phases before committing: a 7-day first-person game jam, a month-long art test, then a three-month prototype. That's a lot of process for a game about eating hostile mushrooms, and the hand-drawn result is the reason people noticed it at all.
Steam Early Access price as of Sep 10, 2026. No launch discount. The devs have said the price won't go up between Early Access and 1.0 — the Paper Boy character is the starting class, with more characters planned as EA progresses.
Worth it on day one, or wait for 1.0?
The honest case for waiting: it's Early Access, the launch-day Steam page showed only a handful of user reviews, and the content roadmap through 1.0 is still forming. If a thin run-count would annoy you, wishlist it and check back.
The honest case for buying now: the demo was already meaty — 26 handcrafted tunnels, both decks, Foresight meta-progression — and it sat at Overwhelmingly Positive before launch. If you've burned out the StS/Balatro/Inscryption rotation and want a deckbuilder with an actual new idea in it, this is the September release aimed at you. At $14.99 with a no-price-increase promise, the downside of being early is small.
Skip it if you want multiplayer or a chill vibe — it's single-player, moody, and a little gross on purpose.
Quick facts
- Early Access launch: September 10, 2026 (Steam)
- Developer: Team Lazerbeam (Cape Town, South Africa)
- Publisher: Devolver Digital
- Price: $14.99 USD, no launch discount, no planned EA→1.0 price increase
- Genre: First-person roguelike "double-deckbuilder"
- Platforms: Windows + Mac; no Linux, no consoles announced
- Min specs: Core i3-6300 / GTX 960 / 8 GB RAM / 13 GB storage
- Demo: Free on Steam, 26 handcrafted tunnels
FAQ
- Is it like Slay the Spire? The bones are related (turn-based card fights, branching runs), but it's first-person, exploration is its own deck, and there's no blocking — you heal by cooking defeated enemies.
- Is there a demo? Yes, still up on the Steam page. It's generous: 26 tunnels plus the Foresight card system.
- How long is Early Access? Not announced. The 1.0 plan includes more characters beyond the starting Paper Boy.
- Controller? Steam lists single-player with Steam Achievements and Cloud saves; check the store page for controller details before buying on a deck-style setup.
- Consoles? None announced. Steam (Windows/Mac) only for now.
The Early Access launch trailer is on the Shroom and Gloom Steam page, alongside the free demo and the full card list.
Deckbuilding behind a clock is the shared idea with The Loopler, except there you build the loop and the car does the driving.