Solitomb
You are an adventurer who entered into a pact with a demon. That comes with wealth, power and other usual perks, but the contract does stipulate a teeny, tiny favor: could you maybe clear this slightly monster-infested dungeon first? The demon is kind of sealed inside and it would really appreciate you punching a hole in its supposedly-eternal jail. That's definitely a safe thing to do with no far-reaching consequences whatsoever.
Use your solitaire skills to assemble powerful combos and defeat the dungeon's monsters. Grab treasure and spend it to build a set of powerful, synergistic abilities to help you. Manage both your own resources and the demon's patience to hopefully survive the ordeal.
Solitomb is an awesome little game already, but a bigger version is in the works! Click the Steam button to learn more about the plans. You're welcome to play this version for free, but it is also pay-what-you-want - all money earned goes towards making the expanded edition possible.
Instructions
Click the "how to play" button in-game or this link for a quick step-by-step guide. Or dive in, rely on the ingame tooltips and check the guide later.
Credits
Game: Jakub Wasilewski
Music: Chris Donnelly
Page background from @intricateexplorer on Unsplash.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Solitomb - 1.1.1 patch8 days ago
- Solitomb - 1.1 update and future plans10 days ago
- Solitomb - 1.01 patch31 days ago
- Solitomb is out!33 days ago
Comments
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Can't get the potion to work! Maybe I'm not understanding - do I use it on a monster in a stack?
Hello, discord link is invalid. How can I contact you?
Interesting lil game! I couldn't quite figure out how to play though, because the link on the store page doesn't seem to be working, and I could click the how to play sections in the game either. Would love to give it a proper go again later!
Sorry for that - the link in the description should now be fixed.
The in-game button in the main menu is working for me - what happens when you click it?
Ty for updating the link! For some reason nothing happens when I try to click the button in the main menu. I am running it through the itch.io launcher, just to mention that as well.
Hi, me again. I've been playing a for a while more, and I think I have an idea that might help those who think they don't have enough cards to finish the game. If there was a "thermometer" on the side that signifies the attack points to enemy points ratio, it could give players a sense of how well they're doing before they get to the end of the deck. You'd have to play around with it to see what feels right. I guess it might need to be adjusted by difficulty as well, since at that level attack cards don't mean all that much.
Just an idea, best of luck!
Really cool game, good depth there too. Getting from beating the first level to the end is really challenging, even on the lower difficulties!
Really enjoying this and looking forward to the full version.
I seem to be running into a bug with the wisp elite -- even though there's no wisp in this hand, the full house is being zeroed out because it contains a pair? Or is that 4 maybe a wisp and it takes effect if they're visible anywhere? Seems OP if so.
For most elites, their abilities work whenever they're face up - being part of the hand is not required. If there are additional conditions, the description will list them.
I'll see if I can make this more clear ingame for the update - I understand it's a nasty surprise if you don't expect it to work this way.
OK, thanks. Yeah, I guess bloatworms and such operate from the tableau -- I just assumed it was more like the demon's ability that triggers when played. Now I know!
Damn this is actually a game where I have to think before I press cards, anyway the game looks really nice maybe I ll try to beat it someday
PEASANT: Malnourished and Poor.
HELL YES.
VICTORY
After many attempts.... and maybe just a touch of save scumming...
Nightmare peasant victory.
God damn that was hard.
"Indifference" carried me to victory (Very good vs dreadknights. Very good with "Control undead", very good at forming "straight flushes").
The combos needed to weave through this cardmaze were delightful.
Thank you thank you thank you.
God DAMN that was difficult.
Final battle involved defeating Two 6s and a 5 using a single sellsword and a 2 of blades.
Exited the game with Zero health and zero mana remaining.
Congrats! Maybe it's time to show off with a video?
I hear from many people in the community that they'd appreciate an example of advanced play to see what's possible :)
Hmmmm... thank you for the invite, but not really the video posting type. Don't have the account for it, or the recording equipment.
Still, will maybe give the discord server a look, see what's the vibe in there.
This is SO cool. Really excited to play the longer version.
Theres not enough attack cards, especially for how many enemies there are, even with upgrades. Please let there be more?
I'm thinking about adding a lower difficulty level in the next update, where the pressure on attack will be a bit less (we'll see if I can fit it in).
In the meantime, it always helps to look for other sources of attack - especially focusing on getting stronger card combos can give you a lot of attack (and defense).
Oh okay, not sure i understand but I'll try.
Looking at what games youve made I see that youve made a lot of games I like, thanks!
this game vs. my schoolwork
Really liking this! Very reminiscent of Slice and Dice.
2 requests to consider for an eventual larger game:
Following you on Mastodon and looking forward to new development!
Yeah, both things are on the list for the bigger one, just weren't practical for the PICO-8 version. Slipways (my previous game) has infinite undo unless new information was revealed, and I'll probably lean towards doing it that way again for Solitomb.
Awesome! I was just getting started on Slipways after seeing this. Best of luck deving the bigger one.
you know it's going to be good when the lowest difficulty setting is "reasonable"
Amazing idea, reminds me a lot of my own game Card Crawl. I think you can probably reduce a few rules here and there since the learning curve is quite tough, but non the less a game worth finishing. Good luck!
Love the concept, feels like a great cross between Solitaire and Balatro. My only complaint is the move cost. The puzzle of sorting cards into good combinations is fun and interesting, but the move cost actively incentivizes you to just play cards as they are instead of making good combinations. It's super frustrating to see a winning combination when you're low on health just to realize the last 2 moves will kill you before you can even play the hand. It just feels like the game is punishing you for actually playing
Literally nothing like Balatro lol. Closer to Card of Darkness than Balatro.
it's literally a playing card game reimagined as a rogue-like with bonuses based on poker hands
guy who's only played Balatro playing their second deckbuilder: "Getting a lot of Balatro vibes from this"
Addicting, brutally difficult, and incredibly fun.
Damn this game is hard as hell and I love it
Came back to it and won, the learning curve was so satisfying
Very good game
epic
i had a thought on a feature! i didnt check the comments to see if anyone else commented this BUT it would be excruciatingly convenient if there was some sort of indicator that your run is soft-locked. like there are many times where i realize there is nothing left i can do but it takes a while of figuring out--it would be amazing if there was just an indicator saying there were no more playable moves that would let you win, or at least a setting to turn that on :') thank you for your hard work man
Yeah, the way the game puts the responsibility for ending it on you, the player, is something that I want to work on more for the bigger version. Both in terms of the game just ending things for you, but also in terms of making the whole "finishing up the floor" experience a bit better in terms of running out of options.
legendary
yeah an effect or certain amount of power/gold or something to get out of the "checkmate" would be pretty cool
welp, i got slimed
yay
Really great game! The rules are clever, and it's very easy to get hooked. Although I wasn't very good at it, I got easily soft-lock by having no attack card anymore. But with more strategy, I feel I can get better results! Also the UX is really impressive, considering how intuitive it is despite the numerous rules.
Great game! I think it would make an excellent mobile game rather than a desktop game in the full version.
I just triggered a bug today in the last level. I didn't reload in a few days, so it might not be the latest version. Here's a screenshot of the error:
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It's probably the bug you recently fixed, since I had the riposte.
Looks like the screenshot is missing from your post, unfortunately. If you still have it, I'll be happy to help.
Whenever I edit my post, the screenshot is visible, but after after saving it is invisible again. Strange.
Let's try again in a new post:
Yup, that's the bug that was fixed in 1.01. Should no longer happen since the update, so making sure the page is fully refreshed (if playing in browser) or getting a fresh download (for stand-alone versions) should fix it.
i found this game a few days ago and got deeply obsessed VERY quickly lol, i got my boyfriend into it too :] please keep up the hard work, this game is awesome!
Keeping it up, have fun both of you!
It's probably been suggested by now but it would be nice if your attack/defense was also forecasted for the result of a hand, like your health and power.
No room to do it in this version - something to revisit later, maybe :)
this is great! needs to be on steam asap!
It's happening! :)
awesome!
This got recommended in the latest Noclip podcast and I've been really enjoying it! would love to see a bigger version, fingers crossed!
Same here!! Cannot forgive them for hooking me to this game.
This is really great!
fantastic way to spend a chilly night
Yeah, winter nights are best for gaming!
I relly love it
Pulled out a win on Challenging mode. Pretty fun game. The key to victory is to not waste your attack ever. Hope this becomes a full game on steam one day. Crazy how such a polished experience is a free game on itch.
I read this comment and I processed it with my eyes and with my brain, but it wasn't until I started playing Challenging difficulty that I really got the meaning.
This is really great! A bigger (non-pico-8) game could benefit from more of a hand-holding tutorial as there's a lot to learn at first, but it makes sense after reading the instructions. So much depth and interesting strategy. Hope this becomes a "real" game like Slipways. That one made the transition well and is a great game both on pico-8 and outside of it. I also really enjoyed Pieces of Cake back in the day -- simple but interesting strategy especially for such a constrained physical space, and even more impressive since it was one of those holiday pack games. :)
Oh, and also really glad this has an "auto-save" and continue option. Thanks for that. I foolishly closed the tab, mid-game, to write the comment above and then was surprised to see "continue" as an option, thinking I had lost my progress. It was a nice surprise!
The first win feels so good! I can't even imagine what the higher difficulties must be like. :)
Mostly harder :)
Congrats!
Yeah, tutorials are hard to do well! For PICO-8 releases, I tend to believe in my players figuring it out (like you did) and just rely on a guide + trying to make the game give you cues on how to play it.
I didn't know anything about this game but I knew, if you put it out, it was gonna be good.
I was right. Had a blast with it
Also love that you can pet the demon. A+
Incredible job on this! The game really captures the vibe of classic solitaire while avoiding the issue I've always had with solitaire where losses feel somewhat random. Here I pretty much always feel like I could've played better. The layer of roguelike addictiveness on top feels just right and the level of polish is crazy! I didn't realize this was one of your designs at first but it's really exciting to see something new from you. Can't wait to see what comes next with it (or what other new things you're cooking up)!
Really excellent game. I love the concept, the art, the game mechanics, and the levels. Even at "reasonable" difficulty I can't get past the third stage. I'm taking advantage of combos and items as best as I can but tend to run out of attack points to clear levels. Extra guidance for newbies to get over the hump strategically or reducing the difficulty level might be good. Thanks for sharing this incredible work.
Thanks for your comment!
Pitching the right difficulty in a roguelike is a bit tough to judge - I hope the experience is rewarding despite the losses, floor 3 is already pretty good!
Great game, I'm in love from the first try! I just wish there was a controller (arrows + xz) option so I can play it on my emulation handheld. It works on my Miyoo Mini Plus when I use mouse settings on the device but unfortunately it doesn't work on other custom Os (like muOS) or maybe I just don't know how to figure it out...
Controller support is hopefully coming down the road! The issue is the tiny space I have for implementing all of the game - no room for an entire second control scheme in the release version.
But I am hopeful that given some time and once thing quiet down a bit, I can squeeze that in - if not out of the box, maybe as an alternate version just for playing on handhelds.
That would be awesome! Also looking to run this on muOS, but I'm having a great time with it so far. :)
this would indeed be awesome! I'll l buy/donate to help prioritize it. :)
Awesome! I'd love toplay this on a d-pad only handheld as well. :)
I’m trying to get this game on my Miyoo at the moment too using Fake 8 with no such luck. How did you manage to get it to work?
Very compelling, if a little hard to understand immediately. Worth learning though! One thing I wish was a little clearer was that the "points" from hands give you both defense and attack; the colors from the hand types gave me the impression that I was only receiving one type of stat. Also, special attack/defense stats like dodge and multiattack also decay the same as normal attack/defense, but don't give you a tooltip warning you about it.
Overall I really enjoyed my first couple runs with it. The items feel interesting and impactful, and I like the concept of getting extra gold for taking weaker cards, or sacrificing existing cards to take stronger ones. The consistent tension of the clock, declining combat stats, and escalating power costs makes for a very tight game experience with very little stalling, and the rewards for constructing powerful hands had me doing mental math. Special shoutout to Deathwish for being a very cute risk/reward item!
Really cool and well done. I'm finding it brutally hard right now. Maybe a little more explanation in the description?
As I play I'm slowly figuring out that there is a lot of information built into the display, but it took me a while and I'm still not sure I totally get what's going on.
Edit: Oh, there's a help page!
Edit 2: It seems like I lose attack and defense each time I move a card (regardless of demon clock). This doesn't seem to be mentioned in the help page (which is very nicely done).
It should be there, under:
https://solitomb.com/help/#/12
It is in the "detail" section, after the prompt to start playing, though.
I played for 3 times, and I have always end up with monster cards at the end.
Is this a skill issue ?
That' s mostly a normal thing in the game - it plays very much like solitaire, so when you lose, it's usually because there are cards left that you can't remove.
You don't have to remove all of the monsters (except on the last floor), so sometimes it's a matter of focusing on the important ones.