The Royal Writ Combines Card Battles and Permadeath in a New Roguelike Game

If you enjoy independent indie game coverage, consider supporting Indie-Games.eu on Patreon. It helps keep the site independent.

Independent studio Save Sloth Studios, in collaboration with publisher Yogscast Games, has announced The Royal Writ, a line-based roguelike card game featuring permadeath, which promises strategic depth and quirky charm. The game is set to be released later this year for PC via Steam, and a demo version will be available soon.

In The Royal Writ, you serve the King, resolving disputes in the kingdom by sending missives to summon the unruly before his throne. When the recipients resist, you dispatch unusual creatures onto the battlefield, leading them to glorious victory or eternal doom in the pursuit of the final boss. The game takes place on procedurally generated maps, where you strategically place soldier cards to march toward the enemy base, dealing damage with every move.

The game’s key twist lies in the permadeath mechanic: if an enemy base still has health when a card reaches it, that card is permanently removed from your deck. This makes every decision crucial, as a carefully upgraded card can vanish due to one misstep. Between battles, you can enhance cards through mini-games, building synergies for game-changing victories, or you might risk failure if a soldier gets stuck in a swamp