Shards of Order Review: A Brutal But Balanced RPG Deckbuilder

Before you roll your eyes at the umpteenth deckbuilder on Steam, take a closer look at Shards of Order. While I’m a little nervous it could fly under the radar in a crammed niche, Shards of Order could be a 2026 sleeper hit, as well as the perfect antidote to the deckbuilder roguelite bloat.

Get that subgenre out of mind, as Shards of Order includes no permadeath, metaprogression, or cascade of unlocks to pad out its runtime. In their place is a macabre, flavorful narrative threaded in and around its CCG structure, summoning amnesiac references to Planescape: Torment (or its errant grandchild Disco Elysium), only much smaller in scale.

I’m well-versed and -traveled in the deckbuilder roguelite space, so appreciating Shards of Order wasn’t a matter of turning my back on the subgenre. Instead, I met the game on its own terms, duly impressed by its stylish approach and elegant storytelling.

Left for Dead in a Lawless World

That tale begins, as many do, with you being chucked into a pit. Memories lost, you wear the armor of the Black Wing Legion, fearsome corrupted knights who plague the continent with demented aspirations to purity. Thereafter, your hero adopts the title of “Soldier” while struggling to remember who they really are, though true names eventually emerge once the Law of Identity is relinquished to its corporeal cradle.

That relic relates to the title, one of several stabilizing magical shards that keep the realm in balance. You chase after their echoes guided by a curious narrator who lives in your head; this sensually recalls Disco Elysium’s “skills,” though the Soldier bears just the one personality here. The journey requires that you first contend with your captor, a monstrous bird known as a Shrike, who feeds upon anyone dropped off in its hole.

The game flings a few similar narrative curveballs at you right off the bat, but its economic script and brisk pacing never overwhelm. As dark as it gets, the tone is stabilized by a distinctly black Bavarian sense of humor, something which I found so gratifying when compared to the glut of humorless eldritch theming in games. Shards of Order risks being wrongly sorted into that pile, especially with its intricately grotesque bestiary.

There’s No Mana Down Here

A fine balance is struck between Shard of Order’s combat and storytelling, with some unusual yet easy to grasp card mechanics. Eschewing mana entirely, playing cards progresses a universal pool of time, a format initially reminiscent of 2023 mini-masterpiece Wildfrost, including a redraw ticker that allows you to rinse your hand early while proccing down your opponents’ countdown timers.

This expands into more potential strategies as you go further. Some cards require varying time costs to play (alternately, in Wildfrost, time typically ticks once per action), with zero-cost variants and redraw restrictions synergizing nicely. Beyond that, the eventual three heroes you’ll lead in the party—Soldier, Archer, and Scholar—prompt their actions by playing cards from colored sub-decks, which then generate mana to fuel the Scholar’s unique spell abilities. Each hero must include at least seven cards in the unified deck, but you can freely tinker with the particulars between fights.

Expect neither gargantuan complexity or brainless monotony, with Shards of Order’s systems hitting a comfortable middle ground. Respec is freely available for the game’s skill tree, itself a misnomer; it’s more an unnecessarily spidery web that functions as a card unlock system. Characters can also equip a relic, weapon, and armor piece, most of which alter their basic approach to combat as well as their visual appearance.

Glorious and Grisly Animated Card Combat

Shards of Order’s battles are the game’s strongest salesmen, and they’re magnificently intense. Twitching hell creatures, mutated horse-dogs, bloodthirsty fishmen, and massive screen-filling bosses abound, all positioned over beautifully painted backdrops with depth and scale. Deckbuilders aren’t usually so extravagant in motion, and I love how the game turns each active scene into its own reward.

That quality level extends to the OST and sound effects as well, with the former a collection of symphonic post-metal pieces that really accentuate the Slavic fantasy setting. Every bite, burn, and debuff plays out vigorously, and hit feedback is satisfyingly loud, painful-looking, and juicy. On that note, I also appreciate how every attack is designed such that units make direct contact with each other, something you don’t always get in a deckbuilder.

Character portraits zero in on a mix between Toulouse-Lautrec and devotional candle art, and the game’s script offers an excellent distillation of fallen world fantasy tropes. Strong worldbuilding, unique NPC encounters with some meaningful binary decisions, and gently straightforward side quests shuttle you through the game’s three maps, and I came to care for my shadowy little trio of heroes by the end of it.

Interactive Card-Based Surprises and Map Navigation Woes

I’m cooler in my feelings towards map navigation, where you control an avatar sliding between nodes. Some destinations feature visible NPCs or enemies while others do not, which sometimes led me to rummage around for the right place to cash in a quest or backtrack for the next point of progress. These are mild annoyances overall, maybe just more noticeable when compared to the clean and thoughtfully designed battle UI.

With the game’s aforementioned smaller scope, I also remain uncertain as to the total number of viable builds and decks. I discovered some OP strategies early, and could even intuit a few more worth trying, but some approaches feel altogether superior, which leaves me with the sense that not every mechanic of this deckbuilder core is built equal.

Regardless, I love how Shards of Order plays around with its narrative and interactions. Not to spoil any surprises, but there are some NPC encounters and memories that unexpectedly play out over interactive card battles. There are maybe a half-dozen or so of these throughout the main quest, but they help the game feel unpredictable and dynamic, like it’s still hiding some trick cards up its sleeve.

An Approachably Elegant Dark Slavic Fantasy Deckbuilder

It’s wonderful to find that kind of playfulness in a subgenre that, despite its frequent creativity in buildcrafting, leans toward rigid structure at the best of times. Maybe absent any need to achieve pristine balance in its mechanics, Shards of Order can more effectively experiment with the short-form RPG formula, which results in a great-looking, dynamic experience that ably holds your attention for the twelve or so hours to credits.

Fardust built a great setting here to tell more stories in this world, and the game pairs perfectly with recent deckbuilder Death Howl if you seek more not-quite-a-roguelite pastoral horror vibes. Focused in its vision and flamboyant on the screen, Shards of Order should land with anyone looking for smart dark fantasy storytelling that plays its cards right.

Shards of Order

Systems

9/10

Released

July 28, 2026

Developer(s)

Fardust

Publisher(s)

Awaken Realms

Pros & Cons

• Beautifully realized Slavic fantasy folk horror setting
• Superb soundtrack, sound effects, and viscerally animated card combat sets it apart from other deckbuilders
• Digestible campaign that never overstays its welcome and economic, finely paced storytelling
• Fun deckbuilder combat with its own tricks and surprises

• Limited buildcrafting complexity noticeably pales in comparison to other deckbuilders
• Some wonky map navigation