ArcFlush: Roguelike Solitaire

Cards don't line up politely here. They're stacked in layers — the way mahjong tiles are stacked, except these are playing cards, and one of the maps is on fire.

Which means there are two games sitting on top of each other: getting a card out of the pile, and knowing what to do with it once you have it.

HOW IT WORKS

• The map is a layered formation. Anything underneath is locked until you clear what's covering it, so every card you take decides what you're allowed to take next. That half is solitaire.
• Play up to five of the cards you've taken as a poker hand. A pair is fine. A Flush is better. A Straight Flush means you planned ahead — or got lucky and will claim you planned ahead. That half is poker.
• Beat the stage's target score, spend what you earned in the Shop, and do it again. And again. Until the target has grown a couple of digits and you're no longer certain which of your trinkets is doing the heavy lifting.

WHAT'S IN IT

• Every map is built around exactly one idea. Ice Lake freezes cards. Furnace sets them alight. Dark Pool turns the lights off and invites you to feel your way out.
• Clear a map and its Twist unlocks: the same map, in a considerably worse mood.
• Trinkets. Some add points. Some quietly rewrite a rule you'd assumed was permanent. The legendary ones turn up rarely enough that finding the right one feels like the run has decided to help you, just this once.
• A Shop between stages, because a roguelite without a shop is just a difficult puzzle.
• A tutorial that leaves quickly and waits in Settings in case you ever want it back.

WHAT'S NOT IN IT

• Ads.
• In-app purchases.
• A season pass, a battle pass, or a little bar that refills while you sleep.
• An internet connection. This app has never phoned home and wouldn't know who to call.

Buy it once and own all of it — every map, every trinket, every Twist. There is nothing else to sell you, and we are not going to think of anything.

One deck, thirteen languages. Good luck.