Game file / ROGUE BY ROGUESolitairica
Solitairica takes RPG combat and challenging roguelike progression to a fresh new place—the world of solitaire! Using a variety of magical items and powerful spells, battle your way through a horde of ever-changing enemies and defeat the horrible Emperor Stuck.
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Video reviews
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Other voices, for reference.
Archived third-party reviews and community material may refer to different versions. External opinions and ratings are presented separately; consult the original videos for their full context.
Community discussion
A turn-based solitaire-meets-RPG roguelite where you clear cards from a tri-peaks-style tableau to charge four resources (Attack, Defense, Agility, Willpower) and cast spells against enemies, climbing to defeat Emperor Stuck.
Solitairica is received as a clever, addictive mobile-born hybrid that critics scored well (Metacritic 82 from six mostly iOS reviews, 70 to 100) and Steam players rate Mostly Positive (about 76-78%, roughly 574 reviews). Fans love the twist on solitaire and the class/deck variety; detractors, who dominate the most-upvoted negative reviews, say the RNG feels unfair, unlock grinding is slow, and animations drag. It is a small-scale niche title (Boxleiter-style estimates put it at 100k-200k owners and low six-figure gross), not abandoned: the Steam forum has pinned threads for an 'Anniversary Update' and a '2025 FAQ' with activity through December 2025, and reviewers mention an update after years of silence. The mobile version originally launched in 2016 and PC came later.
What players praise
- Fresh hook: solitaire card-clearing drives RPG combat, described as 'solitaire where you can actually lose and cast spells'
- Four-resource system (Attack, Defense, Agility, Willpower) fuels spells, and synergy between spells, relics and enemy modifiers is praised as satisfying to figure out
- Many classes/decks to unlock, each with different starting resource generation and spell sets, giving variety between runs
- Relaxing, flow-state play that suits short bursts, podcasts or background TV; works well on Steam Deck
- Strong 'one more try' pull and high replay value for solitaire fans and returning mobile players; one reviewer calls the replay value 'insane'
- Accessible and easy to pick up; one reviewer plays it with their son, and the difficulty curve is described as easy to understand
- Critics called it a good fit for touch platforms and praised its addictive loop (AppAdvice 100, TouchArcade 90)
- Developer returned with an anniversary update years later, which some long-time players say improved the game
What players criticize
- RNG is the dominant complaint: stuns, poison, fire and card-altering effects are perceived as stacking unfairly, and the last needed card often fails to appear
- Late-game and final boss damage or card-flooding can exceed what a run can handle; some runs feel unwinnable regardless of build
- Progression grind: upgrades and decks cost 40-60 crystals while a failed run yields roughly 6-18, so unlocking everything takes many runs
- Animations and card flips feel slow even with the speed-up setting on
- Runs can feel samey: enemies are roughly the same each playthrough with only shuffled order and modifiers
- Little player agency over draws (no real tools to control card selection), which undercuts the 'strategy' tag for some
- Launch-era critic note that depth is limited and players repeat favourite spells after unlocking classes (Gamezebo 70)
- No cross-save or cross-play with the mobile version; PC release is Windows only
Distinctive features
- Solitaire movement rule where you can play a card one rank above or below the exposed card, used as the core turn action
- Clearing specific card types charges resources that power spells, and boss/enemy attack timers force you to clear cards quickly
- Class-specific decks (warrior, rogue, wizard, bard and others) that each change how resources accrue
- Comically stuck-in-solitaire fantasy theme with Emperor Stuck as final boss, plus Aces/Kings/Queens as unlockable powerful deck cards
- Bridges mobile casual solitaire and roguelike deckbuilding, with Steam tags spanning Roguelike Deckbuilder, Relaxing and Addictive
Divided opinions
- RNG: fans see it as the source of variety and say good builds smooth it out; others call it rigged and unfair
- Grind versus progression: some enjoy slowly unlocking slots and decks, while many call it painfully slow
- Mood: seen as a relaxing time-killer by some and as frustrating or boringly slow by others, with comparisons to Balatro as the more 'mature' alternative
Repetition and friction
- Repeating the same early levels to farm crystals for each upgrade on each deck
- Slow card-flip and enemy-turn animations, cited as a reason to quit within minutes
- Turns spent passing while enemies add cards, poison, stun or drain abilities
- Achievement hunting: beating the final boss with every deck and a near-pure-RNG 'go from 1 health to full' achievement
- Bugs reported on the forum around the Bard class (spell purchasing, crashes on repeated Inspiration) and stacking effects
Hoped-for improvements
- Add a middle difficulty option or softer RNG/difficulty curve (requested by several negative reviewers)
- Speed up animations further or allow skipping them
- Reduce the crystal grind or make early upgrade costs cheaper relative to run payouts
- Give players more tools to mitigate bad draws (mulligans, wildcard/joker-style effects) and review RNG bias, a topic raised on the Steam forum
- Controller support is a recurring forum request
- Cross-platform progress sync with the mobile version, and Mac/Linux builds
Metacritic's 82 is based on six critic reviews (AppAdvice 100, TouchArcade 90, Apple'N'Apps 80, Multiplayer.it 80, Pocket Tactics 80, Gamezebo 70) that mostly reviewed the 2016 iOS version; Metacritic lists PC and iOS. The user score of 7.0 rests on only about six ratings, so it is not meaningful. No OpenCritic page was found (the search URL 404ed, and web search budget was exhausted, so absence is unconfirmed). Steam PC release was May 31, 2016 at $9.99, Windows only; it won an Unreal Developer Grant in March 2016. The game resurfaced on Steam with an Anniversary Update around 2025, praised by returning players, and the forum lists known issues (Bard bugs, RNG bias debate, save transfer, controller support requests). Note: Reddit, Wikipedia, and several outlet pages were not fetchable, so community detail leans on Steam reviews and forum.
Community sources
- Top helpful positive and negative English Steam reviews (source for grind, RNG, animation, class and achievement points) ↗
- Steam store page: description, tags, review summary, languages, developer grant ↗
- Metacritic page: Metascore 82 (6 critics), user score 7.0, platforms ↗
- Individual critic scores and gists (AppAdvice, TouchArcade, Apple'N'Apps, Multiplayer.it, Pocket Tactics, Gamezebo) ↗
- Metacritic user reviews (tiny sample, fairness complaint about RNG) ↗
- Gamezebo 70/100 review: limited depth, class unlocks, burnout ↗
- Steam forum: Anniversary Update known issues, 2025 FAQ, Bard bugs, RNG bias, controller support requests ↗
- Boxleiter-method revenue estimate (about $82k gross, $24k net) ↗
Archived creator commentary 1
Third-party summaries based on automatic captions may contain transcription or interpretation errors.
Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Solitairica is a short, casual deck-building roguelike built around playing Solitaire. He has only played it on his phone, and almost left it off the list until he remembered it is also on Steam. He calls it cute, fun and casual, but very unbalanced and luck-driven. He won't put it in C because it does what it sets out to do well, so he drops it in B.
What the creator praises
- Cute, fun, casual, a good game for a phone
- Solitaire-as-combat gimmick is simple and quick to pick up
- Runs stay varied thanks to the spells and cards you find
- Some cool, unusual builds are possible
- Does what it tries to do well for such a small game
Issues raised by the creator
- Very unbalanced
- Heavily luck-based
- Small in scope, not meant to be a huge game
Design observations
- Blends Solitaire card play with roguelike deck-building
- Approachable entry point into roguelikes for non-genre players
