DOG WITCH

HOW DOES THIS NOT HAVE MORE POSITIVE REVIEWS!?!? WHEN THE DEMO WAS THE ONLY THING AVAILABLE I PUT 10 HOURS INTO THAT ALONE EVEN. THIS GAME IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

DOG WITCH is a roguelike deckbuilding game that takes a ridiculous premise and transforms it into an unexpectedly clever and highly addictive strategy experience. Developed by Heckmouse and published by Mystic Forge, the game follows a magical dog battling bizarre enemies and dangerous bosses using enchanted dice, wands, summons, and strange magical artifacts. At first glance, the colorful visuals and absurd humor make the game look like a lightweight comedy project, but underneath the goofy presentation is a surprisingly well-designed roguelike filled with meaningful tactical choices, satisfying build experimentation, and fast-paced combat that constantly encourages “just one more run.” The gameplay revolves around turn-based encounters powered by dice rolls and randomized abilities. Each turn, players roll magical dice that determine what actions can be performed, including attacks, defensive spells, summons, shield generation, status effects, and wand abilities. The dice mechanics create a constant balance between luck and strategy because players must decide whether to keep their current rolls or reroll in hopes of creating stronger combinations. Unlike some roguelikes that overwhelm players with endless layers of complicated systems, DOG WITCH keeps its mechanics straightforward and easy to understand while still offering enough depth to support creative and powerful builds. One of the game’s greatest strengths is how satisfying its build variety becomes over time. Every run introduces new relics, magical items, cursed equipment, summons, and wand upgrades capable of completely changing how combat plays out. Some builds revolve around overwhelming enemies with summoned allies, while others focus on stacking defensive shields, abusing status effects, or creating devastating burst-damage combinations through powerful wand synergies. The game constantly rewards experimentation because even seemingly weak items can become extremely powerful when combined with the right abilities and modifiers. The item system plays a huge role in maintaining replayability. With a large pool of magical artifacts and corrupted equipment available, no two runs feel exactly the same. Corrupted items are especially interesting because they provide major advantages while introducing dangerous drawbacks that force players to adapt their strategy. Some cursed relics create high-risk, high-reward builds capable of becoming absurdly overpowered if managed correctly. Discovering unexpected synergies between items becomes one of the game’s most enjoyable aspects because successful runs often evolve in unpredictable ways. Combat pacing is another area where DOG WITCH succeeds remarkably well. Battles are quick, responsive, and easy to restart after failure, which keeps momentum high throughout long sessions. The game wastes very little time between encounters, allowing players to focus almost entirely on strategic decision-making and build progression. Runs generally remain compact enough to finish in shorter play sessions, making the game ideal for quick bursts of gameplay without sacrificing the rewarding progression systems that define strong roguelikes. The reroll mechanics also help reduce frustration caused by bad luck. While randomness is still a major part of the experience, players usually have opportunities to salvage poor turns through smart resource management and reroll decisions. This system creates a more engaging form of randomness where players are constantly adapting rather than simply accepting defeat because of unlucky outcomes. Managing limited rerolls becomes an important tactical layer on its own, especially during difficult boss fights. Visually, DOG WITCH embraces a deliberately silly and chaotic art style that gives the game a huge amount of personality. The colorful environments, cartoon enemies, and exaggerated animations reinforce the game’s absurd sense of humor without interfering with gameplay readability. Enemy designs are especially memorable, ranging from strange magical creatures and aggressive insects to bizarre fantasy machines and heavily armed nesting dolls. The game fully commits to its weird atmosphere, and that commitment helps it stand out strongly from more generic fantasy roguelikes. The soundtrack contributes heavily to the overall charm as well. Relaxed lo-fi-inspired music blends surprisingly well with the frantic tactical gameplay, creating a tone that feels cozy and energetic at the same time. The sound effects are playful and satisfying, giving attacks, spells, and summons enough impact without overwhelming the experience. Combined with the game’s humor and visual style, the audio design helps maintain a consistently enjoyable atmosphere even during repeated runs. Another enjoyable feature is the cosmetic customization system. Players can unlock hats, visual upgrades, and modifiers that not only personalize the Dog Witch but sometimes alter gameplay conditions as well. These additions help reinforce the game’s playful personality while giving experienced players additional ways to challenge themselves through modified runs and alternate strategies. However, DOG WITCH is not completely without flaws. Randomness can occasionally become frustrating despite the reroll systems designed to soften bad luck. Some runs still depend heavily on favorable item drops or strong dice outcomes, especially during difficult boss encounters where poor rolls can quickly destroy an otherwise promising build. While strategy and adaptation remain important, there are moments where the game leans too heavily on RNG. The game’s relatively compact structure may also reduce long-term appeal for some players. Although the build variety creates strong replayability, experienced players will eventually begin recognizing familiar enemy patterns, dominant strategies, and recurring item combinations. Compared to larger roguelike deckbuilders with massive content pools and extensive progression systems, DOG WITCH feels somewhat smaller in scale. It remains highly entertaining, but it is probably best enjoyed in shorter sessions rather than endless marathon playthroughs. The simplistic visual style may also divide players. The intentionally rough and exaggerated presentation lacks the technical polish of larger roguelikes, and some players may initially dismiss the game because of its childish appearance. However, the humor, creativity, and strong gameplay systems behind the visuals help compensate for the lack of graphical sophistication. Despite these issues, DOG WITCH succeeds because its core gameplay loop is consistently fun and rewarding. The combination of dice-based combat, fast-paced progression, bizarre humor, and highly flexible build experimentation creates an experience that feels approachable while still offering meaningful strategic depth. The game understands how to make roguelike progression addictive without burying players under unnecessary complexity. For fans of deckbuilders, dice-based strategy games, and roguelikes built around experimentation and replayability, DOG WITCH delivers a charming and highly entertaining experience filled with creative item combinations and memorable encounters. It may not rival the largest games in the genre in terms of content volume, but its personality, clever mechanics, and satisfying combat systems make it one of the more enjoyable indie roguelikes available. Rating: 8/10

Freaking adorable concept with fun mechanics, a fire soundtrack, and goofy charm. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far, despite only having one complete run under my belt so far. I think I ended up wishlisting and buying purely because of the werewolf update LOL. Really glad I did because omg triggering the transformation then demolishing things is super fun! You also get to customise the dog, who you can make bark endlessly when you click it in all menus and gameplays where it's visible. And!!!! You can pet it when you win!!! :) The wizard is a liar and a deceiver; this is a VERY GOOD dog.

I love this game. Runs are quick, but there is a deceptive amount of strategy. When I know I don't have time to play a round of a roguelike with longer runs, or I realize I'm getting bored or frustrated with whatever I'm playing, this is a game that I pick back up and am ALWAYS glad that I did. The soundtrack is sick, and I think the whimsical theme is really fitting too.

优点缺点都有，设计得还行，但还是有掷骰子游戏的通病，运气成分太大了。运气好的时候，一把通关就解锁了几乎一半的成就；运气不好的时候，构筑再好也可能突然就输了。不喜欢画风，勉强差评吧。

Chill vibes, strategic gameplay, tons of builds, dogs. What's not to love?

This game is borkin' wild and I love it! As a big card gamer, I was really happy to see they added the Vampire mode, which turns the game from a dicebuilder into a deckbuilder! While my first attempt at classic didn't go so hot while I was learning the ropes with the dice, my first Vampire run went the distance and my build was so much fun (not the bees?! WELL TOO BAD BECAUSE OOPS ALL BEES, BAYBEE!!! C:<). Aesthetically, this game is also just amazing. The models are really adorable/weird, there's an interesting variety of enemy/summon concepts and most importantly, you can customize your doggo, bork with it AND pet it too! In addition, the music is such a vibe; it's quite chill and got some nice beats to it. Overall, I've had such a fantastic time with it so far with these quick runs and I can easily see myself coming back for more, especially since the dev is actively updating the game pretty frequently! Thank you so much to Heckmouse and the rest of the team for such a wacky, fun game and for making me Laff all night with a capital L and two Fs.

THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE GEM OF A GAME! DOG. That's all you need however you can customize said dog. It has a chonky slider and I would do crimes for this dog. 10/10

so fun and silly and really unique !! as a cat person, i wish it was cat witch T^T

One of the best games I have ever played. So simple yet so much fun. Even some of the hats feel like a completely different game in a good way. When I saw the achievement for completing the game with every item, i accepted that I would never get every achievement; I normally am not interested enough to do literally everything in a game. But I can not stop playing this game and have gotten every achievement and continue playing the game well after doing everything in it and it still feels fresh and fun.