First of all, this game is great. Fantastic. Highlight of 2026 for me. Worth buying simply for the visuals, but also mechanically filled with many little beautiful ideas. Ultimately, Shroom and Gloom is a highly immersive twist on the deckbuilder roguelike genre
There are a few things however that are worth analyzing and criticizing:
1) Content
The game is still in Early Access, so the fact that it doesn't have much content is to be expected. Two areas, 5 different characters. I've tried 4/5 and the two in the second area felt quite distinct / unique, which is good. There's also a few bugs, but the worst I've experienced is the game scaring me with a warning that the autosaving was not working / malfunctioning which it reminded me after each battle / exploration TxT
2) Difficulty
The game is quite easy, for a 'seasoned' gamer experienced in deckbuilders, it won't take much effort to quickly unlock all content and be left with a feeling of emptiness. The game also feels a bit imbalanced between characters, the Janitor (first character of second area) is difficult to grasp at first as the player is introduced to a new area with new mechanics - and this presents an interesting level of difficulty, but by the time I unlocked the Activist (second character of second area) I couldn't help feeling they were overtuned, and my first run with them was a breeze. Basically this issue could be considered one of Pacing, starting off with the Janitor makes sense since they introduce one of the most universal mechanics of the second area [GUNK!!] but the Activist didn't add much difficulty or interest, and felt a bit... bareboned. It would be interesting if they had more weaknesses, for example against Gunk.
3) Story
The game has no Story.
This is no cardinal sin, but can be seen as a very interesting (and in many ways convenient) design choice. The closest thing to a Story is some sort of interdimensional Gloom Demon that appears between runs, offering a breadcrumb of in-universe Lore and potential explanation as to why the player is doing roguelike-ing things, like heading to the depths of a creepy abyss only to be eaten(?) and start new runs.
I understand that the pacing of the game probably has no need or space for Story, but personally, I would like a bit more. One idea I can offer for this is to add story OUTSIDE of the runs, for example when beginning or finishing a run a player can unlock some story, depending on achievements (slay the spire 2 does this expertly) – and generally I believe extra content in the main menu outside of the runs is MUCH NEEDED. And in such a beautiful game, with many unique enemies, areas, and cards, I'm sure there's a lot of Lore that could be shared and given by the developers in their own unique creative and humorous fashion
Thanks for reading and I hope the developers keep making awesome stuff, and expanding this masterpiece of a game ~
