The party-based RPG replaces traditional turns and mana with visible enemy countdowns, a shared deck, and equipment-driven character builds.
I defined it as Dark Souls trapped inside a Deckbuilding RPG, and finally Shards of Order has officially launched on PC, introducing a dark fantasy RPG that approaches card-based combat from a noticeably different angle.
The game delivers a handcrafted RPG adventure built around three heroes, interconnected character progression, dialogue decisions, and a world where the natural laws governing life and death have collapsed.
Combat does away with both conventional turns and mana points. Instead, every enemy operates according to a visible countdown, while each card played by the party pushes those counters closer to zero.
Using a powerful ability may solve an immediate problem, but it also gives opponents less time before their next action, forcing players to consider the rhythm of the entire battlefield.
The party’s three characters also draw from a single shared deck. Adding a card for one hero therefore affects the probability of drawing abilities belonging to the others, creating an additional layer of planning outside combat.
Players can concentrate the deck around one central damage dealer, distribute useful options evenly across the party, or search for combinations that allow all three characters to support one another.
Each hero comes with multiple potential playstyles, an individual skill tree, and a personal storyline.
Weapons and armor are particularly important because they do more than increase numerical attributes. Certain pieces of equipment can add their own cards directly to the shared deck, meaning that changing a weapon or piece of armor may reshape both a character build and the party’s overall combat strategy.
Behind the card system is a more traditional RPG structure. Characters gain levels, acquire equipment, make dialogue choices, and attempt skill checks while traveling through a setting in which nothing remains dead for long.
The ancient Laws that once controlled life, death, and time have been stolen or shattered, leaving behind a world filled with fractured identities and restless corpses. Players lead a small group of survivors attempting to recover those broken Laws and decide whether the old Order is still worth restoring.
Shards of Order is available for $9.99. An optional Supporter Pack is also available, containing the game’s soundtrack, including original compositions and licensed music by Dzivia, a digital artbook, an interactive treasure map, and printable tarot cards. The Supporter Edition combines the base game and additional content with a 5% bundle discount.
The RPG has also received a Playable rating for Steam Deck. Controller inputs are already supported, while the main issue preventing a full Verified rating is the readability of certain in-game text. The developer plans to improve font sizing for the handheld in a future update.
Shards of Order is available now on PC via Steam. Below the launch trailer.
