Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles Reviews

Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles is a standout title in the ever-growing field of roguelike deckbuilders—not by replicating the formulas that came before it, but by reimagining them through the lens of dice-based strategy. Instead of drawing cards, players roll dice, and this shift in mechanics results in an entirely different rhythm to gameplay. The game cleverly uses dice as both a thematic and mechanical core, building its world, its characters, and its systems around the six-sided concept. The result is a deeply strategic experience where every roll carries weight and consequence, creating a sense of tactile unpredictability that keeps each battle engaging. From your first moments, it’s clear this is more than just a novel gimmick—it’s a well-crafted evolution of the genre. Each playthrough begins by selecting one of several “Oracles,” each with their own distinctive set of abilities, dice pool, and a unique relic that defines their playstyle. These characters are not only functionally diverse but visually vibrant, ranging from mystical amphibians to armored constructs that feel like they've walked out of a mythological tapestry. The art style leans into detailed, painterly illustrations that give the game a distinct personality. Where many deckbuilders lean toward minimalism or abstract visuals, Astrea invests in hand-drawn beauty and rich animations, enhancing its identity and making each session feel like a journey through a spiritual fable. What makes the game particularly compelling is its central dichotomy between Purification and Corruption. These opposing forces function as both a narrative metaphor and a mechanical engine. Dice can inflict Purification to heal or buff, or Corruption to damage and debilitate—but in a clever twist, Corruption isn’t always bad. In fact, many of your most powerful abilities and synergies depend on willingly embracing Corruption, including self-inflicted damage to trigger Virtues—unique powers that activate once you’ve taken enough harm. This creates a constant push-and-pull where hurting yourself can become the key to victory, and managing this tension effectively is one of the game’s most satisfying elements. Combat is layered and requires a mix of short-term tactics and long-term planning. Dice are divided into types such as Safe, Balanced, Risky, and Epic, and choosing how to build your dice pool becomes a game of odds and nerve. Safe dice are reliable but underwhelming, while Risky or Epic dice may yield devastating results—or backfire. Each battle becomes a balancing act between embracing chaos and maintaining control, and this is where the game’s brilliance really comes through. You’re not just reacting to random outcomes; you’re manipulating probabilities, shaping outcomes, and adapting your strategy on the fly. Adding another level of depth are Sentinels, AI companions that support the player during battles. These robotic entities have their own stats and abilities, and their reliability can be improved or compromised as the run progresses. They act almost like sub-decks or second characters, adding variability and strategic options that further complicate—and enrich—the tactical landscape. Sentinels help keep each run feeling unique, encouraging experimentation and a deeper exploration of synergy between Oracle, dice, and companion. However, this complexity comes at a cost. Astrea can be overwhelming for newcomers or those used to more straightforward deckbuilders. The visual language of the game—while beautiful—is dense with symbols, mechanics, and layered effects that require a fair amount of reading and memorization. Some battles can stretch on, especially at higher difficulties, turning into twenty-to-thirty-minute grinds that may test a player's patience. The randomness inherent in dice rolls also means that some runs feel brutally stacked against you, though the game provides tools to mitigate bad luck through upgrades, rerolls, and carefully tuned relics. Despite its learning curve, the game rewards mastery. Every Oracle has a distinct arc and offers multiple viable builds, making replayability high. The branching map system and variety of encounters—ranging from elite enemies and merchants to random events and altars—ensure that no two runs play out exactly the same. Victory never feels guaranteed, but it also never feels completely out of reach. When a risky strategy pays off and you chain together an explosive combo of corruption-based Virtues, it’s genuinely exhilarating. The game fosters the same addictive “just one more run” feeling that defines the best roguelikes. In the broader roguelike space, Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles carves out a unique identity by embracing high-risk, high-reward mechanics wrapped in a thematically coherent and artistically striking package. It's more than a clever twist on Slay the Spire—it’s a fully realized system with its own voice, tone, and tactical philosophy. Players who enjoy deep, cerebral strategy and are willing to brave a steep initial learning curve will find a game that respects their intelligence and rewards bold experimentation. For those who connect with its rhythm, Astrea offers a challenging, stylish, and immensely satisfying experience that stands among the best in the genre. Rating: 9/10

A great game if you're a fan of games like Slay the Spire, Dicey Dungeons and similar titles. The art style and music are perfectly picked for a mystical-space game and the enemy designs are fittingly mysterious and creepy. With six different characters to unlock and play as there's a play style in here for everyone.

Fantastic Game. Love it and I want more. I wish there was a longer campaign to use more of your full builds! I want to see more games like this or more DLC for this even!

This is one of the few games so far that i have 100% completed if that's to say anything about what i think of the game. But to give a full description if you'd like to read it: This has become a new favorite game of mine and i absolutely recommend it if you like roguelike games or deckbuilding games. I bought it when it was on sale mostly cause i enjoy roguelikes and found the artstyle quite appealing and i do not regret my purchase whatsoever, to give my verdict more in depth: What i liked: For one the artstyle is so beautiful, it won't absolutely blow you away but it is still very eyecatching and unique of an artstyle, it fits the setting so well, continuing on from this point, i love the consistency in character design and the design theming (that being astronomy and the stars), especially as an artist myself. The animations are simple but bring just enough life and dynamic movement to the game to immerse you into the experience (not to mention how smooth it all looks) I also enjoy how unique the gameplay is, i can't think of many other roguelike or deckbuilder games like it, for one it is a dice based deckbuilder as opposed to cards and 2nd is how the deckbuilding is built towards each character's playstyle as opposed to more of a general approach many roguelikes tend to do (which i enjoy greatly, i think it makes each character stand out more), there are many other unique ideas too that really make the game standout but i don't wanna make this TOO long. I think the complexity curve and difficulty curve is basically perfect. It is simple to grasp the basic gameplay idea and takes quite a bit of dedication to master (each character also makes great use of different aspects of the gameplay), but it rewards you for your dedication. Each character is relatively well balanced and the game really encourages you to try different playstyles (especially with the achievements), what can i say, the places this game excels (it's artstyle/design and gameplay) it EXCELS. What i wasn't a fan of: There's not much i can say i wasn't a fan of, and anything i can say i do is more of a minor nitpick or complaint. First is that while i like the fact the achievements really encourage you to try different types of decks and playstyles with each character, some of the achievements are a little...steep in what they ask of you. To give an idea, i'd say it took me about 3 days or maybe 12 hours to just finish the story of the game? while completion took me 2 whole weeks (now i will put a disclaimer, i am a person who has a lot of spare time so take my estimations with a grain of salt). Now i did enjoy the process of completion...for the most part, some of the harder achievements were a little bit tedious and asked specific things of you, meaning you didn't have much room for error or experimentation, not to mention some were really based in luck which just isn't really all too enjoyable. It doesn't make the game a miserable experience, it just dampered the experience overall a little. 2nd is that in all honesty, Astrea's Heart (the true final area) and Astrea herself (along with the corrupted heroes) just are not all that enjoyable as final fights. It isn't because they are too hard, it's more that they feel a bit unbalanced and annoyingly inconsistent in difficulty. The corrupted heroes feel either too easy and not a challenge at all (depending on your deck) or are annoyingly tedious and frustrating. Astrea is just tedious and frustrating no matter the deck you play. What makes them this way is that it feels like they are designed to just...stop you from playing to a degree or punishing the playstyle you chose, which just isn't fun for a final obstacle, especially since previous bosses and areas are not designed this way. It is so much less enjoyable to be thrust into a fight that punishes you for the way you play and it really makes it feel cheap. Invested a lot into virtues? Corrupted Orion and Astrea's final form are there to stop you in your tracks, is your deck focused around doing as much damage in a single turn as possible? Astrea's final form and Corrupted Cellarius are there to punish you, doing as many actions in your turn as possible or doing tons of instances of chip damage as possible? Corrupted Sothis and Astrea's there to put an end to it, you get my drift. It's just simple not fun and makes the difficulty feel kinda artificial. But there isn't much else i'd really say is a negative for the game, which shows it's level of quality otherwise. Story wasn't mentioned cause it's quite a minor and neutral aspect of the game, it gets the job done. Overall, wonderful game, one of my new favorites despite its shortcomings, i wouldn't say the achievements are not worth it, just being honest in what you should expect. It is by no means gonna blow your mind but not every game has to be, it is a charming, unique experience that knows exactly what it wants to be and delivers on it (which is something i love for a game to be). If you enjoy Deckbuilders or Roguelike games, absolutely pick this one up, you will not regret it.