Card of Darkness is a hand-animated adventure game where you attack enemies represented on cards. This isn't unusual. What is, however, are the small set of intricate rules and charm of each character.

On each level, you need to clear a path to the stairs so you can escape. You do this by tapping stacks of cards that are in your way. Each card can be something to help you, like a weapon, or an enemy you need to defeat. When fighting an enemy you take damage to the extent that the number of your weapon is lower than the power number of the enemy. If your weapon power is odd and an enemies power is even (or vice versa) your weapon breaks after the battle.

This creates a fun set of risk-reward choices. Which deck to tap when. How to get the right weapon for a particular enemy. Also, you can choose to tap stack not in your way if they have a great weapon on the top. But if you do, you have to tap through all the cards in that stack before you can escape the level -- and there might be more enemies under that great weapon.

In this way you cast powerful spells, slay fantastic monsters, discover ancient secrets, and ultimately save the world. It's a full-featured adventure designed around an accessible, minimalist, card game core. There are 8 locations, 5 big bosses, 52 weapon and power cards and 100 unique monsters, weapons, treasures, potions, and spells.

The result is a game that takes the best of modern game design and packages it clearly and accessibly so you can enjoy it without loads of time or gaming knowledge. It's a rogue-like (where you battle through randomly generated worlds of monsters and challenges) distilled into a simple but deep card game.