Top Ten Best Card Games To Play in 2025

Card games are slowly but surely becoming one of the most popular genres for indie games with interesting ideas, fun gameplay loops and eye-catching visuals. Last year, a game called Balatro reached more than 3.5 million sold copies, which is an insane result for an indie game that didn’t get any serious promotion and reached its popularity just thanks to spreading word of it being a great game. 

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There are also other games, coming up with interesting ideas on how to present several gaming mechanics via cards. Some of them even subvert your expectations, providing you with a totally unexpected experience.

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In no particular order, let's see the best card games to play that are sure to steal your time and interest for several hours, days and even weeks. 

Best Card Games On Steam To Play 

Ways of Alchemy

Developer: RocketBrush Games | Release Date: 2025

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Ways of Alchemy is a new card game about the world of medieval alchemy. Instead of following recipes, it encourages players to experiment with nearly 100 ingredients, all of which possess a certain quality. You can brew potions and sell them to your customers, who will tell you secrets about new places you can visit. You can also discover regions and search them for new recipes and artifacts, or if it’s too dangerous – send hired hands to do that for you! Be aware though – tax inspection wants their cut and poisonous potions will attract the Inquisitor – so you’d better be careful. Or if you’re playing dangerously – you can disregard them and face consequences.

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Balatro

Developer: LocalThunk | Release Date: 2024

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Balatro is a deckbuilder roguelite that made a lot of noise and received a lot of “game of the year” awards in 2024 and keeps getting more players and interest still, becoming one of the best PC card games. Simple, yet addicting gameplay that makes you say “okay, just one more hand”, incredibly relaxing and satisfying audio and visuals and thought-out game balance that you can easily break for fun – apparently that’s all people need sometimes. 

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Slay the Spire

Developer: Mega Crit | Release Date: 2019

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Slay the Spire is another deckbuilding roguelike, similar to Balatro, that defined the genre and brought a lot of interest to card games, inspiring plenty of new games after the release. Its endlessly replayable mix of strategic card play, risk-reward decision-making, and unique character decks keeps players engaged for years and makes it one of the best strategy card games. Why? Because it’s such a perfect blend of challenge, variety, and that “just one more run” feeling we mentioned above.

Stacklands

Developer: Sokpop Collective | Release Date: 2022

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This is a surprisingly (considering its minimalist look!) deep village builder where you stack cards to create resources, manage your settlement and survive dangerous threats. A simple but genius concept that manages to combine puzzle and idle management game, making it a dangerously addicting experience in which you can lose a lot of hours of your precious time. 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

Developer: Konami | Release Date: 2022

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is the definitive version of the cult card game that allows both veterans and newcomers to compete with each other and have fun. Master Duel is one of the best card games on Steam, has stunning animations, intricate game mechanics and it’s also being updated very frequently. It’s a must-play card game for anyone who is a huge Yu-Gi-Oh! fan or just wanted to duel like they do in the anime.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

Developer: Firaxis Games | Release Date: 2022

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This one of the best card games blends tactical role-playing experience with deckbuilding, putting players in the shoes of legendary comic book heroes.  Marvel’s Midnight Suns can impress an experienced player: with a strong story, engaging character interactions and fun customization, it’s a hidden gem for both Marvel experts and passionate strategy fans.

Dune: Imperium

Developer: Dire Wolf | Release Date: 2024

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Spice must flow, and so is this list! This game is an absolute prime example of blending deckbuilding with “worker placement” board game mechanics, creating a rewarding strategy game set in the beloved Dune universe. If you’re fighting for political power or controlling spice flow, every decision you make feels meaningful, which establishes Dune: Imperium as a favorite among modern board gamers and one of the best strategy card games.

Tabletop Simulator

Developer: Berserk Games | Release Date: 2015

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Tabletop Simulator is exactly what it says on the tin — a virtual sandbox for friends who want to play together. It’s also one of the best card games on Steam! From classics to custom creations, it’s the ultimate digital tabletop experience, especially if you’re totally okay with the occasional entropic chaos of physics-driven pieces flying everywhere. Makes things much more fun! 

Black Book

Developer: Morteshka | Release Date: 2021

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Black Book is a dark and immersive RPG that combinates the deckbuilding genre with Slavic folklore, telling players a sad and haunting story of a young witch and her troubles. Its atmospheric world, deep card-based combat and unique mythological setting (how many settings do you know that take place in Slavic folklore?) make it one of the best PC card games and an absolute hidden gem for fans of narrative-driven games.

Inscryption

Developer: Daniel Mullins Games | Release Date: 2021

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Inscryption starts as a creepy card-battler and transforms into something far bigger and scarier, twisting your expectations and your nerves and blending its genres as you uncover its secrets. We don’t want to spoil pretty much everything but want to make you interested in giving Inscryption a shot, so let’s just say it’s a mind-bending mix of horror, puzzles, and deckbuilding that keeps you guessing everything until the very end – and even after the end.

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What makes best card games to play so fun and addictive? 

After looking through this list, you may ask yourself this question: What do these great card games have in common? Let’s try to pinpoint the most valuable aspects: 

1. Interesting core gameplay: Some of the best card games provide not just a classic card game experience, but an engaging one, that you can quickly learn and master eventually.
2. Strong visual design: The visual aesthetics of a game is incredibly important for any game, and for a card game that is all about the visual style and distinct look it’s nearly essential. Most of the best card games to play on our list have something truly special about the way they look, either a particular aesthetic or just gorgeous artwork.
3. Replayability and progression: It’s an important quality of all best card games games, but in the case of card games a sense of growth and expansion is crucial, and can easily be achieved by providing new cards, opening previously locked mechanics, allowing to unlock new skills and so on. Sometimes, if game matches last not very long, an addicting gameplay loop that always surprises a player can help you make the game fun, despite the repetition in mechanics. 
4. A unique twist on card games: Card games are as old as the times, so impressing players familiar with the most common tabletop games is very important if you want to make one of the best card games to play. For instance, Ways of Alchemy is a game where you can become a medieval alchemist, experiment with stuff however you like and even find out the secret of an infamous philosopher’s stone. Or Balatro, which may look like a poker game variation at first glance, but it’s actually completely different from any kind of poker you have played. Or Inscryption: a game that is made to surprise you with its unusual twists and turns. 

I have a great idea for the best card game! Who can help me? 

If you came up with a great take on a card game and want to make one, a game outsourcing studio will help you with creating certain aspects of it, like the visuals, the sound or animation, or even producing the full-scale game from scratch.

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RocketBrush Studio has been active since 2016, providing additional services in game-making for prominent industry names, like Romero Games, Supercell, Paradox Interactive, Uteh Games, Applovin and others. Our testimonials can be read here. 

We have gained experience in numerous styles and genres: from stylized sci-fi and pixelated fantasy to cozy and cartoon; from hardcore roguelites to mobile puzzles – and of course, in full-scale card game development! You can look at our portfolio here to see the span of our work.

Bottom Line

Card games still remain popular and even gain popularity when a particularly interesting title is getting released. It’s simple, everyone can pick it up, but in best card games, you actually need to master the game’s mechanics – which tend to be very interesting and carefully designed. Great visuals and striking effects make things pleasant for the eyes, while the sounds immerse players in and never let them go. 

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We can’t wait to see more awesome card games that will come out in the future and we surely will be playing them!