Dimwood released on Steam today, and it’s one of those games that sneaks up on you with how much thought went into it.

First, let’s kill the nitpicking right out of the gate: no, this isn’t literally 1-bit. Just like Shovel Knight wasn’t actually 8-bit. What people mean by 1-bit is the look of old black-and-white Macs or the Game Boy’s pea-soup displays. Dimwood leans more Game Boy—especially once those crunchy chiptunes kick in.

So what is it? At its heart, a roguelike deck-builder where your cards aren’t static. They’re modal. Meaning their effects shift based on things like light level or the arrangement of “pips.” It sounds simple on paper, but in practice it plays like some weird collision of Yu-Gi-Oh and Dungeons & Dragons, with the cuteness factor tipping the scales toward Yu-Gi-Oh.

There’s meat on the bones, too. We’re talking 400+ cards, 30+ enemies, three hero archetypes (Ranger, Tactician, Druid), plus artifacts, modifiers, and a bestiary to fill out. It’s the kind of roguelike where you’ll tell yourself “just one more run” and then realize it’s 3AM.

Control-wise, it supports both Xbox and PlayStation controllers, but honestly it feels way cleaner with a mouse. Flicking cards around with an analog stick just feels clunky compared to point-and-click precision.

Officially, it’s Windows-only, but I got it running flawlessly on Linux via Proton. So Steam Deck owners and penguin OS diehards: you’re in luck.

And the kicker? It’s priced at C$19.49. For the amount of depth packed in here—and considering this all started as a one-week jam prototype on itch.io—that’s a damn solid deal.

Dimwood on Steam

A roguelike deck builder where you venture into the Dimwood, armed with unique modal cards. Rendered in dense 1-Bit pixel art, carefully build your deck and modify your cards to balance offense and utility. Battle your way past increasingly fearsome enemies and defeat the Beast at its heart.

(store.steampowered.com)

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