Eldritch Tricks is a strategy indie casual game built around cooperative trick-taking card play with a Lovecraftian horror theme. Players take on the roles of investigators in the decaying coastal town of Innsmouth, where every hand pits the group against Dagon's influence while pursuing conflicting personal objectives that can doom the entire table if mishandled.
Gameplay
The core loop revolves around standard trick-taking rules with a critical twist: one suit is removed from the deck before each deal and assigned to Dagon. On every trick he reveals a target number that investigators must beat to claim the pile. Failure hands the trick to Dagon and deducts sanity from every player at the table. Sanity functions as a shared resource that depletes across the group rather than individually, so one investigator's misstep affects everyone.
Six powerful cards sit outside the main deck as relics and spells. These trump cards ignore suit and rank but carry steep costs, including sanity loss for spells and strict timing rules that prevent their use while a player can still follow suit. Relics activate only when no legal play remains, turning desperation into a deliberate strategic choice. Each of the 16 investigators brings a unique power, a bound suit, and a personal burden that penalizes certain victory conditions, forcing players to balance individual strengths against collective needs.
Goals appear openly to the table yet frequently contradict one another. A single round contains eight tricks, and missing any assigned objective fails the mission regardless of how well the remaining investigators perform. This structure rewards careful observation of opponents' hands and priorities while managing the constant pressure of Dagon's interference.
Game Modes
The primary experience is a 21-mission campaign titled Twenty-One Nights. Missions progress through a narrative sequence that includes Arrival, Zadok's Warning, The Esoteric Order, Blood of the Pact, Devil Reef, and The Gate Beneath the Reef. Rules intensify across the campaign with changes such as thresholds that reject ties, doubled spell costs, and rounds where Dagon leads the opening trick.
Traitor missions introduce hidden objectives for one investigator, such as feeding a Deep One or triggering specific catastrophic events. The traitor remains seated at the table and participates in normal play while pursuing a separate agenda. Solo mode pits a single player against AI-controlled investigators that pursue their own goals and actively protect the human player's objectives when possible. Online co-op supports two to five players in friends-only lobbies.
Investigators and Progression
Each investigator carries a distinct identity that shapes strategy across multiple sessions. A bound suit influences which cards they can play most effectively, while the unique power and burden create trade-offs between aggressive plays and cautious ones. The Arcane Deck supplies six permanent trumps that override all other cards but always extract a price from the sanity pool.
Campaign progression alters the ruleset itself rather than simply adding new cards. Later nights introduce stricter win conditions and higher costs for powerful options, shifting the balance from straightforward trick collection toward desperate resource management and table-wide coordination.
Is It Worth Playing?
Eldritch Tricks targets players who enjoy tense, rules-heavy card games that emphasize deduction and shared risk over direct confrontation. The combination of visible conflicting goals, an active opposing force in Dagon, and shared sanity creates consistent pressure that rewards groups willing to communicate and adapt mid-round. Solo play against competent AI offers a viable entry point for those without regular opponents, while the campaign structure provides a clear arc that escalates tension without requiring repeated full playthroughs.
Because the game remains unreleased with no player reviews available, its long-term appeal depends on how well the AI handles complex goal interactions and whether the narrative delivery maintains interest across all 21 missions. Those drawn to cooperative trick-taking with horror flavor and asymmetric objectives will find the mechanics distinctive enough to justify attention once it launches.
