Combining DnD-style dungeon crawling with a wide range of classes and a roll-based combat system in the vein of Dicey Dungeons, turn-based roguelike Dice and Fold has brought me a lot of joy. Developer Tinymice Entertainment has found that perfect sweet spot, creating a card-battling game that brings sufficient strategy to keep me hooked on the numbers while also staying light enough that it’s an ideal accompaniment to watching something on your second monitor. Now, the fourth free content drop brings pirates to the table, with three new heroes entering the fray and an ocean of extra additions.
As a quick introduction to Dice and Fold for anyone yet to check it out, the general flow has you moving between combat encounters, rolling dice to take actions by assigning them to the enemies and your own character. If you’ve played other dice-based roguelikes such as Dicey Dungeons, you’ll already have a rough idea of what to expect, but if you’re new then it’s very intuitive from the start, so you’ll pick things up quickly and can start to figure out strategies from there.
The new Dice and Fold pirates update brings a quite literal boatload of sea-themed extras to ramp up your runs. This begins with three new playable heroes, each with their own unique abilities. The Captain completes random slots on the board as he collects gold. The Pirate Queen commands higher dice rolls and can complete increasing numbers of enemy slots each time she activates her special effect. The Tidebringer is a water-bending master who can bring her companion in to swing the tide of battle in her favor.
There are 15 additional items to discover. You’ll encounter all manner of nautical treasures, including an Anchor that decreases enemy attack values, a Treasure Map that rewards you for completing your gold set dice slot, and a Boiled Crab that gives you a red dice at the start of each fight. The Scallywag’s Scabbard has a chance to transform one rolls into sixes, while the Wavesplitter Axe can grant lucky hits that complete two enemy slots instead of one.
If you’re feeling confident, there are five new ‘cursed’ trinkets that make your runs harder. Take double damage, fight exclusively elite enemies, or find yourself unable to acquire companions. Tinymice explains these should only be used “by heroes who don’t believe in nonsense like curses.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a seafaring special without some water-themed foes. Look out for everything from undead pirates and giant clams to sinister anglerfish and increasingly deadly horrors from the deep. If you’re lucky (or perhaps unlucky) enough, you might even begin to encounter giant, writhing tentacles – manage to stop them all, and you’ll come face-to-face with the Kraken they belong to, a gargantuan new boss fight that will take of all your luck and skill combined to survive.
The Dice and Fold pirates update releases for free Sunday March 9. Additionally, a 50% discount lets you snag it for just $6.49 / £5.49 until Sunday March 23. You can find the game here if you’re ready to set sail. Tinymice’s roadmap has one more free update on the cards – tentatively titled ‘Lost Items’ – so look forward to that in the future.
For plenty more in a similar vein, we’ve rounded up the best card games and the best strategy games that you need to be playing in 2025.
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