Rock Paper Shotgun has previewed The Solace of Flowers, a forthcoming tactical roguelike deckbuilder from the small Madrid-based studio Ceiling Games. The article matters as a look at an unusual hybrid: the game blends the card-battling structure of Slay the Spire with the grid-based environmental restoration of games like Terra Nil and Townscaper, positioning itself as an "eco-dystopian" gardening game. A free demo is currently available on Steam.

Players use cards to plant flora such as daisies, foxgloves and apple trees on grid-based islands corrupted by giant hands that emerge from the ground to attack. Each plant grows in a set Tetris-like pattern and only flourishes if planted near water, delivered by a watersprite that walks a cobblestone path each turn moistening seeded pots; covering the island in greenery defeats the enemies and turns the isle into a rotatable diorama. Animal cards act as wildcards and support, with ladybirds functioning as a shield (like Block in Slay the Spire), frogs moving cards from the draw pile, and playfully named "lion" cards actually supplying dandelion seeds. The writer, drawing on around 20 minutes with the demo, remained tickled by the studio's quirky, sometimes questionable characterisations of its plants and creatures.