Slots and Daggers is the D&D and Balatro crossover I've always dreamed of, and you can play it now

What if Balatro was a slot machine instead of a deck of cards? What if Jimbo was replaced by creatures out of your scariest D&D campaign? And what if you could play this game right now? I'm (very loosely) describing Slots and Daggers, the next game that I already know I won't put down for months on end. While it and Balatro both deserve places on our list of the best roguelike games (setting my stall out early here), imagine you've moved away from the weird Blackjack table and taken a seat in front of a particularly strange one-armed bandit in this messed up casino where the only thing you gamble with is your time.

With a fantasy setting reminiscent of a dark D&D campaign and that 'one more run' self-insistence that pervades Balatro, the Slots and Daggers demo is one the most engaging I've played all year. Mechanically speaking, it puts a more random spin on the roguelike genre, as you can't actually choose what actions you perform each turn. Let me explain.

You start with three actions. Coin, which grants you money, shield, which adds to your defense, and sword, which damages your opponent. However, you must stop the slot machine in order to use any of these. If you're particularly good at guessing timings on these things, you may be able to swing things in your favor, but my early years spent in the creche that is Pokémon Silver's Game Corner taught me nothing, and it's pure random chance for me.

Like any good roguelike, you can upgrade these actions (with the aforementioned coins) and unlock or buy new actions. You can unlock more slots to improve your chances of hitting the actions you want. You can turn into a vampire, permanently boost your health by eating a wheel of cheese, all that good (and slightly strange) stuff that the best fantasy games do so well.

Best of all, however, is the whole presentation of Slots and Daggers. From the fantasy-style slot machine, to the little screen showing pixel art monsters wielding swords and baring their fangs, there's something incredibly satisfying about spinning again and again and again. The sound design, too, is brilliant. From the whizzes and dings of the slot machine to the bashes and slashes of your weapons, it's the kind of detail that really sells the game.

Comparing it to Balatro, one of the biggest and most replayable indie games of the past few years, may feel unfair, especially as Slots and Daggers has an estimated eight to ten hour runtime. But it perfectly recaptures that feeling of roguelike progression, of making numbers go up, of becoming better and better at your craft until you vanquish that foe who has bested you time and time again. In Balatro it may have been the Plant, but here it's the Hammer Goblin or Crabtaur.

Slots and Daggers is available now for $5.59 / £4.68. You can buy it on Steam here.

If you want more brilliant, short-but-sweet experiences made by solo developers and tiny teams, check out our picks of the best indie games. If you want to keep on top of every new release, check out our list of upcoming PC games, too.

What's your favorite indie game you've played recently? Let us know in our community Discord server, where staff and readers share gems they've uncovered and post broken builds.