Drop Duchy
Tetris meets settlement building with deck building, combat and rogue-lite: Drop Duchy from Sleepy Mill Studio in France and publisher The Arcade Crew (Dotemu) combines genres wildly and hits the mark.
Drop Duchy is a mix of block-stacking puzzles (like Tetris), deck-building, rogue-lite and strategy - by the way, a 'duchy' is an area owned by a duke or duchess. How does it work? Players have a deck of different cards, shaped like Tetris blocks, representing landscapes (forests, rivers or plains) or buildings. These are 'drawn' from the deck and, like Tetris, can be dropped into a puzzle grid and placed as strategically as possible. When a horizontal row is filled, it doesn't disappear, but is 'activated' or 'explored', and depending on which puzzle pieces are activated there, players receive bonuses, resources and units. For example, it's efficient to place a sawmill near a forest because it generates more resources - it's all about optimisation. There are many such rules and effects of these cards, but the game is less about speed and agility and more about strategically placing the 'puzzle pieces'. The ultimate goal is to accumulate as many resources as possible, which is essential for building an army and protecting the kingdom from enemy threats.