Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2022
Castle Morihisa
Developer Smokingbear Studio
"Castle Morihisa" is a roguelike featuring strategic deckbuilder. You need to build up your deck through constant battles, acquire powerful talents, and wield the power of the Fallen Heroes to unveil the truth behind the rebellion in Castle Morihisa. From the Steam store page
80 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Jul 12, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
66
Fresh
51 positive · 26 negative
95% range 55–76%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 51 | 26 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
3 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mixed
307 of 455 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 80 · most liked firstTLDR; A game that can definitely become something great with some improvements but for now, I would just go play Slay the Spire. PROS: Nice art. Nice music. Good foundation. Interesting ideas for the genre. CONS: Incredibly unbalanced. Lack of item and enemy variety. Characters lack a unique feeling. Feels unfinished. This game has all the makings of something good but just isn't there yet. The enemy pool is way too limited (basically seen it all and i'm only at 2.6 hours.) and range from…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I mean, it's good enough. The game doesn't do anything new, there's not much content and it's also pretty easy. I did one run, completed the game without really much of a challenge and was kinda bored by the end. I will still ready to give this game a very mild thumbs up because I do enjoy the art style and music and it's "good enough", but then found there's no metaprogression (figured there'd be at least more card unlocks or "advanced" abilities or difficulty increases. About the only more…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Foreword I only started playing Slay the Spire (StS) late last year and didn't play it that long before seeing this Japanese fantasy-themed deck builder and hopping over to it. If you need to see the Slay the Spire comparison from what little I did play, jump to the bottom of this review. And you might also be wondering, why Not Recommend after 40+ hours? I wanted to give a it fair shake before reviewing. At this time, I don't recommend the game for newcomers. But if you've exhausted existing…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow, I understand why people are triggered about that game because at first too, I thought it sucked. I was dying all the time and wasnt seeing any combo. But after some frustration, I actually recommend it! The problem was that I was trying to play this game like I was playing Slay the Spire: quick, boom, BAM! Win in 3 turns or less. But Castle Morihisa's mechanics are actually pushing the player towards more grindy fights where you need to stack the odds towards yourself and win each fight…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Art is very very good, gameplay is meh but the worst part is balance: some monsters are incredibly strong and some bosses are even impossible to beat. There is no unlocks between games. Characters have low differences between each others. There is no combos. This game lacks a game designer work, right now it's look like an early access.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game. a little different from Slay the spire and the talent tree games up the gameplay. HOWEVER, there's a lot of issues with the game's mechanics and translation issue. one of them is the Agility buff in the talent tree. It states as "Giving more armor per Agility point" but APPARENTLY, beneath your character, the buff reads as "reduces the amount of armor received", and the effects of it? Yes. it reduces the armor you receive, which means that the talent buff actually nerfs you hard.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Did you like Slay the Spire? If the answer is "YES!" then you will probably like Castle Morihisa. Sure, there are many similarities between the two but honestly I prefere the theme of Castle Morihisa more. Similarity to StS is probably kind of a con... as not that many "NEW" things or game mechanics are added, but on the other hand, just the talent tree is a big pro. Count in the theme and nice artwork and you got yourself a decent deckbuilder. I always welcome new deckbuilding games, so…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →RNG hell at it's worst Avoid until there's some semblance of balancing The numbers never add up past the first few encounters, elaborate card effects are either straight out misleading or plainly wrong, talents being randomized breaks any sense of strategizing (not to mention that some of them don't fit all the characters and they all "draw" from the same talent pool so you'll likely get a couple that won't even be applicable) Also wtf are "Disrupt" cards, in 5hs of gameplay I've yet to see…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Poor translations, doesn't really innovate, feels cheaply made. I was excited, but I'd rather go back and play Slay the Spire than this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a card breakout game. I have played a similar game before, but the game has its own innovations, such as adding a talent system. The game's art and music are quite retro, and I quite like the style. I hope that the next update of the game will add the battle history function, so that you can view the used cards. Looking forward to this game can go further and further!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great art, great concept. Has some really good vibes. The balance is just a total mess. Feels like there's no actual strength gained from synergies. Bosses are so incredibly hard and no matter how good my runs are going I never feel like I am anywhere close to standing a chance. Truly just a good first pass of a game. As it stands it's just slay the spire with a different coat of paint and all of the actual meat stripped out. Could easily be fixed with some meta progression or just more…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm a massive fan of deckbuilders such as Slay the spire or Monster train. Castle Morihisa seemed appealing to me due to its "feudal japan with monsters" setting. But unlike Slay the spire or Monster train it is NOT A GOOD GAME ! I regret pulling the trigger on buying that one. It NEEDS A LOT OF WORK to achieve the level of quality one can find in STS or MT ! Right now, the absence of meta progression, the glaring lack of balance and the heavy reliance on pure luck to overcome ridiculously…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Roguelike deckbuilder + cool graphics + replayablity = Fantasy samurai themed Slay the Spire. Fight monsters, complete quests, gain artifacts, unlock talents, buy and upgrade cards. Must play! Follow our curator for similar games https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35180752-3-point-play/
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think people are overly harsh on this game. Its a perfectly fine rogue-like that's similar to StS but it's also different enough to be its own thing. I recommend if you are a fan of the genre.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's just really slow. Something like the talent tree needs to carry over. Otherwise, there's just too much going on, and then it's too big of a time commitment each time for a roguelike.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Want more Slay The Spire? Buy this. Has the different approach of a talent tree that allows easier customisation of a deck, while items are rarer, but tend to be more powerful in their effects. So less likely to get a entire run scrapped because you didn't get that one item from the RNG.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game tries to run at 6700+ fps and there is no framerate limitation in game so it is very hot. I used NVIDIA control center to limit it. This is just chinese knockoff slay the spire which I would be totally into if it was good but the card variety and balance isn't good which is a shame because there's some other ideas that are unique like the skill tree. There's six characters too which is nice, but it's not polished enough to be worth playing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly a pretty good card roguelike. There are a lot of negative rewievs but those have some misconceptions for some reason? Like, the classes are not different. Bruh, maybe if you only played samurai and monk you could conclude that, but even then it is still bs. Each character has at least 2 unique mechanics, and a separate pool of cards. While having different paths you can select sure is nice, here you just get to pick from 3-4 events on each step (although sometimes its just fight a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game feels like「Slay the spire」,but is slightly different with card and strategy.There are still many issues in the game, which means bugs need to be fixed frequently.By the way,I saw it in the nintendo game store for 40HDK.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →4/10 Castle Morihisa is a rather beautiful game with a great art style. Unfortunately, the game itself doesn’t feel quite complete. The gameplay comes across as unpolished and battles quickly become repetitive. What’s worse, the English translation is noticeably off in places. For example, the ninja’s introduction, and the confusing agility cards. I can't recommend this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played lots of differents games like this, and for the first time I didn't liked it. More precisely I couldn't get hooked on this. The progress seems slow, five champions 5 playstyle nothing more.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →IVe played only 4 hours. Card are super expensive in energy and their effect is just bad most of the time its best to not pick them. Im not having any fun cause everything you get just feels bad. Card are weak, the thing you can buy with essence are often just bad. Except a few that are good but its random. Item are super weak. 1 run ive got +1 energy item and almost completed the game but everything else ive gotten is just like hp or useless junk. Combo are super hard to pull off. Pretty bad…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a fine game. I had some issues with leveling up and some of the translation stuff seemed a lil off. But tit was a fun kinda mindless game to play. Pros: - Easy pick up and play - A nice healthy level of challenge. Not to hard not to easy - mechanics are neat Cons: - There isn't much for instruction - Some times the way to level up talents isn't clear - The choices don't really seem to make much impact when travling the map.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This has great potential but I personally think the difficulty level needs to be lowered a bit (or have a difficulty adjustment option); my first two play throughs I think I lasted around minutes each, usually around at the same battle. It's a fun game to play, when it doesn't feel gruelling and pointless.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good looking, fast, classic mechanics. Good one!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →+Aesthetics are nice +Player choice -Terrible balance = Disappointment. I could not find the fun. I wouldn't recommend the game for myself. ............................................________........................ ....................................,.-‘”...................``~.,.................. .............................,.-”...................................“-.,............ .........................,/...............................................”:,........…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What I'm playing: - Dragon Age: Inquisition - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Castle Morihisa What's on deck: - Baldur’s Gate III - Ghost of Tsushima - Mega Man Zero Morihisa isn’t the kind of game you “beat,” but I’m enjoying playing it while I watch empty calories TV shows, heh.
unlabelledView post →These plans were thrown into the garbage because I started playing a Slay the Spire imitator called Castle Morihisa. Already beat the base game with two classes!
unlabelledView post →I like the art of this game and the gameplay is fun
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Neutral. It's ok but was left in a unexceptional form It's a shame that this one didn't come out better. It's clear effort was put forth in a bunch of areas like the art and card design but the end resulting game-play just isn't that engaging or fun beyond the first run to see the card pools. A good run takes a pretty long time (2 hours or more) and there is a bit too much RNG in many game aspects. This leads to a feeling that you cannot be professional about perfecting your runs and that's a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Almost a carbon copy of Slay the Spire in terms of the mechanics of cards; attacks, defenses, tactics, skills. Artifacts give special bonuses. Like, it's all the same. What is different is the Japanese theme and talent system, which is well done. The talents seem like just another RNG system as it changes from game to game so one more headache when it comes to these RNG type games. I dunno, I'm more neutral on this, but it's just not different enough from Slay the Spire which has been out…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're here because you liked StS (and know what that abbreviation means) then you'll get use to this game. The ARTWORK is creative and the gameplay is the same. If you're NEW to card games and heard StS was COOL and JUST wanted try this.... DON"T! it has all the same problems StS has!!! (admittedly that may be a personal preference, StS with the limited options and the strong possibility of getting wrecked in one turn because of a bad draw) leaves me with LOATHING this CAN be a good game…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If my turn ends - there is an enemy turn, no other options. Don't need to show huge ugly banner each time! I'm going to become epileptic after an hour of playing this game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like RNG games, but this one can mess up your entertainment way too easily. Pairing this with absolutely unforgiving situations totally cuts down those rewarding moments I am looking for. I refuse to spam give up anymore to get something good out of it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Although some might say "Just go play Slay the Spire", CM has a huge amount of depth and you really have to think the cards you play. Some others might say "Oh it's easy"... well Slay the Spire is also easy at the beginning, and the difficulty ramps up with each victory. The combinations of Fallen Heros, Talents and Cards is quite staggering and I would definitely recommend this for any deckbuilder lovers! Also the art work is awesome! It's a solid yes for me!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very curious card game with nice graphics and animation. The game has an interesting lore, interesting classes and skills. I met a couple of minor bugs in the game, which the developer will fix soon, I think.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I liked the RPG game model in this game and its different aspects
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If this was released 3 years ago, I would give it a thumbs up, but as it stands, I don't recommend it, as it brings no innovation to the genre, and the card effects and variety are rather underwhelming.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just started playing it, but I enjoy the game! Already beat it twice as two of the classes. There are 4 classes to chose from, and there are multiple difficulties (not sure how many yet). It's distinct enough from Slay the Spire that I wouldn't call it a clone so please don't believe all the negativity. Give the game a try if you like games like these, it's one of the best ones to come out in a while!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recommended! If you like "Slay the Spire", this game has even better mechanic and other improvements for your journey! I hope the developers will support the product <3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly, one of the best games I own. This appears to be a rogueLIKE not a rogue-LITE so if you're looking for a game you can grind until you're so strong you break the game you're gonna be disappointed. that seems to be a common complaint. This however was exactly what I was looking for. A game with depth of gameplay, deckbuilding, RNG elements which are not unfairly balanced but still random enough to make you adapt on the fly, and a high skill curve. I'm very happy with my purchase. If your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Castle Morihisa, developed by Smokingbear Studio and published by Thermite Games, enters the roguelike deckbuilder space with a striking visual theme rooted in dark Japanese folklore and feudal-era mysticism. From the moment a mysterious rebellion is rumored to have erupted at Castle Morihisa, the player is cast as an undercover agent sent to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of envoys and the feared uprisings looming across the land. The premise immediately sets a somber, suspenseful…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →needs more time in the oven, ur average card battler very bland.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tough call to not recommend. It is a thoughtfully designed strategy game, which is something I enjoy. However, runs take a very long time to complete, and beyond act 1 (of 3) you're often coasting, so it can be boring. The overall difficulty is reasonable, but it doesn't scale enough towards the end of a run. The balance also needs work. For example, playing as ninja makes creating an infinite combo deck fairly simple.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lacks depth, very vanilla spin-off of Slay the Spire without nearly as much variation in play-through. Balance is an absolute disaster and makes what little game there is to play not worth playing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An interesting take on the Rogue Like RPG with Cards. Pros - Unique character design, having a setting in Feudal Japan is pretty different for this style of game (to my knowledge). - Talents are a cool and interesting addition really making you think about what you want to focus on, from minor buffs such as an extra action point on battle start and even some unique cards/effects. - The Shop is accessible between every battle meaning that you get a large amount of flexibility to run certain…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Okay, this game is like 75% awesome and the other 25% is so frustrating that I don't think I can play it anymore. The idea is awesome, the classes are varied, the strategies are good... and then every so often you run into someone like the demon abbot who reincarnates whenever you attack. So you play that same fight for like an hour straight, killing him over and over with attack cards, non attack cards, waiting till his special says that he will finally die and THEN killing him... nothing.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game. Feels a bit too easy on the back-end of runs sometimes, I have managed to be able to kill the last boss on turn 1 with 2 characters already. But that's okay, I like being rewarded for good deck building. I do wish there was one more stage after the final level though, and the game always feels hard in the early parts so you do have to work hard to have a good deck. Overall solid deck builder, fun game, definitely worth the price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i've played slay the spire and this game is heavily influenced by it, but the changes to be different from StS are all far worse doesn't mean the game is not fun, its nice to have different classes and playstyles there's just no incentive to keep playing it, once you are done that's it, you can pump up the difficulty, but for what? the pathing is random, you have limited to no choice, balancing issues here and there, sometimes you just lose without anything you could have done i like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played Slay the Spire and IMO this game is as valid as that. Maybe even better. The talents points do add a new layer functionality. Nice graphic, nice art, nice music, nice sounds! I can tell they took care of the game. They did a nice job. Probably some balancing, more variety in monsters (I just reached the level 2 so far tho) might be a nice thing. But it just came out. I am enjoying it. For me is a big yes if you enjoyed Slay The Spire and you want something similar, with a different…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The card strategy reminded me of the artifact game, I hope it will not be with her either ) And if it is serious, then the game is a little more adequate and understandable than the artifact will suit everyone, I think, also for some reason everyone says that this is a clone of Slay the Spire, I can say that this is not so, yes there are some similarities, but this is a completely different game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm somewhat glad I got this game, for just a couple bucks it confirmed my preconceived impressions that this entire genre of deckbuilding card games is as unfun as it looks. I'll keep this one in my library so that every time someone talks glowingly of Slay the Spire or any of its ilk I can just boot this up and feel my lifeforce being drained away by the boredom while pondering what people find fun in this overhyped subgenre.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty good. Don't think the mixed review is warranted.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game gets mixed reviews. It's fine. It's not my favorite deckbuilder, but it's fine. I like being able to buy talents from a procedural tree, instead of relying entirely on random relics.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very interesting artwork and challenging game play.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Maybe, if you're willing to devote some time to this, there's some fun to be had. Idk. Time is a limited resource; I have no inclination to push through the learning curve on this one, It feels like, unless rng rolls super lucky, you're forced into very defensive strategies - (i mainly played monk and ninja) and defensive strategies are slow and boring if youre not making stacks of things. The art is functional but somewhat flat and pedestrian. Sounds/music are equally unexciting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What make a good Slay the Spire clone rely on a few thing: - Having few cards to begin with, to let you learn about the new cards and their interaction slowly - Having a small and precious pool of Hit Point, so you need to pay attention to ennemy action - Be challenging, and allowing you to ramp up the difficulty Castle Morhisa do all of that. On top it has gorgeous graphic, and enough new mechanics (Talents and character spécialization) to be engaging and feel fresh and new It took me 40h…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Trop difficile, les développeurs n’ont jamais tester le jeux….les monstres font beaucoup beaucoup beaucoup trop de dégâts……1 chance sur 4000 de gagner
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very approachable game, perfect for newcomers to the genre. The first difficulty is definitely easy, in my book. The classes are varied and imaginative. The Japanese folklore shines through. My only gripe would be that the runs are too forgiving, too easy and long for a roguelike. But it could be a positive thing for someone. Edit: once you beat the default difficulty the challenge begins. Only managed to beat the first with the samurai, but even the ninja could beat it, I am pretty sure.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A decent cardbattler. Very addictive and fun to play.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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