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Watch trailer on Steam ↗Cards n' Varmints
swivel trick · Published by swivel trick
Last updated 27 Sept 2026
Turn-based auto-battlin' roguelike deckbuilder with over 50 unique and unexpected unit classes. Use cards to turn the tide of battle; pick promotions for yer valiant varmints; round up a posse for maximum power, sneakiness, or just plain wackiness; and send them interlopers packin'.
Indie, Strategy · More free games
Dive into a strategic turn-based adventure where each card and promotion shapes your varmint squad. Build your posse for power, sneakiness, or pure chaos as you face off against interlopers in this indie strategy gem.
About this game
CARDS N' VARMINTS is a turn-based auto-battlin' roguelike deckbuilder with a truly unhinged class system. We've got cactuses, CEOs, chemists, bodybuilders, gunslingers -- you name 'em. But all of 'em are pulling together to keep the interlopers away from The Gulch, a magical stream that never runs dry and keeps all the critters of the desert from dryin' out. Couldja help us out here, pardner?
Cards can turn the tides of (auto)battle!!
Each varmint in yer team contributes a few cards to yer deck. Before each melee with the enemy, you can play a couple of 'em — and if yer smart about it, you can completely change the outcome. One of yer varmints about to go down? Use a card to give 'em Sturdy, so they'll survive the next attack. Or, give 'em Evasive so they dodge -- assuming the varmint behind 'em can take the hit!
Gotta job 'em all!!
Earn Bloom Ribbons in battle that you can spend promoting yer varmints to one of their preferred starter jobs. Then promote them again into one of several specializations, at the cost of a few more Bloom Ribbons, of course. All in all, you've got over 50 unique jobs to explore here, pardner. It'll take quite a few runs to see 'em all!
Posse up!!
Puttin' them teams together is an art form unto itself. Knowin' which varmints go best with which and comin' up with the best strategy given the varmints you've got... that ain't easy. And let's not forget, yer little lizards aren't robots -- they have to rest every once in a while, or they'll conk out right as the fightin' gets toughest. Make sure you cycle them out of the posse every once in a while for a little R&R, and they'll be fightin' fit when it counts.
Features
Over 50 unique jobs with their own cards and special abilities
Jobs have cards associated with them that comprise your deck
Play the right cards at the right times to beat the odds and win the battle
Pay attention to positioning and try to anticipate how the battle will play out, then change the outcome with your cards
Build powerful teams based on complex synergies -- or just fill your team with Cactus people and try to make it work
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: 7/10/11
- Processor: 3.1GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: 2GB GPU-Dedicated Memory
- Storage: 500 MB available space
Recommended
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Supported Languages
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
AnnouncementsOfficial
v0.35 ~ continuity
howdy friends, here’s a little somethin’ that’s been heavily requested from day 1. THE “CONTINUE BUTTON” you can probably guess what this one does: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44169985/6919dff5474f407057fdccd36264c502ce174b39.png a few details: the scenario saves after each combat, after each promotion, and when reorganizing varmints during the team select phase.tutorial state is never saved, but if you start yer run with the tutorial, you can pick up where you left off after you finish the tutorialthere’s only one continue “slot” for now. starting a new game erases the old save.theoretically this feature works in the browser, but as you’ve probably noticed yer saved data gets erased pretty much at random, especially after i update the game which i do every three weeks or so these days. at this point i’d definitely recommend the downloaded version over the browser one. i know some of those gruelin’ runs can take a while, hopefully this helps you get through ’em on your own time. changelog added “continue game”!!fixed a tooltip that LIED about what happens to reserve units (thanks @neomechanized) thanks fer readin’, and thanks fer playin’. -cryRead full article on Community Announcements (cryy22)AnnouncementsOfficial
v0.34.1 ~ floatin'
well howdy, pardners. it’s been a little while, ain’t it? still busy refactoring, but i figured i’d take a break to ship a new version with a new visual — nothin’ crazy, just a little somethin’ that makes the game a bit more fun and easier to understand. floatin’ numbers good ol’ fashioned floatin’ numbers. you’ve seen ‘em a dozen times. well now, GG’s got ’em: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44169985/74815245cf64a25d4c88c2a32ea133cb8530c17b.gif when yer attack or hit points change, you get a little number floatin’ up. you also get a floatin’ notification when an ability is gained or lost, or simply when it fires: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44169985/87622e7c7ea2d39ea3b0b3a20aef54cd86c2744a.gif it’ll definitely help you keep track of just what the heck is goin’ on, especially at 1.5x and 2x speed. changelogbalance: Desert Ghost’s “enervating toxin” card now removes Evasive, along with Tough, Quickdraw, and Archerfix: Extra Draw once again draws a card as soon as it’s applied, instead of, uh, doing nothing (thanks KingOfCharge)floating stat effects when a unit’s stats changeshortened celebrations a little bit that’s all for now amigos. i appreciate your patience while i work to improve the codebase so i can add all sorts of new stuff without fear. thanks for readin’, and thanks for playin’. -cryRead full article on Community Announcements (cryy22)Patch NotesOfficial
v0.33 ~ hold up... let him refactor
listen y’all, i’m knee deep in a codebase that currently looks like two different people wrote it who were born in two different geological eras so i don’t got no time fer my usual solid-gold comedy stylins shot through with pithy and informative patch notes, all gussied up with some of the most gosh-darned beautiful gifs y’ever laid eyes on. so yeah i don’t got time fer that. uh, sorry. here’s the changelog changelog soldier -> mercenary promotion now costs 2 bloom ribbons medic -> herbalist promotion now costs 3 bloom ribbons holding down spacebar (or enter) now continuously advances combat as if auto-advance were on ALL unit speech can now be dismissed at will. first click on the speech bubble makes them instantly complete their talkin’. second click pops da bubble. thanks fer readin’ amigo, and thanks fer playin’. back to the mines!! -cryRead full article on Community Announcements (cryy22)AnnouncementsOfficial
v0.32 ~ cards? yeah. i sling those.
howdy pardners!! coupla little quality of life updates this go ’round. yas, pardner what good is a cardslinger who ain’t slingin’ their cards? time was, you had to click ’em, then mouse on over to yer target, them click again. now… you can sling ’em: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44169985/6541f53ef6a8c425e4ce99fd662c81e283408ea0.gif also, cards that affect teams can now be played on any varmint on the team, instead of clickin’ the button. of course, all the old interactions still work, so if you prefer clickin’ over draggin’, you’re still good to go. click chads rejoice (spacebarcels seething) two small but hopefully experience-improving click-related changes: click on nothing to advance combat (you can still click the “next” button but you don’t have to)click on nothing to advance varmint speech in the tutorialchangelogadd click to drag for playing cardsadded clicking anywhere to advance tutorial varmint speechadded clicking anywhere to advance combat when “auto” is offremoved twitter link (lmao)tweaked non-tutorial varmint speech to disappear a little quicker as always pardners, thanks fer readin’, and thanks fer playin’. -cryRead full article on Community Announcements (cryy22)Patch NotesOfficial
v0.31 ~ it's a new dawn, it's a new day
howdy pardners! this week i gave the game a little spitshine, in addition to a few UI improvements, the background is lookin’ a heckuva lot more full these days, pardner. background to the fore gone are the days where GG was played on a background of rocks and a weird sun spotlight. now we’ve got a proper trail for these varmints to do battle on: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44169985/c572dbf0ae7efae834c9766edaed145a55f6bf0e.png currently the different spaces are just palette swaps of the same background, but in the full version each spot’ll have its own unique flair. power promotions promotions used to be kyute. now they’re kyute and cool: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44169985/d5f7b444a58462b46ad2b2841fe3314cadddb840.png fan fire cards no longer line up all perfect. that kinda thing is a little unnatural, pardner. now they curve around a bit like you’d hold ’em in yer hand (and like cards are usually shown in games): {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44169985/cd0efbd148bc97528eb3722555a25aa7339329c8.png changelognewer, fancier backgroundsadded some minor post-processing effects for important vibe-related purposescurved the cards in the handadded more flair to the promotion animationfix: overhead text no longer scales with varmint for readabilityfix: some UI elements were accidentally appearing above the varmint ledgerfix: the “not in demo” job no longer shows job groups of the last-viewed job (thanks KingOfCharge)fix: various typosminor rebalancing of mercenary job that’s all fer now amigos. thanks fer readin’, and thanks fer playin’. -cryRead full article on Community Announcements (cryy22)
