Play Your Cards Right in Hero’s Hand, a New Poker-Based Roguelike RPG Adventure

Fight enemies inspired by D&D and other beloved fantasy worlds in this strategic deckbuilder, launching on PC & consoles in 2026

RALEIGH, N.C.— March 17, 2025 — Villain Games HQ is thrilled to unveil Hero’s Hand, a genre-bending roguelike RPG fueled by poker-inspired puzzle combat, coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam in 2026. Travel through beautiful hand-drawn environments, gather cards to build a poker hand, and take down enemies inspired by Dungeons & Dragons as you level up, collect items, and grow stronger with each run.

“When we first scribbled ‘poker-based RPG’ on a whiteboard back in 2019, we never expected it to spark such hilarious chaos,” said Randy Greenback, Creative Director at Villain Games. “But once our prototype had the team howling over insane card combos, we knew Hero’s Hand had to become a reality. Getting to relaunch Villain with the passion we have for this game is definitely next level!”

When darkness takes over Cardunia, it’s up to you to solve its mysteries, confront the evil, and find a way to bring back peace to the world. Along the way, you’ll explore the lands, meet new friends, find ancient weapons, cast spells, use potions, and die in combat… a lot! With each run, you’ll grow stronger, master your skills and eventually tear through monsters to take on the Dark Wizard.

Poker Meets Dungeon-Crawling

Hero’s Hand challenges you to strategically move across each board, grabbing cards to form flushes, straights, or four-of-a-kind combos for massive damage. Whether you’re using overpowered Fortune Items, upgrading your loadout, or weaving together synergy from potions and spells, you’ll forge your own path through random encounters and ever-tougher enemies.

Key Features

• Roguelike Adventure & Narrative: Journey across eight uniquely themed worlds, battle your way through Death’s Tower, and grow stronger each time you fall. A layered story unfolds through comedic encounters and sub-boss showdowns.
• Poker-Based Combat: Build your poker hand on the fly by moving about the board to collect cards for devastating combos. Cleverly use spells, potions, and the wheel of Fortuna to amplify your poker hands and tip the odds in your favor.
• Endless Replayability: Explore procedurally generated maps, face unpredictable events, and discover secret portals teeming with new challenges. No two runs are ever the same.
• Menagerie of Mayhem: Brace yourself for an outrageous cast of Dungeons & Dragons-inspired baddies — from trollish brutes to flamboyant dragons. Each monstrous misfit boasts unique attacks and cunning board effects guaranteed to keep your hero on his toes.
• Fortune Favors the Overkill: Defeat enemies to earn XP, gold and items, and gather rare equipment to outfit your hero for bigger and bolder combos on subsequent runs.

 

Symphonia is a game that takes the concept of musical integration and marries it with beautiful 2D visuals. Developed by Sunny Peak, this 2D action platformer is a breath of fresh air.

From the moment you start playing Symphonia, the game's art style grabs your attention. The hand-drawn visuals are nothing short of stunning, with each frame meticulously crafted to create a vibrant and immersive world. The environments are rich with detail, and the character designs are both unique and expressive. The animation is fluid and smooth, making movements appealing when you aren't landing on spikes. It's clear that the Indie developers put a lot of love and effort into making the game visually appealing and equally challenging.

What sets Symphonia apart from other games is how it incorporates music into the gameplay without turning it into a rhythm game. Unlike notable titles like the Just Dance franchise, where the fun filled gameplay revolves around following the beat, Symphonia uses music as a core element of its world and mechanics to fuel the adventure. The protagonist, Philemon, is a violinist who uses his instrument to interact with the environment and looks good doing so. The goal in Symphonia is to re-activate the machinery that returns its life and energy. Whether it's playing a tune to unlock a door or using the violin bow to perform acrobatic moves, there is something music related in one way or another.

The creativity of the developers shines through in how they designed the levels and challenges. Each area in the game is inspired by different musical instruments, and the puzzles and obstacles are cleverly tied to these themes. For example, you might find yourself bouncing on strings like trampolines or navigating through wind-powered sections. This innovative approach keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting, as you're constantly discovering new ways to use music to your advantage. The orchestral soundtrack, composed by Olivier Esman and his team, is wonderful and enhances the emotional impact of the game. The music is not just background noise; it's an integral part of the story and gameplay as seen in this first 30 minutes of Symphonia:

Rick and Morty are back with more intergalactic shenanigans for our enjoyment, but are they enough to keep you watching from episodes 1 to 10 and back again? Let's find out. #FortuneCookiePower

Story: As you know, Rick And Morty can be all over the place from timeline to timeline with twists and turns inside of twists and turns that include a cherry stem tied by an alien with two tongues, but you get a little progression right off the bat in episode one (I'll come back to this).

Episode One - Solaricks... starts out a little grim, but don't worry, give it a few minutes before they kinda sorta bring things back to normal with comedy tucked in between. The normalcy lasts for about a minute... before Rick does a bad bad thing and resets time travel-ERS. Episode one is a nice (partially) action-packed episode that shows Rick, Morty, and Jerry going back to their individual realities.

Progression is showcased as far as Rick himself is concerned in this episode, but... I'll let you tune in to see what I mean. Morty goes back and... basically finds out what truly happened to his original family, along with Jerry going back home. Jerry went back to season two... which was probably one of my favorite scenes because he was able to get some... justice (bird man!). I would've loved to see that actually play out as a full episode, but it was cool for what it was.

Episode Two - Rick: A Mort Well Lived... didn't disappoint either. Morty became all the characters in a SIM game for some weird reason, and Rick had to collectively save him. So that was going on in-game, while outside of the game, Summer had to strap up and step into the shoes of John McClane... in order to take down some Die Hard-obsessed alien and his goons. The in-game action was okay, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I couldn't wait until it cut back to Summer. Great episode.

Episode Three - Bethic Twinstinct... was... interesting. Beth and space Beth become attracted to each other and... yeah, interesting.

Episode Four -  Night Family... is highly entertaining. The crew creates a... night family that takes over their bodies when they're asleep in order to do the things they don't care to do when they're awake. Does it go left? Of course, this is Rick And Morty... but it's action-packed and super creative the way things played out. Two thumbs up, just remember to rinse your dishes!

Episode Five - Final DeSmithation... was a pretty cool episode too. Jerry ends up in this... interesting situation with his mom, which leads him on a journey that features fortune cookie powers! This episode was pretty cool as well and would make for an interesting movie if ever a concept were utilized for a feature film. Not the situation with his mom, but... the part with the fortune cookies. Rick was in the zone in this one, and almost reminded me of a Men In Black agent.

Episode Six - JuRicksic Mort... wasn't bad, it had comedic value but... it was more so just okay for me (outside of the... Oscars). I did want to kick Rick's butt in this episode... because there was the opportunity for a serious upgrade in tech, but Rick being Rick was against it. The portal gun gets repaired in this one.

Episode Seven - Full Meta Jackrick... is about Rick And Morty VS Meta characters, and you will enjoy the intro to this one. Very creative, along with the episode in general. You get an interesting episode that revolves around the creative process when it comes to storytelling. Thumbs up!

Episode Eight - Analyze Piss... was pretty cool and definitely creative. It plays on viral videos and trolls seeking to take on Rick, but then... something else happens. I would've liked this even more if a certain character in this episode were able to enjoy what ultimately occurred thanks to... Rick, but it was a good episode.

Episode Nine - A Rick in King Mortur's Mort... was pretty cool and action-packed too, but... I started to get the feeling that a theme was being formed. Costumed characters and beings with power seemed to be the theme for five episodes. I don't mind, but... I don't know, maybe they could have mixed these up a bit more. I would've liked to see Jerry take advantage of what he knows now... back in season two, but this episode was good (just noticed a theme).

Episode Ten - Rictional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation... features a lightsaber and Star Wars in general. Of course, you will get lightsaber fights, but... mainly the episode is based around something that happened with the lightsaber. Episodes nine and ten are connected and gear you up for the next season, and let's just say Rick is super excited. Episode ten could've delivered a little more oomph in my opinion, but it was well-rounded, to say the least.

Overall, season six maintained its comedic value, and while I was able to binge-watch with ease, there were some missed opportunities in there that I would love to see at some point. Jerry was able to shine in episode eight, but... you know what I wanted. I just think Jerry has potential that can be tapped into using the previous episode, and it's not like they haven't played with the timeline at all.

Visuals: There are plenty of eye-catching and creative visuals to enjoy this season too. Rick And Morty's team generally serves up a variety of characters and locations, so there is nothing that you wouldn't expect... because crazy tends to be the theme. There's no change in art style, but... that's a good thing. There are some creative solutions in there that actually use 3D assets too, but you might have to take a look at the extras to identify some of them because they're used in a creative way that helped the team pull off certain scenes that didn't result in a 3D model standing out like a sore thumb.

Audio: Audio was clean and had plenty of depth, and... episode 8 is a good example. There are plenty of examples, but that one comes to mind when Jerry suits up for some actions. Audio comes at you in DTS-HD MA & Dolby Digital 5.1. I actually watched Rick And Morty: Season 6... using the 1More Aero 3D earbuds with DTS TruSurround enabled. I enjoyed it with the Aero more so than the standard telly speakers, but I'm sure I would've also enjoyed it using surround-sound speakers.

Price + Extras: Rick And Morty: Season 6... comes in at $39.99 for the Steelbook Blu-ray, $29.98 for the standard Blu-ray, and... $24.98 for the DVD. Of course, we have the hook-up for you, so just click here to save.

Now onto the extras (outside of the 10 episodes, you also get):

- 10 Inside the Episode installments (to cover each episode)

- Rick and Morty: Inside Season 6... which explains what occurred with season 6, and it answers some questions that I had. You won't get this info just by watching the show, so you have this. Good stuff.

- Anatomy of a Scene

• Bethic Twinstinct
• Night Family
• Analyze Piss