FTS: Poker-Based Roguelike RPG "Hero's Hand" Revealed for PC & Consoles

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.

 

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Poker Night 2... reviewed!

This game is great for… a non-multiplayer Poker experience.

Poker Night 2 delivers a… (hmmm) neat NPC experience for poker fans, people simply learning how to play (for whatever reason), or seeking DLC for other games.

You get to enjoy the company of Borderland’s Claptrap, Sam (& Max) from… Sam & Max, Brock Samson from The Venture Bros, and… Ash Williams from Army of Darkness as fellow players (without overlooking the dealer, aka GlaDOS the robot from Portal).

You get to earn different chip, card, and table designs… in addition to the DLC for Borderlands 2 and Team Fortress 2, which help stand out in those games (so if you don’t like looking like the standard characters in the game, you have more options thanks to this game).

Poker is poker, there isn’t much to explain beyond what the game already lays out in the “How to Play”, but I really like the way the NPC’s interact according to the hands played and stories discussed (they aren’t just sitting there lifeless during games, their personalities are on the table just as much as the cards and chips).

The bounties add another element that can be appreciated also, and you get various objectives that include winning showdowns between multiple players, and so forth. So you aren't just playing standard poker (even though you're playing poker)... because it then becomes objective based poker that goes beyond winning hands (if you wish to play that game. Get it? Okay, now that I've added some cheese to this review... I'll get back to it). 

Speaking of winning, I won’t even tell you what this means, but when you “unlock” and select 3 of a kind… something will happen.

Overall, for the price of $4.99… it’s pretty good because you have this chill poker experience for the days (or nights) you want to just kick back and play something that doesn’t require fast reactions, and if you have Borderlands 2 and/or Team Fortress 2... the DLC is good reason alone to give this game a shot if you're cool with a stand-alone poker experience. This game has been out for a while, and of course I have a few concepts that come to mind with this game that would be great for updates or… a new Poker Night 3.

Since were no strangers to contacting game developers… this too shall pass. :p

Overall the game does what it does… well, visually nothing is expected (from me with a poker game), but… they made it happen anyway (because it is a poker game that lacks the multiplayer experience). This is in addition to the comedy, and actually taking the time to explain what poker actually is because… it makes sense to actually be able to play the game if you’re trying to enjoy it (I think it’s a great tool to teach future pros how to play… in a way that’s not drop dead boring).

Fun factor: 4

Visually: 5

Replay value: 5

Price: 5

4.75 / 5 Cool Points