HELLCARD II’s public Steam Playtest is live right now, giving anyone on PC a free early look at Thing Trunk’s co-op sequel ahead of its launch. Access works through the standard playtest flow, where you request entry on the game’s Steam page and wait to be admitted, since Skystone Games and Thing Trunk are letting players in waves. Once you’re in, you can invite friends directly to your party, which is obviously important for a game built around groups of up to four.
Announced back in February, HELLCARD II is a co-op roguelike deckbuilder for one to four players, returning to the papercraft world of HELLCARD and Book of Demons with new biomes and storylines. The sequel adds a persistent equipment layer on top of the deckbuilding, with gear that changes your hero’s appearance along with your deck, stats, and buffs. The series’ signature positioning system also returns, placing monsters at melee or ranged distances and splitting them among your heroes, so landing the biggest combos depends on where everyone stands. Solo players can command the entire party themselves. As of its announcement, the game’s Steam listing had it slated for Q3 2026.
David Brevik, the Diablo co-creator who co-founded Skystone Games, said HELLCARD struck a chord with deckbuilder fans and that the sequel “ups the ante” on visuals, storytelling, combat, and RPG elements. Thing Trunk’s Konstanty Kalicki added that the team relies on community feedback “to show us what we got right, and what still needs some love,” which is the entire reason for opening the playtest to a bigger audience before launch.
Our history with this series goes back to our HELLCARD first impressions in early 2023, when I called the original a multiplayer Slay the Spire and felt its $19.99 price was fair after about 10 hours. When the sequel was announced, we noted that great co-op roguelite deckbuilders still remain rare, and while Across the Obelisk is still our favorite, HELLCARD put its own unique take on the formula. Of course, we now have Slay the Spire 2, which is the game to beat in the genre.
