Torghast is a single-player Hearthstone adventure, based on the same dungeon/adventure from World of Warcraft. Inspired by Dungeon Run, Slay the Spire and many other similar roguelike games, it is intended to be a satisfying, replayable single-player game mode within Hearthstone.
Mechanics
Players choose a class, and then choose between 1 of 2 specialisations.
For example, a warrior can pick Protection or Fury, a priest can pick Shadow or Holy, and so forth. I am aware that classes generally have three specialisations in WoW, but for the sake of balance and simplicity, choosing between two will still allow for high diversity.
A shadow priest will focus on damage, agression and discovery, while a holy priest will focus on healing, defensive cards and control tools, allowing for very different playstyles.
The class and specialisation determine the hero power, starting deck, signature card as well as certain cards you can find during the run.
A signature card is a special card that always has ‘Start of game: draw this’ attached to it.
For example, the Protection Warrior’s signature card can be: Shield Wall. 3 mana spell. Start of game: draw this. Gain 10 armor. Reduce all damage you take by (2) until your next turn.
Each signature card will be different, has synergy with and is related to the class specialisation and can be upgraded during the run.
Each deck starts with the signature card and 14 cards, depending on the class and specialisation, occasionally featuring neutral cards.
Torghast features a special resource called Anima. Anima can be used during shops, as well as during certain special events. Anima starts at zero and is reset if a run is abandoned or completed. Anima can be earned be completing floors.
Torghast features a total of 100 floors, with pseudo-random encounters and a structured approach to it.
Floors ending in 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 are regular encounters. You encounter a mini-boss with a certain theme, who has unique cards and a hero power. Defeating a mini-boss awards you with 150 anima. You will also see 3 cards, depending on your class and specialisation. You can choose to add one, two, three or zero cards to your deck. Adding a card will cost 50 Anima each.
Floors ending in 3 and 7 are special events. These are bonus rooms. You may receive bonuses such as cards or anima. Sometimes there will be puzzles to solve, sometimes a negative event will happen and you may need to choose between one of several effects that will impact your run. These will mostly be beneficial, and negative rooms are limited to one in four rooms at most.
Floors ending in 9 are shops. Here, you can do several things:
– Pick a treasure. Treasures are similar to other single-player modes or Duels, they are start-of-game effects that impact the rest of the run. You will be offered one of three treasures per shop. You can only have a total of three treasures, so once you reach the fourth shop and onward, you can choose to swap a treasure or keep your current ones. The first three treasures are free, replacing a treasure will cost 100 anima.
– Remove a card from your deck. The first card removed is free, and then costs an additional 100 anima for each card removed. So the 2nd card removed will cost 100 anima, the 3rd card 200, etc. This carries over throughout the entire run, so the cost of removing cards in further shops is based on how many cards you have removed previously.
Making your deck thinner is generally beneficial, but will get expensive. You may want to use anima for other things the shop has to offer!
– Add cards to your deck. There will be many unique cards and some cards are cards that can be found in Standard or Wild. Each card will cost Anima, based on rarity and effect.
Each shop will feature 8 random cards. Only cards that are neutral or fit your class’ theme wil be offered.
Floors ending in 10 are boss rooms, more difficult encounters where bosses have more starting hp and/or armor, occasionally starting with a location or minion on the board and are more difficult to defeat overall.
Defeating a boss awards you with 500 Anima, and an option to choose between one of three things:
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Upgrade your treasure. A treasure can only be upgraded once, and carries over for the rest of the run. If you choose to swap your treasure in the shop, the replacement will not be upgraded. Upgrading a treasure costs 400 Anima.
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Upgrade your signature card. Your signature card can not be removed in the shop. It can be upgraded a total of 4 times (shown underneath the card, starting at 1/5 until it is a maximum of 5/5). Upgrading a signature card costs 100 Anima, and an additional 100 for each level upgraded further. You can only upgrade once per boss you defeat. Total cost will be 100 + 200 + 300 + 400 = 1000 anima, spread over at least four boss encounters.
Upgrading will have benefits depending on the signature card. For example, Shield Wall mentioned earlier can become ‘15 armor, reduce damage by 3’ (2/5) → ‘20 armor, reduce damage by 4’ (3/5), and so forth.
- Keep the anima and move onward, skipping the other options.
Additionally, defeating a boss unlocks a save state. If you are defeated during any encounter going forward, you can choose to go back to your previous save state.
You will lose all progress you earned between your most recent save state and the floor you got defeated in. All rooms going forward will be reset and shuffled, meaning you will encounter different mini-bosses, and special rooms and the shop will be different.
You can also choose to abandon the run and try again, if you are defeated.
Floor 100 will of course be The Jailer himself, a very difficult boss with several unique mechanics, boss stages, unique cards and a lot of starting armor. Defeating him will require a powerful deck with upgraded treasures and a 5/5 signature card.
Rewards
Achievements: Reaching floor 30 for the first time with a class awards 2 class packs and 20 achievement points.
Defeating The Jailer awards a cardback
There can be several other achievements, such as ‘reach floor 50 without upgrading your signature card’, ‘swap your treasures 5 times in a run’, etc. These are just for fun and challenge.
Summary
Torghast is my idea for a Hearthstone roguelike. I’m a huge fan of single player in Hearthstone, and would love to see a return to it. Torghast is intended to be highly replayable, with pseudo-random rooms, 22 different starting options and many unique cards and treasures.
I am more than happy and willing to help design all the various hero powers, signature cards, boss encounters, unique cards and treasures to make this mode a reality.
Thanks for reading, curious to hear what you guys think.
Edit: Designed hero powers and signature cards. See here: imgur . com/a/icTWfR4