Card battle games have been around since Magic: The Gathering popularized the modern concept in 1993. It didn’t take long for the genre to jump into the digital world, and trading card games and card battle mechanics are prevalent in tons of excellent titles. It’s a genre that continues to produce great content, so we looked at the games people are playing and identified the top 10. They’re ranked based on contemporary critics’ reviews upon release, how much fun they are to play, and how popular they are with gamers. This one ranked differently than I expected, but after plugging in the numbers, this is how they rate.
Cross Blitz is a 2025 game that combines traditional collectible card game elements with role-playing games. It features single- and multiplayer campaigns, as well as a roguelite mode that helps players build their deck in various ways. While Cross Blitz is fairly similar to other games in the CCG and card-battle genres, its setting is charming and entertaining. Critics praised it upon release after a two-year Early Access period, and it has consistently scored well. Cross Blitz is a PC game, and its devs continue to update and upgrade the core game, which features over 400 unique cards as of writing.
Inscryption is a deck-building card-battling roguelike game released in 2021. The game is available on pretty much every modern console, PC, macOS, and Linux. It’s unlike most games in the genre, as it’s set within a cabin in the woods, where a gamemaster forces the player to play a tabletop game. There’s a mix of various genres that combine into one of the most unusual games in the card battle arena. Inscryption received widespread critical acclaim, selling well over a million copies in less than a year, and the devs have since released a free expansion and numerous updates.
CD Projekt Red’s Witcher franchise includes a game within the game called Gwent. Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a spin-off that functions as a single-player Gwent game, released in 2018. On top of that, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is an RPG that features a significant campaign, though it’s built around the core card battle gameplay. Unfortunately for CD Projekt Red, sales were lackluster despite numerous critics praising the game’s execution. It’s unclear why this was the case, as Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a well-designed and entertaining game that fits within the Witcher franchise.
While most card battle games use cards of some sort, Shogun Showdown is different in that it utilizes tiles that the player acquires throughout gameplay. These include attack and action moves that the player can take during their turn. The game fits within the turn-based tactics genre, but uses roguelike mechanics for its player progression. It’s an interesting game that tasks the player with killing the shogun to save the world from an army of ashigaru warriors across various Japanese islands. Shogun Showdown was a hit upon release, earning significant praise from critics and players alike.
Blizzard Entertainment released Hearthstone in 2014, though it was originally titled Heroes of Warcraft. The game features the already immense lore of the Warcraft franchise, using many of the same characters and relics to flesh out the gameplay and cards. The game has been constantly updated and enhanced with multiple expansion packs, which keep the gameplay from getting stale. While Hearthstone is probably among the most commercially successful card battle video games, having boasted more than 100 million players at one point, it (surprisingly) ranked lower than many of the games covered in this article.
SNK, the company that made the Neo Geo and many of its games, and Capcom teamed up in the 1990s to produce SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters’ Clash for the Neo Geo Pocket Color in 1999. The game features a pixelated art style and plays similarly to other CCGs, such as Magic: The Gathering. While the Neo Geo Pocket Color was a niche system that wasn’t a huge hit, the game was a great success, earning widespread praise from critics and players. It launched a brief but popular franchise that saw the game ported to the Nintendo DS, which featured the third and final entry.
Slay the Spire is a roguelike deck-building game released in 2019 that became a huge success. In the game, the player controls one of four characters as they ascend a spire while fighting all manner of monsters, minions, and bosses. As you proceed, you acquire relics and other boons (also curses) that flesh out your deck, making each playthrough unique. The game was incredibly successful, receiving widespread critical acclaim. A sequel, Slay the Spire 2, was released in Early Access in March 2026, and that game will likely one day surpass its predecessor as a leading contender for one of the best card battle games ever made.
The first Monster Train was released in 2020 for PCs, though it didn’t take long for ports to pop up on various consoles, including the Nintendo Switch. The game revolves around a train with four floors. Enemies attempt to destroy a pyre on the top floor, so the player must use their deck to summon monsters and fight back. The sequel, Monster Train 2, was released in May 2025. While it features the same gameplay and many of the same elements as its predecessor, it scored higher with critics and players, earning it the third spot on this list largely thanks to numerous gameplay upgrades and enhancements.
Balatro is a 2024 roguelike deck-building game released on every platform that could run it, which was all of them (for the most part). The game uses a standard 52-card deck, and the player must score as many points as possible by playing poker hands against the Blinds to defeat them. When it was released, Balatro received universal critical acclaim, and it sold millions of copies, earning numerous accolades along the way. The game is innovative and unique, which hasn’t stopped a significant modding community from enhancing it in every imaginable way, and it has a huge dedicated fan base.
The top-rated card battle game, based on critics’ reviews, is none other than 2022’s I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. The game is a mishmash of genres, including RPG, visual novel, and card-battle mechanics. These come about in a mini-game used to determine stat increases. There’s also a card battle game within the game’s narrative. Essentially, you’re getting a multi-genre game with an exceptionally well-designed card battle system, an engrossing story, and more. OpenCritic lists I Was a Teenage Exocolonist with a 100% score, which is pretty rare. Personally, I prefer Hearthstone, but the ranking was clear, and I have to let the ‘cards’ fall where they may.
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