Introducing The Royal Writ, a thrillingly inventive lane-based deckbuilder from Save Sloth Studios and Yogscast Games

Watch adorable, peculiar creatures meet their grizzly demise on the battlefield in a clever new deckbuilder where choices matter.

April 17th 2025: Independent developer Save Sloth Studios and roguelike deckbuilder obsessives Yogscast Games have today unveiled The Royal Writ – a lane-based card game with permadeath.

Sometimes a kingdom's problems can be solved by simple communication – which is why his illustrious highness has decided to send out letters summoning some of the troublemakers to his throne room. And if the recipients are a little reluctant to accept the invitation? No problem! A little siege never hurt anybody. 

Carefully enlist and place your peculiar creatures on a battlefield and watch them march to their eternal death or glory as they try to conquer the enemy. 


Deal damage to the enemy turn by turn, taking advantage of each card's power or multiplication modifiers in order to reduce your target's health to zero. Pay particular attention to the pitfalls and difficult terrain - for example, your aquatic creatures to gain an advantage in water-logged areas, or simply use your flying creatures to ignore them all together. Upgrade and enhance your soldier cards between battles via multiple mini games, as you work your way across procedurally-generated maps and battlefields in a quest to defeat and capture the final boss. 

The twist here comes from the ultimate jeopardy. If the enemy base has health remaining when a card reaches it, that card is permanently destroyed and removed from your deck, making every decision fraught with danger. You could spend ages powering up a particularly tough card, only for it to disappear if you've miscalculated your plans. 

Sacrificing your cards for the greater good is an integral part of the game, creating emergent sub-stories and making runs memorable. Achieve victory though strategic planning or game-breaking synergies, or fail miserably because your soldier got stuck in a bog and you forgot he can't fly. 

Visually and aurally it's a huge treat, combining cute picture-book visuals with the grotesque and absurd humour of a medieval world engulfed in constant war and deceit. 

"We only sign games we love," says Simon Byron, Managing Director, Yogscast Games, "so it's no exaggeration to say the entire team and right across the Yogscast network – fell fast and hard for The Royal Writ when we first saw it. It's such a brilliant, fun, clever take on the genre, full of surprise and jeopardy. We want to marry it." 

"Our original idea for the game was extremely simple, but the fun instantly kicked in as soon as we put down the first rabbit soldier on the battlefield, so it was a no-brainer for us to start making a full-fledged game out of this idea," adds Kornél Pittmann, co-director, Save Sloth Studios.  "Now, it has grown into something filled with tons of unique mechanics, characters and visuals, and we loved working on every aspect of it"

The Royal Writ began as an entry for Ludum Dare 55, and moved into full development following hugely positive feedback. It will be releasing later this year – with a playable demo available soon. 

For exclusive early access to Playtests, please join the Discord and wishlist on Steam.