Tetra Tactics | Roguelike Deckbuilder

Free Range Robots :

Requested publication date: On or after April 8, 2024

Note to editors:

Oakland, California - April 9, 2024 - Lead developer Jabari Alii releases his game Tetra Tactics on Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The roguelike deckbuilder has been in early access for 18 months and is being fully launched on Tuesday April 9th.

Tetra Tactics is a single-player roguelike deckbuilder inspired by Final Fantasy minigames Triple Triad and Tetra Master, with deep meta-progression and replayability. Outwit your opponents on a 4x4 tactical grid, traverse the map, augment your cards, and combine abilities to ultimately build the most powerful deck.

The rules of Tetra Tactics are quick to understand, but difficult to master. As a player gains experience they’ll soon learn to plan ahead several moves and set up cascading combo’s to win games. Beyond the number 1 through 9 there are also symbols with unique properties. The Sword beats all numbers, Magic defeats Swords but cannot defend, the Shield cannot be taken, and the Bow attacks from a distance. The complex interplay between these mechanics leads to immense strategic depth and replayability.

During each run you will have a new set of cards to play with as well as procedural but balanced challenges that change every time. Earn shards each run and use them to unlock permanent perks and new heroes with a variety of abilities. 

Cards also gain experience, and with enough XP you’ll be able to choose permanent augmentations to make them incredibly powerful. Augmentations range from Cleave (attack multiple adjacent opponents) to Backstab (switch places with the defending card) to Shieldbreaker (the only way to defeat a Shield symbol). Throughout your run you’ll have opportunities to swap out and upgrade cards to build the perfect deck as opponents become more challenging.

Lead developer Jabari Alii is a game designer and musician based in Oakland, California who also educates young black men to develop video games through the Hidden Genius Project.  Inspired by thinky deckbuilding games, he began developing Tetra Tactics as a side project in 2022. When it became clear that the game’s mechanics were sticky, he enlisted the help of fellow Bay Area local indie devs Manadream (Shell Out Showdown) and Adrian Marple (Cooperative Chess) to flesh out the core mechanics into a roguelite with extensive customization options, meta-progression, multiple heroes, world maps, and replayability.

Originally titled Card Craft, the game was rebranded to Tetra Tactics in early 2024 to avoid trademark conflict.

From Jabari: "With Tetra Tactics I wanted to embrace minimalist strategy. It's basically rock paper scissors, flipped on its head, thrown on a grid, and then juiced up with that roguelike candy we've all grown to love."

Tetra Tactics is proud to fully launch on Steam and move to version 1.0 on April 9, 2024. We’re looking forward to Triple Triad fans and roguelike deckbuilder players trying out the game, because we think they’re going to love it.

Media Contact

Free Range Robots on behalf of Jabari Alii: [email protected]

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