If you’ve been following Gamer Social Club’s Girl Pod, you’ll remember earlier this year I said one of things I wanted to accomplish was playing games outside of my norm. I’ve been dragging my feet the last few weeks but I finally bit the bullet and played my first deckbuilding game. Beastro, by developers Timberline Studio, is a cozy deckbuilder fused with farming, fishing and cooking.
In Beastro, play as the adorable feline Panko, an eatery chef in a small town called Palo Pori, a home to artists and tastemakers alike. Arriving at the eatery one day, Panko finds his mentor missing and the place overturned. Beyond the town wall lies monsters determined to destroy the little the town has left. When informed by a mysterious stranger about what lies beyond the wall, Panko must keep the peace, not by fighting himself, but feeding those who will.
Gameplay
Your main goal in Beastro is to make delicious dishes for Caretakers. Caretakers are adventures from other towns sent to defeat monsters and save the world. Feeding a Caretaker a dish helps fuel them, and build their deck for combat. Later that evening they’ll return and the adventures are then played back through the puppet theater. Help the Caretaker defeat monsters in turn-based deckbuilding combat.
But what is a good dish, without good ingredients? Forage resources around town, or collect from the Caretaker upon the return from their adventure. Care for your own livestock and grow your own produce, “In Palo Pori, fresh is best!” Use your income from feeding townsfolk to purchase items from vendors. Continue to grow your eatery by creating new dishes with new ingredients and building your skill tree.
As you play you will come across different Caretakers from different areas, design meals to cater to their tastes and preferred flavors to unlock abilities. With each ingredient having a different flavor profile, adding it to a dish it creates a new card to a Caretaker’s deck. The better the dish is tailored to a Caretaker’s wants and needs, the better hand you’ll receive.
Combat
Upon the return of a Caretaker, a depiction of their battles will play through adorable scenes in a puppet theater. Now they don’t just auto-play, you must help fight the monsters through deckbuilding combat. Each card is a flavor, but also has a neutralising flavor. So not only can you beat a card with a number, but you can balance it with another flavor. A helpful wheel shown while mid battle can help you determine what flavors neutralize each other. You can even enhance your moves with additional cards. Don’t like the cards you were given or need to fill your hand, use a few health points to refill.
Pay attention to ingredients when crafting meals. Unique ingredients can cause different damage to enemies. But enemies too have special abilities, and can do harm to you as well.
Final Thoughts
I only had a small taste of what Beastro has to offer, but I cannot wait for the whole meal. It goes beyond just a deckbuilding game, and instead reaches into other genres to pull in those who normally wouldn’t try a deckbuilder. (points to self) The addition of mini games, farming and quests keeps the game fresh.
When you step into the puppet theatre, the shifting art styles create a stronger sense of storytelling rather than making it feel punishing as in other games. Beastro’s stylized art made me feel I was recounting a battle, rather than just surviving a fight.
So if you’ve been curious about deckbuilders but aren’t sure the genre is for you, give Beastro a try. It might be exactly what wins you over.
Beastro has plans to release tentatively in Spring 2026 on Steam for PC as well as Xbox One and Series X/S and Xbox Gamepass.
