What do you need help with?
- I cannot play a card. Check energy, targets and conditions.
- I need a tool to open something. Decide whether another draw is worth the risk.
- I am losing health between fights. Check Rest warnings and plan recovery.
- My killing-hit bonus did not trigger. Recheck the finishing attack.
- I want to stop playing. Reach a save point before quitting.
Start with the next decision
Learn what your current hand can do before chasing a complicated combo. Shroom and Gloom connects exploration, combat and card growth: your decisions between fights help shape the tools you bring into the next one.
- Explore the dungeon. Use the Explore Deck to navigate and modify your cards.
- Fight with the Combat Deck. Read the effect and eligible target of each card before playing it.
- Improve your tools. Grow and modify cards as you progress, then use the stronger deck in later encounters.
- Learn across runs. The launch includes quests that open up more characters and content.
Start simple: learn to finish fights, recover health and leave rooms before optional loot becomes too expensive.
Understand both halves of your deck
Combat Deck: solve the fight
Use attacks to finish fights and food to recover. Before playing a card, check its target and whether it rewards a killing hit, eating, or another action.
Explore Deck: shape what comes next
This deck is used to navigate dungeons, modify cards and unlock weapons or abilities. When choosing a reward, check whether it serves the exploration problem in front of you or helps your future combat plan.
A practical opening-fight routine
- Read intent before spending energy. Separate an enemy’s health from the damage it is about to deal. A Timid enemy may cancel its attack when damaged. If that is the rule shown in your encounter, a small hit can prevent an attack without needing a kill.
- Choose who gets the finishing blow. If your Roast makes food on a fatal hit or Hungry Blade grows after a kill, plan which reward you need. Bring a target into range with another attack, then finish with the card whose reward you need.
- Leave room to use the reward. A food-producing kill is most useful when the resulting card can support your next decision. Check its cost and whether you need recovery, a food trigger or supplies for exploration.
- Recalculate before ending the turn. Compare the remaining enemy intent with your health. Avoid spending a limited-use effect on a target your ordinary attacks can already handle safely.
This is a decision routine, not a fixed opening hand: enemy traits, modified damage and the character’s deck can change the right order.
Give each new card a reason to stay
As a starting rule, ask three questions when evaluating a card:
- Can I pay for it? Read its current cost and any condition attached to its effect.
- Does it solve a problem? Look for a clear role, such as an attack, recovery or exploration utility.
- Does it fit the cards I already have? Judge a conditional effect by whether you can actually trigger it.
Plan recovery alongside damage
Eat enemies to recover health, or use roasted enemies in soups. Check how much a food card heals before spending it, especially if another card rewards you for eating.
Re-read cards after they grow
Cards can be modified and grown. A name alone is not enough to identify the exact effect of your version. Compare the current text, especially after an upgrade, with any guide you are following.
Loot the room without losing the run
Before searching an exploration room, identify both the reward you want and a way to leave. A flexible tool may open a chest or the exit; using your last suitable tool on optional loot can force an expensive redraw.
For example, if a dig site is visible but no digging card is in hand, compare the displayed Rest consequence with the uncertain reward. Leave when that gamble would use the health you need for the next fight. If you stay, decide in advance what you are trying to draw and reassess after each rest.
Review the room’s Warmth and Threat indicators before every rest. A safe first rest does not make later rests safe. See Rest, Warmth & Threat for the full checklist.
When a run goes wrong
Why can’t I play this card?
Start with the card’s current cost and target. Having a card in your hand does not mean you can use it on every enemy or object.
- Check your remaining energy. Count what you have now, after your previous plays, rather than what you had at the start of the turn.
- Read the target and conditions. Check what the card can affect and whether its effect needs another action first.
- Re-plan the turn. If you cannot afford the full sequence, choose a useful play you can finish. During exploration, check the room warning before using Rest to refresh resources.
What if I do not have the tool I need?
Separate optional loot from your way out. Before spending your last suitable tool on a chest or another reward, check whether you need it to leave the room.
- If you can leave: compare the possible reward with the health and resources another Rest could cost. You do not need to pursue every optional reward.
- If you need another card: identify the tool you are looking for, inspect the Rest warning and reassess after each draw. An extra draw does not guarantee the right tool.
Which Explore cards should you look for?
These examples are from the official August 2026 preview. Match your current card text to the action the object requires.
- Shovel: digging or breaking
- One tool covers either action. Before spending it on optional loot, check whether a remaining obstacle needs the same tool.
- Screwdriver: fixing or unlocking
- Look for an object that accepts one of those actions. An unlock effect is useful for a lock; it is not automatically a substitute for digging or breaking.
- Dark Crystal: revealing and storing Gloom
- This is a different job from opening a lock. Check its remaining uses before relying on it again; the preview’s counter is not a promise of how many uses a fresh copy has.
- Heave: a zero-energy break option
- The preview card breaks an eligible object without spending energy, but it Exhausts. Account for that limit before choosing it over another break tool.
- Dog Food: feeding or healing
- Its two options let you choose between feeding and recovering health. Compare what the current interaction offers with how urgently you need healing; do not assume feeding every creature gives the same reward.
See these cards in the official preview at 05:30. This hand is an example, not a full starting deck.
Why am I losing health when I rest?
Exploration Rest is not a guaranteed heal. Check the room’s warning, Warmth and Threat before resting again; a previously safe rest does not guarantee the next one is safe.
If you need health, look at the food and healing effects you already have. Read their costs and recovery amounts, then decide whether to recover now or leave optional loot behind. Do not keep resting simply because the action sounds restorative.
Why didn’t my Fatal bonus trigger?
The attack with the Fatal effect needs to land the killing hit. Lowering an enemy’s health with that attack and then killing it with a different one does not meet that condition.
Before playing the finisher, compare its current damage with the target’s remaining health. Use earlier attacks to bring the target into range, and keep enough energy for the finisher itself.
Can I quit now without losing progress?
The Early Access launch announcement says progress saves after winning a fight or escaping a dungeon. Reach one of those points before quitting if you want to keep the progress from that encounter.
Do not assume that quitting halfway through a fight or room keeps every action you just took. Read the save-and-quit explanation →
Common traps to avoid
- Choosing only for damage. Consider the exploration and recovery tools your run still needs.
- Assuming Rest means healing. Exploration Rest can put your health at risk. Read the current room warning; do not confuse the action with a healing card.
- Forcing a named build. A combo recommendation is only useful when the right cards and conditions are available.
- Following an old unlock checklist. Demo progress and Early Access quest requirements should not be treated as interchangeable.
Find the answer you need next
Back from the Demo? See what changed in Early Access, including save points and the new pathway.
Use Cards to find a card, Builds to plan your picks, or Mechanics to look up a keyword.