Slay the Spire meets Terra Nil in The Solace of Flowers, an "eco-dystopian" deckbuilder in which you cover corrupted islands with foxgloves, bees and, er, lions

Nobody does synergies like Momma Nature

The Solace of Flowers is another tactical roguelike deckbuilder, but wait! This one's also a sweet, grid-based gardening game, awash with daffodils, foxgloves, squirrels, honeybees, and other species of plant or creature I recognise from my own allotment down the road. (Have I mentioned that I have an allotment now? I feel like I've bored some of you about it before.) You even get some lion cards, but please, don't scream - this is just developers Ceiling Games being whimsical and/or poetical. Those "lions" are actually a source of dandelion seeds, ho ho. There's also a duck card that throws away your whole hand and distributes vegetation at random: I'm picturing a mallard guzzling a bunch of blackberries and pooping everywhere.

Honestly, I question the wisdom of some of the game's plant or animal characterisations, but there's no time to get picky about zoological nuance, because this is an apocalyptic world and a bunch of rancid godhands are trying to murder you.

Let me start again: The Solace of Flowers is a tactical roguelike deckbuilder in which you play cards to plant daisies, appletrees and whatnot on grid-based islands that have been corrupted by unnatural forces. The latter (so far) take the form of giant hands, sprouting from the cracked earth to swipe at your health bar. You must cover the isle in greenery to defeat them. Do so, and the island will also transform into a fully flourishing rotatable diorama.

Each plant has a specific projected growing pattern, comparable to a Tetris block. They'll only grow if you plant them near a water source, however. A cobblestone path runs through each island: at the end of every turn, a dinky watersprite ambles along it, moistening any seeded pots they pass. So you have to efficiently deploy your veg to receive water and colonise the island before those touchy-feely anomalies drag you under.

Image credit: Ceiling Games

There are also animals, which serve as wildcards and support cards. Ladybird cards act (somewhat cruelly) as a shield, accumulating like Block in Slay the Spire. Frogs move a card from the draw pile to your hand. It feels like there's a lot to consider, though after 20 minutes with the Steam demo, I'm still building up a sense of the shape-arranging "Townscaper meets Terra Nil" element. No, I refuse to say that it's growing on me. I respect you too much.

Developers Ceiling Games are based in Madird, and describe themselves as "three people making wacky games in the hope of running away from having an underpaid office job". I like your spirit, Ceiling Games. Though I fear your eccentric ideas about lions are going to get a few people eaten, especially if they find their way into Google Answers.