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Thanks for playing, Im glad you enjoyed. The lack of enemy HP is on purpose. We tried to go for a more vague health/damage values and directions like the original Binding of Isaac. 

What an amazingly creative game. The art is absolutely stunning, especially for a 4-day jam. We went for a similar art style, so it is super impressive how polished you managed to make the whole game. I really love the amount of features you managed to add to the game, and I love the soundboards especially. My only nitpick is that I wish there were more of a difficulty curve/ways to mess up with harsher penalties. But for a jam game, this is super impressive. Great work :)

Thanks for playing, I am glad you enjoyed. Yeah initially we did have more of a narrative arc/progression in mind, but a lot of it got cut out due to time constraints 

Thanks for playing, I am glad you enjoyed :)
Also, for legal reasons, it's actually the "Vase of Greed" haha

Our team had a really similar source of inspiration (Greek-themed deckbuilder), and it's so interesting to see such a different execution on that idea. Really fun to balance the health and time mechanics. I like that the enemies can steal the time you have left as well, so you really gotta react to their attacks

Omg thank you so much :)) Our team worked super hard on it, so it feels amazing to see people enjoying the game! We are thinking of developing further, not sure if we will reach a full release or anything (I am incredibly bad at working on games past the jam haha), but definitely want to add more cards, enemies, and just generally create a stronger sense of progression

Thanks for playing and giving such a thoughtful response. I am glad you liked how our art style fit the gameplay/narrative. You might have been the first to notice that motif, or at least the first one to point it out xd

Thanks for playing and I am glad you enjoyed our take on the theme :)

There is actually a way to save cards for the next turn. There is a card called "Avarice" that makes it so that you don't discard cards at the end of turns. But we noticed that it is pretty inconsistent on what cards people get offered in their playthroughs, so a lot of players unfortunately end runs without seeing 3-4 cards even once sadly. Looking forward, we are thinking of a more "controlled randomness" type solution to make sure people get to see and play every card in their run 

Thanks for playing the game and for the thoughtful comment. It sounds like you have run into and used the "Hubris" card. The description says something like "Break all defenses," which includes your own! At the cost of not being able to cast any more defensive cards for the encounter, all your enemies take double damage basically. I am sorry this wasn't communicated clearly haha

Won on my last life. Really fun concept with the countdown and multiple runs. I almost wish the gun choices were randomized instead of having to pick a gun to give more of a roguelike feel to it. 

Really interesting take on the theme. I like the zooming mechanics a lot, feels good to use but also using it strategically to make sure to pick up keys and clocks works well. Only main gripe was having to press to move while not zooming, wish I could just hold and move automatically haha

Took a little bit of time to understand what was happening, but fun when you get how the UI works. Super funny concept and love that you did easter eggs for the game

Thanks for playing, it was fun watching you play the game :))

Deck of Damocles was made in 96 hours for the GMTK Game Jam 2026, under the theme "Countdown." It is a roguelike deckbuilder where the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head acts as both the health and primary resource for cards, counting down your mortality. Sacrifice cards strategically to delay your demise, while also having the tools necessary to overcome any obstacle.

Play the game here: https://akoreyu.itch.io/deck-of-damocles

Now THIS is podracing. I really love the sound and the driving feels pretty satisfying :)

Yeah, I wish we just didn't have damage values in the cards at all. We wanted to go for the old-school roguelike feeling of trying to figure out what things do by playing them. The terminology is vague on purpose to encourage multiple attempts and experimenting, haha. The first change I wanna make to the game is just remove all the numbers from the game basically xd

The cover art is hilarious haha. I really like holding your breath underwater as a countdown mechanic. The swimming was a bit hard to get used to, especially since it was hard to tell if I was moving or not at times, but I managed to beat it with maxed-out bubble fish :)

Really love Gumbo haha. I have seen a couple of rhythm games so far, but this is the first one I have played that incorporates a countdown to a specific beat mechanic. Just wish there were more twists per enemy beyond the double beats and the rhythm changing

Love the art style and the concept of the in-game mechanisms being tied with time is really cool. I had an idea similar to this while brainstorming, so it makes me happy to see it executed to such a good degree :)

I have seen quite a few sokkoban-type puzzles this jam, but the limited moves and the bubble system here really make it stand out. Good job

Hands down my favorite entry this year! Incredible art and amazing humor. Super creative twists and takes on the core loop. The last boss was so creative oh my god. Amazing work, hope to see this one in the video :))

Thank you for playing and I am glad you had fun :) We really want to keep building more complexity and content for the game in the future, hoping to break my bad habit of not doing post-jam updates this year lol

I am happy you enjoyed our game, we put a lot of hard work into it. I agree, I wish we could have made more strategy and unique interactions for the cards and enemies. But our gameplay loop got finalized pretty close to the deadline, and we definitely did not playtest & balance enough hehe

Thanks for playing, im glad you enjoyed the game :) Yeah, we hid the sword on purpose because we wanted players to miss it initially and then have like an "Oh crap" moment once they realize, but that concept didn't really fit a jam playthrough that well haha

Thanks for checking us out and giving such thoughtful feedback. Yeah, we are considering building the game further, potentially with more cards, enemies, and synergies. I have so many more ideas for cool Greek-themed cards and mechanics cooking :))

Yeah we had a lot of fun working with the ancient greek theater theme, such a goldmine for ideas and inspirations

Thanks for playing, really glad you enjoyed the game and our take on the theme

Entered the road with 16... Left with 3... I will never emotionally recover from this

What a hauntingly beautiful take on the theme this is. Counting down your children... I had a lot of fun with it, the atmosphere is built super well! Easily one of the best, if not the best, art this jam so far :) Outstanding work

Something better happen when it hits zero bro. I swear. If nothing happens, I can't be held accountable for my actions

Interesting mechanic and good level of polish in the game. I feel like there were some cards that kinda felt useless in some of my runs, but maybe that was just bad luck. Great job overall

At first I thought the bomb chickens were the only enemies, then I saw psychic chickens, skeletons, and even cyborg from xmen lol. Super fun gameplay loop that turns chaotic incredibly fast, really enjoyed playing it 

What an absolutely bonkers idea. Not the biggest fan of the enemy healing mechanic, but this was super super fun gameplay and an incredibly polished experience! Amazing work

Pretty unique style, I really dig it! I also like how the mini-gun encourages you to get closer to enemies to maximize your damage. Wish there was more variety in the upgrades though

Absolutely amazing art, atmosphere, and concept. However, I just could not get the game to work for the life of me. I tried placing the items on the tables next to the beds, on the beds, running into the doctor, or throwing it at him. Maybe I am missing something, but I could not figure it out after a dozen tries :(

Love the puns and the narrative. Solid entry

Thank you for playing. I absolutely loved your game as well

Genuinely such a genius concept. At first I was like "oh this mechanic is pretty simple" but had to eat my words pretty early on. Just the fact that you have to run out the moves and can only hold one clock at a time can be made into super interesting and surprisingly challenging puzzles. Really enjoyed it

Happy to hear that the inspiration is coming through well! We are all lovers of the "Vase of Greed" here as well haha

I am glad you enjoyed, I really liked your game as well :)