Mr Magpie's Harmless Card Game is Minesweeper but a deckbuilder where you're trapped in a horrible murder-lift

On a long enough timeline, perverse game devs will find a way to turn absolutely everything into a deckbuilder. Now? It's Minesweeper's turn. As we just caught at the PC Gaming Show, Mr Magpie's Harmless Card Game, developed by Giant Light Games and now published by Behaviour, is an actually-not-so-harmless card-based take on everyone's favourite mine-clearing game, in which a horrible felt man repeatedly executes you in a lift.

It looks great, is what I'm saying—askew and off-putting in all the right ways. You're trapped in an elevator with a terrible puppet and your job is to earn enough money to escape or, ah, get shot to death. A metaphor for capitalism, then. Got it.

Your puppet overlord presents you with a table filled with cards. Your job is to turn over the nice ones—the ones that earn you money and add positive modifiers—while avoiding the JERRY cards. JERRY cards kill you. Do not turn over JERRY cards. The goal is to no longer be in the lift: "Mr. Magpie thinks you can't afford his unreasonably expensive elevator. Prove him wrong."

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So, yes, Minesweeper, but you can stack the deck. The game's metaprogression layer revolves around doing just that, using money to buy perks and stuff your deck with boons that will strengthen your odds in runs to come. The vibes are very good, by which I mean deeply uncomfortable, and I suspect if you have the sort of mind that found itself ensnared for months by Balatro you have a lengthy date with Mr Magpie's lift coming up.

There's no release date on this one just yet, but you can keep an eye on its progress via—where else?—its Steam page. You can also get some Dead By Daylight rewards themed around the game, if you're one of those goshdarned kids who loves their Dead By Daylight.

Check out everything revealed at the PC Gaming Show.

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.