Drop Duchy Preview

Drop Duchy might very well be 2025’s Balatro. An indie game that takes a familiar concept, which in this case is Tetris, and then adds layers of innovation on top, while still remaining accessible, having a catchy score, and most importantly, has a very addicting gameplay loop. These are the essential things that Balatro did and led to it being a huge sensation and one of the biggest games of 2024.

TETRIS-LIKE ROGUE-LITE

The geometric block dropping genre has been bereft of innovation for decades. The classic Tetris formula has only seen minor tweaks over the years, such as changing block to orbs or pills, but Drop Duchy seems to truly bring some variation on the timeless gameplay thanks to the addition of medieval land management, clashing armies, deck building, and rogue-lite mechanics.

The premise of Drop Duchy is fairly simple to what everyone is familiar with dating back to 1989. Try to line up blocks on the grid as they drop down into place and get rewarded for creating lines. However, here is where Drop Duchy adds in levels of medieval strategy. You aren’t just trying to create lines, you are trying to align tiles that are synergistic with other tiles.

There are two types of grids that you will find on your journey. Some grids are specifically only for collecting resources, where you need to align pieces correctly. For example during the resource phases, you will need to line up forest blocks around the lumber mill to maximize resources or how a farm can transform plains into fields for bonus resources. Collecting as many resources as possible is important because it is vital to what you do outside of the Tetris-like gameplay. You will have the ability to spend those resources on new cards to add to your deck or unlock slots, which allow you to bring more useful cards into the level. You can also trade for gold which can heal you, or upgrade cards along with many other things to do in between levels.

Then there are battle grids. The gameplay is exactly the same with lining up blocks, except now you will have military blocks to align for both you and the enemy force. For example, there is the rangers base, which will give extra units for every attached forest piece. This means that not only are you trying to line up your rangers base with as many forest tiles as possible, but you are also juggling the best way to minimize the bonuses to your enemy by not placing them near resources they need.

The journey is similar to Slay The Spire or Inscryption, where at points on your travels, you can choose which path to take. Do you skip a battle early on to choose to gather resources instead? Doing so will make the boss stronger, but will allow you to gather resources while keeping your health high. When you get to the end of each act, you will find a boss with a unique challenge. The one from the demo has a castle wall horizontally in the middle of the play grid and if you build a piece directly on it, gameplay starts before you have had a chance to maximize your armies. The other modifier on this boss is that any square left unfilled will become a huge boon for the boss and add more soldiers to their army.

In the preview, there was only access to the first act and the first faction. In the full game, there will be three factions, 5 difficulty levels, 80 unique cards that include military, technology and resource gathering. There will also be over 100 challenges and procedurally generated maps, and block combinations, which will make returning feel fresh every time.

If the gameplay wasn’t enough, Drop Duchy uses a charming, minimalist aesthetic with rivers, forests and grassy plains to go along with a serene medieval score. Furthermore, for a game like Drop Duchy to truly succeed, it needs to play and feel good on the go with handhelds and Drop Duchy feels fantastic on the Steam Deck.

TOP 25 of 2025 Most Anticipated Indie Games

Tetris is already considered one of the most addicting gameplay loops of all time, but when you combine that with the art style, score and strategy, Drop Duchy is hard to put down. I listed Drop Duchy as one of our Top 25 of 2025 Most Anticipated Indie Games and after getting a lengthy hands on preview, I still feel strongly about it.