DOG WITCH is a roguelike deckbuilding game of dice starring a dog witch and an evil wizard. Developed by Heckmouse and published by Mystic Forge, DOG WITCH was released on November 5th, 2025. Sporting over 150 unique items, testing out new strategies is exciting, even if those strategies don’t pan out the way you thought they would. With a deceivingly simplistic design and game mechanics, DOG WITCH offers a surprising but not frustrating challenge. As your progress through each stage and zone, you will encounter some wacky looking enemies, from milk people popping out of a milk vending machine, a swarm of angry bees, a trio of triangles and a TV displaying the nature channel.
DOG WITCH aims to give deckbuilding players a short but difficult challenge. As someone whose familiar with games such as Slay the Spire and Balatro, I found DOG WITCH to be a charming challenge. The game is easy to learn but difficult to master. It took me quite a few tries before I could even reach the final boss, and then a few more tries to actually be able to defeat the wizard. DOG WITCH also offers different levels of difficulties by the way of different witch hats to wear, which will make runs easier and harder depending on your preference. DOG WITCH might not be a game that will have you playing for months, but it’s an enjoyable experience nonetheless. So, get those friendly summons ready, it’s time to discuss DOG WITCH!
The Story & Gameplay Mechanics: Simple but Effective
As mentioned, you play the game as a dog who is also a witch. When starting a new run, an angry wizard scolds you for being a bad dog. He then disappears through a portal. Obviously, our precious pooch is anything but a ‘bad dog’ so we must make our way through a forest, desert and mountains to confront the wizard. When it comes to lore, that’s about as far as it goes. I personally didn’t mind though, as this game doesn’t seem like the type that would need a whole lot of lore to keep players interested. There’s enough here to give me a sense of ‘purpose’ to pursue the evil wizard.
Gameplay is simple and straightforward. Each turn, you roll five (can be increased) die that have six different faces each. The book charges your wand’s power and will decrease upon taking damage. The wand is your ‘main’ attack source, depending on your strategy. Bones provide a shield to your dog. Mana crystals charge your mana, which allows you to cast special spells once the mana is full. You are able to summon friends to battle alongside you and can grow most of them by stacking. Finally, you can try to stun enemies, which will become easier with each stun attempt. You also have two re-rolls, in case you did not get what you need. It feels important to mention that you are not able to lock a die roll, so use what you need when you can.
Enemy actions are displayed above them. After you use all five die or run out of usable die actions, the enemy takes their turn and perform the actions displayed. This can include status effects such as poison, direct damage, summoning, or shielding. You can hover over most if not all elements in the game to learn what they do. Overall, learning the gameplay mechanics is a breeze.
The dog witch only has 13 health, which isn’t a lot considering the amount of damage enemies can dish out. An all-out-offense might not be the best strategy and it will be vital that you plan accordingly. Since you can charge your wand and mana, I found that playing defensively while powering up in the first round or two to be a safe strategy. I also enjoyed summoning friends to assist in my battles, as they can deal some strong damage or at least be meat shields.
After winning each stage, you are then able to choose an upgrade. The upgrade can be upgrading one of your six die face items, such as bones with special effects or better summons. Upgrades can also include gear that offer unique passive effects. After completing a boss battle at the end of a zone, your health will be fully restored. You will also be offered a corrupted upgrade. These provide one of your pre-existing upgrades with a strong effect at the cost of some of your health. Overall, the gameplay in DOG WITCH allows for interesting strategies that require a level of planning that might not be apparent at first glance. Though it is fun and entertaining to try out different strategies, there isn’t a way to brute force them into working necessarily as facing the ‘You Are Dead’ screen will probably pop up more often than not.
The RNG: Perhaps a bit Ruff
My go-to strategy was to focus on defense as I stacked summons and select upgrades that helped power them up. This is of course just one of many possible strategies to go for. Even a summon strategy alone can vary due to the many possible upgrade selections. Remember, there’s over 150 unique items to come across! Though there was a fair amount of repeat upgrades in the beginning, new items would pop up allowing for new strategies to take place. I never felt like I was running into the same thing over and over, as if the game was forcing me into one direction or another.
However, I did notice that occasionally, the RNG in this game seemed to work against the player. For example, I would roll a die that I didn’t want to use, such as a mana crystal. I would of course attempt to re-roll this, but would end up with the same mana crystal after both attempts. I know rolling the same face on a die three times in a row is certainly possible. However, after a few times of this happening, it was feeling a bit off statistically. There would also be turns where I wouldn’t get a die face I wanted at all on any of the five die, no matter the times I would try to re-roll. Again, certainly possible but it feels a bit against the player rather than a true ‘RNG’ experience.
Unfortunately, poor RNG was the reason why many of my runs failed rather than poor strategic planning. This could just be part of the game’s challenge of course. However, without any way to try and improve the RNG in my favor, it did become a tad bit defeating at times. A perfectly sound strategy could fail completely if the RNG does not work in your favor, which feels more so a way for the game to have longevity. If RNG was easier, people would beat the game after only a few tries. This may lead to players becoming bored despite the various achievements to collect and new witch hats to try out.
They did recently release an upgrade that includes a Demon Puppy hat to ‘soften’ the RNG. To me, this says something positive about the developers at Heckmouse. RNG seems to be the main concern according to steam reviews. By releasing something in response to this, it shows that the developers are listening to players. I personally have not tried the new hat yet, but I can certainly appreciate and applaud the developers for listening to their player-base and providing updates in response.
The Graphics & Audio: Smooth Jazz and Dog Customization
I’m a big fan of character customization and am super happy that DOG WITCH includes this. Being able to customize your dog, selecting different furs (dog breeds), size, chonk level and bark sound is a simple but super enjoyable aspect before each run. You are able to create some cute mini-pooches, some oh-lawd-he-coming chonksters or even one similar to your own precious pup at home. It’s sweet and simple and I really enjoyed this.
I also really enjoyed the character designs as well, whether it be friend or foe. The first time I went against the triangle trio, I had to show my partner their cute angry little faces. Fighting alongside two little skeletons was super cute as they teetered in anticipation. Even the bald angry wizard calling us a bad dog had a cute little charm. Graphically, the game is super pleasing and probably does not require much demand on your computer. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if a mobile port came at a later date so that you could play on the go, beyond the usage of the Steam Deck which this is compatible with.
The audio is very pleasing as well. The smooth jazz background music mixed with the various sound effects blended nicely to my ears. Most importantly, clicking on your dog causes them to bark. When it comes to the audio and the graphics, I have no complaints. The developers hit the mark when it comes to these areas! DOG WITCH is a sweet and charming game that certainly drew me in!
The Conclusion: Short, Sweet, Simple with a whole lot of Barks
Having had a full release earlier this month and already receiving its first update, I’m excited to see where DOG WITCH might go! A post-launch roadmap promises major updates in December, January and in March. I am eagerly anticipating a ton more content, customization, and strategies to try out! I could also see some modding potential and a mobile port, if the developers decide to open those doors for their player base. If not, I still think DOG WITCH has a lot going for it. It will certainly be a game I come back to from time to time to see how things are going. Overall, despite the challenges presented by RNG, I had a ton of fun playing this one!
Heckmouse deserves an A+ for their game and I hope they continue to listen to their player-base for feedback. Though this game may not have the longevity, I think it is super fun for what it does offer. I hope that future updates only enhance the experience. If you have a dog at home, remember to give them an extra squeeze today. You never know what evil wizards might be taunting them!
Thank you for reading and protect those pooches!
