In Stacklands, a village-building game played entirely with cards, you start with one villager and a few basic resources. You grow your village by dragging cards onto each other. When two cards meet, they combine into something new, so a villager placed on a berry bush produces berries your people can eat.
Time moves in Moons, and at the end of each one, your villagers have to eat or some of them starve. To keep growing, you sell cards for coins, and coins buy Card Packs of new cards with themes like cooking, farming or building. Idea cards show the recipes, such as stacking wood, stone and a villager to build a house.
Enemies come through portals, and when a villager runs into one, a fight starts on its own. Weapons and teamwork improve the odds, and if every villager dies, the game is over. Quests are milestones that unlock new packs, and the final goal is defeating a strong enemy that appears after you bring a special item to a certain building. If you want a calmer game, the settings let you make Moons longer or turn enemies off.
- Developer
- Sokpop Collective
- Publisher
- Sokpop Collective
- Release
- macOS: 2022-04-08 · Windows: 2022-04-08 · Nintendo Switch: 2024-03-28
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch
Collectibles
Base Game Cards
The base game cards are the original set of Stacklands cards, covering villagers, resources, food, structures, ideas, creatures, equipment, locations and rumors, plus the Order & Structure update. Players collect them by selling cards for coins, buying packs, exploring locations and beating enemies. Ideas work as recipes for new cards, and several cards, including the Temple and Golden Goblet, tie into the game's main goal.
Island Cards
The Island update, released in 2022, added the Island cards to Stacklands. You reach the Island by Rowboat once you finish the main questline, and you buy Island packs with Shells. The cards cover fishing and food, Glass and Gold, and the snakes and pirates you meet there.
Dark Forest Cards
Dark Forest cards are the cards added to Stacklands with the November 2022 Dark Forest update, covering Villagers, Equipment, Mobs and Ideas. You reach the Dark Forest through Strange, Rare or Stable Portals, and you fight there in waves with up to seven Villagers. Some of its Equipment cards come from the monsters you beat, including the Magic Broom from the Wicked Witch.
Cursed Worlds Cards
Cursed Worlds is Stacklands' first add-on, and its cards come from three challenge worlds: Sadness, Greed and Death. The cards cover villagers, food, enemies, equipment, and the spirits and curses that drive each world. Some are crafted from other ingredients, while others drop from enemies, so the in-game Cardopedia is the easiest place to track what you still need.
Stacklands 2000 Cards
Stacklands 2000 is the second expansion for Stacklands, and its cards turn the village into a modern city that needs steady power, water and wellbeing. The cards cover workers, ideas, structures, resources, food, mobs, weather, disasters, events, landmarks and rumors. Weather, disaster and event cards arrive in the Wild Weather pack, which shows up every few moons. Players can track the full set in the game's Cardopedia.
Stacklands Controls
| Action | Desktop |
|---|---|
| Stack or move a card | Left-click and drag |
| Drag a whole stack | Shift + left-click and drag |
| Pause | Space |
| Change game speed | Tab, or 1 / 2 / 3 |
| Move the camera | W A S D |
| Zoom | + / - |
| Open the Quests and Ideas log | Q |
| Sell the held card | Backspace |
Stacklands gameplay tips
- Pause before you rearrange a busy board. Cards and animals keep moving, so pausing lets you reorganize stacks and reassign villagers without pressure.
- Buy the Humble Beginnings pack when your villagers run out of work. It costs 3 Coins and supplies the basic materials you need, so your villagers have something to do while you plan your next step.
- Let rabbits live and plant on their droppings. Rabbit droppings work like soil, so you can grow vegetables or fruit on them and multiply your food.
- Build Sheds before you hit the card limit. A Shed takes 1 Wood, 1 Stone, 1 Stick and a Villager, and each one raises your card cap by 4, so you don't have to sell everything you've made.
- Have at least two militia ready, and send your fighters in together. Several fighters improve your odds far more than one fighter alone.