Master of Puppets (v1.3.43)

A battlefield of shifting maps and customizable machines gives Master of Puppets the feel of a compact tactical war game built around smart card play. It is an indie turn-based strategy experience where every decision starts in your hand, then plays out across contested planetary terrain. You command a growing force of mechs, balancing territorial defense, resource collection, treasure hunting, and direct attacks against hostile units. The tone is methodical rather than frantic, rewarding players who enjoy planning several turns ahead and adapting when a useful card does not appear at the perfect moment.

Each turn revolves around playing cards that create, improve, and shape your mechanical squad. Once deployed, mechs move around a board of strategic locations, where positioning matters as much as raw firepower: a unit sent after loot may leave a valuable resource point exposed, while a defensive formation can slow an enemy advance. Cards do more than summon units, as they can be fused, forged, and upgraded to refine a deck around preferred tactics. Four mission types keep objectives from becoming purely about wiping out opponents, while the escalating maps demand more efficient use of resources and a clearer understanding of your deck’s strengths.

Master of Puppets stands out by tying deck building directly to map control instead of treating cards as isolated combat effects. Its campaign structure offers authored story scenarios alongside procedurally generated runs, with each generated campaign spanning three planets and 54 maps of rising difficulty. Unlocking locations expands the available card pool, and the roster of 86 cards provides room for experimenting with different mech combinations and upgrade paths. Players who like the tactical positioning of Into the Breach but want more deck construction and long-form progression should find plenty to dig into, while genre newcomers can start with handcrafted content before testing their endurance in the repeatable campaign mode.