Clutchtime review: A real slam dunk in the world of deckbuilding roguelikes

As a fan of deckbuilders and roguelikes, Clutchtime really was the game I needed to break up all the intense, story-driven narratives I’ve been playing lately. Don’t get me wrong, I love those kinds of games. But I needed something different, and Bigosaur, the mind behind this game, delivered exactly that. While I’m not really a basketball fan and don’t have tons of knowledge about the game, it turns out that that didn’t matter at all. Wondering why?

It's mainly because I play Magic: The Gathering, have played Slay the Spire, and understand the fundamentals of deckbuilding! It took me some time to get my groove and really dive deep into this game, but am I ever glad that I did! After all, there’s so much to love about Clutchtime.

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Clutchtime offers roguelike fans something truly unique: A deckbuilding basketball game

Clutchtime is truly something unique in the deckbuilding space — taking the fast-paced action of basketball and turning it into a turn-based card game. This isn’t something I expected to wind up loving, but I certainly did! It features a ton of locations/teams around the world, and gives them all interesting decks that you can further customize.

There are plenty of regions and teams to pick from, don't worry about that (Image via Bigosaur)

You pick a region, adjust the teams that you want to take part in, choose a tournament/game mode type, and then get right into the matches. The difficulty levels can also adjust the amount of card draw and Stamina caps, so that’s also a very important thing to consider. Each match is divided into four quarters, just like real basketball.

However, before you dive into the match, you’ll have a Pre-Game Event that permanently adds a card to your deck. You can skip this if you want, but why would you? Although each quarter lasts “12 minutes”, every time you use a card, the clock goes down by 15 seconds. That gives the two players 48 cards to use in total before a quarter ends.

You can take your time to play what you want, which is a real blessing. Any time you play a card that would score points, it automatically goes through; that is, unless your opponent has played Defensive Cards. In most deckbuilders, I just play hyper-aggressively (except MTG), because you want to deplete the enemy's life total as fast as possible.

See all those Corner 3s? Gonna make it rain three-point shots in a few turns (Image via Bigosaur)

However, your opponent scores in the same way you do, and it’s not hard at all to lose control of a game. You want to make sure you have cards like Deflect, Foul, or anything else that can stop a shot. However, sometimes these will reward your opponent with more shots. Foul grants a few Free Throws, for example, much like in real Basketball. It’s clear that Bigosaur understands the game of basketball, because Clutchtime definitely feels like the real thing.

As long as you have stamina (think of it like mana in a game like MTG) and time on the clock, you can keep playing cards. That makes cards that grant you stamina, like Rebound, incredibly valuable. The same goes for cards that offer you card draw. Ideally, you want to keep drawing and shooting as much as you can, or at least, set up ridiculous combos for later. A good example is Sticky cards. Normally, as a turn ends, you draw a new set of cards and discard what you didn’t use. But Sticky cards are a type that stick around after the turn ends.

Be careful about using Fouls; they can run down the clock and give your opponent a few extra points (Image via Bigosaur)

Corner Three is a Sticky card in Clutchtime that reduces its cost every turn it's in your hand. There are cards that also have Sticky that let you draw into these. You can stack several of these in your hand at once, and suddenly score 12-15 points in one turn, provided your opponent doesn’t have blocks set up.

That’s what I love about Clutchtime. Setting up awesome combos feels amazing, and there are ways to dump tons of points in one turn. Conversely, the NPCs can do it too! I’ve had games where I was on top, and the next thing I knew, I was 35 points behind with no comeback in sight. It feels awful to try and catch up, but as long as you’re in the lead, it’s a great feeling.

Between quarters, you can add more cards to your deck, and there are occasionally events that let you “power up” cards, such as making them cost less. There is plenty of value and chaos in Clutchtime, giving you plenty of variation and new ways to play in match after match. However, unlocking some of the other game modes is infuriating.

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Unlocking game modes takes entirely too much grinding in Clutchtime

There are four game modes in Clutchtime: Tournament, Playoffs, Season, and Full Season. Simply winning a Tournament gives you access to Season, while Playoffs unlock after winning a Tournament on the “Starter” difficulty — that means you then have to beat a Tournament on Rookie, Bench Player, and then Starter to access this mode.

Locking things behind a difficulty grind is definitely not fun for me (Image via Bigosaur)

If you want to unlock Full Season, you need to win a Season on the highest difficulty (Coach). To do so, first, you have to grind through Rookie, Bench Player, Starter, Star, Superstar, and then Coach difficulties. Each season requires you to beat nine other teams once, then win a Semi-Final and eventually, a Final game.

That is an incredible grind, just to get the “full mode,” and maybe I don’t want to play on the highest difficulty (I don’t). The gameplay could be way more enjoyable if there were an alternative method to unlock the game's full mode that didn’t involve forcing players to go through all the difficulties first.

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The visual presentation of Clutchtime is simple, but effective

This game has a simple, but satisfying aesthetic (Image via Bigosaur)

I feel like perhaps it’s for the best that Clutchtime didn’t use any legit NBA images, or from any other global Basketball league. Sure, that gives the game a more generic look, but that isn’t a big deal. It doesn’t take away from the gameplay at all. You can mod country flags and add a random name generator for all teams except the international ones.

While the game lacks when it comes to memorable music, I find this to be perfectly fine too. In games like this, I want to, more often than not, play my own music, and so I just do that instead. The presentation is simple, effective, and there’s no confusion about where things are on the screen and what they mean.

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Final Thoughts

This match turned into a real buzzer-beater (Image via Bigosaur)

Clutchtime is probably the most fun I’ve had with a deckbuilder in a while. There were moments where I felt genuine frustration — in particular, my first handful of matches — I got a handle on what I was doing, before too long. I love the gameplay of it, but I loathe the use of difficulty to gatekeep the Full Season.

This game has all the tension and stress that real basketball offers, just in a turn-based system. Sure, there are going to be moments when a comeback feels impossible, but that’s the nature of the game. What makes these games fun is making the most out of whatever you get, and turning bad hands into winning games. It’s a satisfying deckbuilder with tons of tactical possibilities and incredible combos.

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Clutchtime

Clutchtime is an enjoyable deckbuilder, bringing a fresh idea to the genre (Image via Bigosaur & Sportskeeda)

• Platforms: PC
• Reviewed On: PC (Code provided by Bigosaur)
• Developer: Bigosaur
• Publisher: Bigosaur
• Release Date: July 24, 2025

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Edited by Arundhoti Palit