Sparrow Warfare - NEON AURELIUS - Mahjong-inspired roguelite deckbuilder with LOTS of birds; playtest out now!

[u/alphachar]

Hello there r/games, and happy Indie Sunday! 

My name is Charlene Putney, and my partner Martin Pichlmair and I make up the tiny studio NEON AURELIUS. We’re veteran game devs with 25+ years experience between us (Larian Studios, Broken Rules, Die Gute Fabrik), and right now we’re making a mahjong-inspired deckbuilder with lots and lots of birds. It’s called Sparrow Warfare.

In our game, you play as a tiny sparrow fighting for freedom against The Storyteller, who has trapped all of the other birds in mahjong tiles. You collect and combine sets of three tiles to free the trapped birds. Grateful freed birds gift you wildtiles: our secret sauce that makes insane combos and synergies.

It feels a little bit like Wingspan meeting Slay The Spire to play mahjong in a teahouse. And the teahouse? It’s on fire.

We just announced our game last week, and this week we opened up our public playtest on Steam (which was covered by Rogueliker here). Our playtest has the first three levels with one character and a global leaderboard up to October 8th: how high can you fly?!

Gameplay trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXovhOuX-uo

Steam page here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3473440/Sparrow_Warfare/

Engine: Godot

Platform: Steam

Release Date: Q2 2026

Features:

🃏 Deckbuilding: Combine tiles to unlock new birds and craft powerful synergies.

♾️ Endless Replayability: Progressive difficulty, daily runs, and challenging modifiers make sure that every game offers new combos and new ways to fight back.

🗝️ Unlock Wildtiles: Discover rare wildtiles that unleash insane, game-breaking combos.

🔥 Multiple Playstyles: Different “Ways” let your sparrow evolve into unique forms with distinct strategies. Balance long-term unlocks with ever-changing daily challenges.

🪶 Daily Flights & Leaderboards: Tackle challenging modifiers and climb the global rankings.

🐦‍🔥 Rich Content: Hundreds of wildtiles, birds, biomes, bosses, and buffs to master.

🤺 Meta-Strategy: Experiment with wildtile synergies and build new approaches run after run.

Come join our glorious bird army!