I love hockey. It brings me an incredible amount of joy and satisfaction! I also really enjoy playing hockey games, all the way back to when EA actually made sense. There hasn’t been a hockey game worth playing in a very long time that wasn’t riddled with microtransactions. Heck, even buying an older version of NHL isn’t possible on PC for some reason.

Enter Tape to Tape. A rogue-lite hockey tournament that goes for the arcade feel of the 90s. I am having both a blast playing AND bursting our laughing at some of the stupid combos achieved.

The concept is simple enough, pick a base team with particular characteristics (e.g. win in the 1st period, you can’t bodycheck, you only have 4 skaters) and work your way through 3 maps of challenges. Each map has 2 basic games and then a boss game. You earn various powerups/players/rogue-stuff along the path to add some really wild options. Maybe you can throw your stick. Maybe your passes are explosive. Maybe you slow down time with a slapshot. Combining some of them together can lead to slapstick moments – like passing causing explosions which clear the ice from everyone but you. I will note that the stats per player/team are impactful. You want max speed and accuracy – they are by far the most important stats.

Each team has some sort of gimmick. Maybe they are soccer players, or throw pull wires. Maybe they are refs who cheat constantly. It’s fun to have to adapt to your opponents.

I will note that sometimes, as with all rogue-lites, you’ll just get really bad luck and have to make due. Injuries notably. Oh, and you do not want to play the Canadian team, they are absolute beasts that remove most of your boosts through tariffs. I have to chuckle about this.

I’ve gone through a few cycles now and it’s really a lot of fun. Plays best with a controller… and that means SUPER well on the Steam Deck. Can’t remember the last time I smiled so much playing a video game!