The player drags cards on a board and stacks them on top of each other to have them interact with each other and thus craft resources, collect food, build structures, and fight creatures.

New Card Packs are unlocked by completing quests, various tasks that also act as milestones and a means to guide the player.

The de facto ultimate goal of the game is to defeat a particularly strong enemy that spawns after bringing a special item to a specific building.

A second DLC titled Stacklands 2000 was released on October 30, 2024[5] The expansion introduced industrial elements to the game, expanding on automation mechanics and systems for managing villager well-being.

PC Gamer's Christopher Livingston and Jonathan Bolding wrote favorably about the game,[6][7] as did Alice O'Connor of Rock Paper Shotgun.

[1] Polygon's Nicole Clark called it "one of the most immediately accessible and engaging card-based roguelites I've played this year.