Fruitbearer combines Suika-like chaos with deckbuilding, and I’m obsessed

I’ve always had a soft spot for games that make you drop things from the top and combine them to make bigger items, and you’d think I would know what they were called, but it’s only in the last couple of days that I’ve learned they’re known as “Suika-likes.” Anyway, that soft spot has led me to play a few over the years, but perhaps none is more striking than Fruitbearer. 

Fruitbearer by Mangobits Studios and Aika Labs is a Suika-like that doesn’t limit itself to the usual mechanics, instead throwing deckbuilder elements into the mix, and it does it well. On top of that, for my elder emo, formed-in-the-early-00s heart, the black, red, and white gothic aesthetic feels like it’s calling out to me in particular. 

A change from the norm

As we’ve established, I’ve played more than a few Suika-likes over the years, and most of them tend to have one thing in common: they’re cute. Cute characters, cute art style, cute premise. Fruitbearer isn’t conventionally cute, although some of the characters are definitely cute if you don’t mind a little weirdness mixed in. Instead, it mostly feels like someone looked inside my head, combined two things that usually should not be combined, and somehow made it work. 

Thanks to its mostly trichromatic black, white, and red color scheme and old-school pixel art style, Fruitbearer manages to feel like a trip to Hot Topic in 2005, which is absolutely a compliment when it’s coming from me, even if you think otherwise. There are pops of color from certain upgraded fruit cards, such as green strawberries, or from the score multiplier, which cycles through different colors whenever it appears. 

I think part of the reason I love Fruitbearer so much is that you can see some of its creative DNA in Mangobits Studio’s previous work. If you take a look at their Steam page, you’ll see that they released Fruit Fusion at the end of 2025. That Suika-like definitely fits the bill of cute in every way imaginable, and I have no idea how they went from that to Fruitbearer, but I’m so glad they did!

Deckbuilding that doesn’t feel redundant

Whereas most Suika-likes give you the ability to endlessly drop and combine items, Fruitbearer forces you to really think about what you’re planning to do thanks to the added deckbuilder mechanics. You can only drop three fruits or items each turn, and you only have those available in your hand to use. On top of that, some rounds pit you against an opponent who drops obstacles in the way.

Rather than aiming for a certain fruit, Fruitbearer challenges you to collect a certain amount of juice per round. Each fruit gives a certain amount of juice, with upgraded versions providing more either immediately or over time, and there are items you can purchase from vendors that boost juice production. It’s a simple premise, and it’s addictive in a way that makes me wonder why I’ve never encountered this particular take on the Suika formula before. 

I’ve played other games that combine Suika-like and deckbuilder mechanics; Dogpile is one that springs to mind, but Fruitbearer feels noticeably different. Limiting you to three drops per turn makes every placement choice feel much more important, especially when you’re working with whatever happens to be in your hand. 

Mr. Tickle, but he’s a cat

Honestly, I was going to leave this article there, because I feel like I’ve already given you enough reasons to go and try out Fruitbearer, but I don’t feel like it would be complete without telling you about my favorite character: Cat Mr. Tickle. 

Remember when I said some of the characters were cute if you don’t mind a little weirdness thrown in? When I opened up the demo and started a run, I was immediately met by a very cute tutorial guide cat who started telling me what to do. I was paying attention to his words right up until the moment he started pointing at the things he was talking about with the type of long arm that would lead me to believe he might have been attached to a medieval rack at some point. 

I can only applaud the developers for this particular design choice, because it came from so far out of left field that I immediately started laughing to the point that I couldn’t take in anything from the actual tutorial. They could have highlighted the pertinent feature with a white outline or made the important bit bigger, but instead they chose to elongate this cat's arm to impossible lengths, and that’s definitely a choice. An amazing one, but a choice nonetheless. 

Fruitbearer is set to release on September 21, 2026 (today, as I write this), and I cannot wait to dive in and lose hours to this genre-combining masterpiece that speaks to my elder emo soul. If you want to give it a try before diving in yourself, there’s also a demo available on Steam.