The Devil’s Due, a poker roguelite where cheating isn’t optional, is out on Steam from Norwegian studio Games People Play.
You lose your soul in a poker match with the Devil. The only way out of Hell is to beat an army of demons inspired by the seven deadly sins, and playing fair won’t get you there.
According to Games People Play’s press release, the game is out on Steam for $14 USD (regional pricing may vary). The studio had announced a 10 November launch, and a 20% launch discount runs for the first two weeks.
Battles are one-on-one poker fights. The strength of your hand sets the damage you deal, and the sum of your cards’ values is your defence. Cheating tips the odds: you can conceal and swap cards mid-battle, boost card values, and sabotage the enemy’s hand. Every trick raises your opponent’s suspicion meter, though, and overuse makes them lash out.
Between fights, you plan your next run, visit shops you can scam, and play minigames that hide chances to cheat. Death means starting over, but each run earns permanent upgrades, new cheat cards, relics, and strategies. Each level opens with the Devil laying out tarot cards that set your route through monster and boss fights, shops, healing shrines, and minigames. The animation takes its cue from Monty Python.
The goal was to make poker feel like poker. Not an abstract optimization puzzle.
Jack Kristoffersen, game designer at Games People Play
Kristoffersen made that point in an earlier release from the studio. He founded Games People Play with Joachim Barrum, and the two friends have made games together for more than 30 years. Their previous game, SpreadCheat, reached Steam in May.
The Devil’s Due joins a growing list of card-driven Steam roguelites. Tbreak has also covered the roguelite deckbuilder RPG Annihilated and a deckbuilder playtest for SuperBird.
The free demo is on Steam. The Steam page lists 13 languages, including English, Japanese, and Turkish, and no other platform has been announced beyond PC.
