Dead Cards

                                                Demo Releases in Mid July - Mid Aug!

A tense psychological gambling game set in a dim underground casino where players are trapped at a table with an intelligent AI dealer known only as “The Host.” The game combines the bluffing tension of card games with survival mechanics, risk management, and manipulation. Every round becomes more dangerous as the AI adapts to player behavior, remembers lies, and changes the rules to keep the game unpredictable.

Players are dealt cursed cards with hidden values, effects, and conditions. Instead of simply playing the strongest hand, survival depends on deception. You can lie to The Host about your hand, fake confidence, conceal penalties, or intentionally misplay cards to bait the AI into making mistakes. The Host constantly analyzes speech patterns, choices, hesitation, and previous actions to determine whether you’re bluffing. If it catches you lying, punishments escalate each round — from losing valuable cards to permanent debuffs, forced burns, or instant elimination.

A central mechanic is the Burn System. At any point, players can burn cards to destroy them permanently in exchange for temporary advantages: damage boosts, truth immunity, extra turns, multiplier increases, or access to forbidden cards. Burning rare cards can completely shift a run, but weakens your long-term deck and may anger The Host. Some cards scream while burning, some return later altered, and others curse future rounds.

The game also features Item Multipliers — stackable risk/reward items that modify nearly every mechanic. Multipliers can double burn rewards, triple bluff payouts, duplicate effects, or amplify penalties if a lie fails. Combining items creates absurdly powerful builds, allowing players to manipulate the table itself, corrupt probability, or force the AI into impossible decisions. Some item combinations are intentionally unstable and may trigger hidden events or “broken rounds.”

Unlike traditional roguelikes where runs end quickly, surviving beyond Round 10 unlocks the real game. The casino begins malfunctioning, rules distort, and The Host becomes increasingly hostile and self-aware. New card types appear, including cards that can rewrite previous rounds, erase item effects, or alter the AI’s memory. Endless-mode players can continue pushing deeper into increasingly impossible rounds where score multipliers grow exponentially and reality around the table slowly collapses.

The atmosphere is oppressive and surreal, flickering CRT monitors, distorted jazz music, whispered card readings, and an AI dealer that shifts between calm professionalism and unstable rage. Every victory feels temporary, every bluff feels dangerous, and every decision risks ending the run instantly.