This roguelike deckbuilder is software development meets Inscryption
Work for a fairytale startup, lose your soul!
Hey! How would you like to contribute to the downfall of society? I do so by regularly tuning into Love Island and/or Married At First Sight. For those of you who'd like to do your part in videogame form, dev_hell looks to be the answer. It's a first-person deckbuilding roguelike where you play as a software developer employed by a shady corporation to "reshape the future", and it's giving off strong whiffs of Inscryption. As much as I know dev_hell will be incredibly unsettling… I'm in.
Developed by Unhinged Studios (a phenomenal name), dev_hell sees you enter the clean, vibrant working space of software startup CodeNOW. And in what's quite a relatable, slightly Severance way, you'll boot up your computer and develop something with no room for questions around said thing.
Development takes the form of building a deck of cards called things like "Subroutine" and "Bandaid Solution", then pitting them against anonymous feedback and databases in duels reminiscent of Inscryption. And just as Inscryption lets you leave your captor and plod around the confines of your prison, dev_hell lets you interact with co-workers to build "positive relationships" or pick a granola bar off a kallax for buffs.
If your deck isn't good enough and you can't keep up with the onslaught of requested features before the end of each sprint, a colleague will wander up to your desk and fire you on the spot. Presumably, the roguelike loop has you re-hired or reawakened at your desk with permanent buffs to buy with your "Kudos" loyalty rewards. I imagine it's in your best interest not to bring a tuna sandwich to a meeting, or like, borrow someone's USB cable without telling them.
So, if you're keen to join the dev team and lose your soul to a mysterious client's mysterious requests… then you'll have to wait an unspecified amount of time. The game's due out sometime in 2024 and you can keep up with how it's getting on over on its Steam page.