Death Dealer is now available in Steam Early Access for Windows, combining a card table with the sort of party game that could put a strain on the group chat. UK developer Psychotronic launched the game on 12 November, with support for up to six players.
Each round starts with cards and chips, but losing does more than dent your pride. The player left at the bottom becomes the target of a hunt, getting a head start while everyone else prepares to follow. Suddenly the friends you were playing with are shopping for weapons, which is an alarming change in the evening’s atmosphere.
Surviving the chase gives the hunted player a chance to turn the tables. The premise is built around that switch between confidence and panic, with proximity chat letting nearby players hear just how calmly everybody is dealing with it.
The card game also feeds into a personal slot machine, which can award extra chips, unusual effects and modifiers. Psychotronic is explicit that no real money is involved: these are in-game systems serving the match, rather than an invitation to gamble actual cash.
Procedurally generated spaces are part of the setup, with casino and hospital environments among the locations described for the launch. Between changing layouts, the equipment available to the hunters and the uncertainty at the table, a poor round can become a very different problem once the alarms begin.
This is an Early Access release, so further development remains ahead. It should be approached as an evolving multiplayer game rather than a finished promise that every future idea is already included, particularly if you are organising several friends around a purchase.
The UK Steam price is currently £4.02 after a 38% launch discount, against a regular price of £6.49. You can check the latest offer on the official Steam page or see more from Psychotronic. If your usual games night could use a little more screaming and considerably less trust, that is the arrangement on offer.