Info about Dice With Death:

Official game description:
                                
**A Dice Poker based strategic game of risk and reward!**
             I am afraid you have passed into the world beyond our own. Before you get there however, Death has offered to give you time to process your demise through means of some friendly competition.
**Engage in a game of Dice with the mysterious entity** - collect new dice and their paired relics to warp your rolls into ever increasing layers of power and complexity. Bank your points to deal damage to your opponent, and pass before you push your luck too far or you'll lose it all!
**Unlock new classes and experiment with their core mechanics**, unlock new relics and even dialogue paths with your mythical foe to influence the outcome!

Release date: Mar 16, 2026

Categories: Dice-based Gameplay, Roguelike, Turn-based Strategy, Deckbuilding, Risk vs Reward Gameplay, Meta Progression, Choice-based Narrative, Single-player

Feature scans:
- Steam Deck: score 50; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant performance issues with the game on the Steam Deck, particularly related to its playability on Linux. Controller support is also a notable concern, with users reporting messy and suboptimal controls. However, there are positive experiences reported as well, particularly with the trackpad and overall performance on Linux. These insights highlight areas for improvement to enhance the user experience on the Steam Deck.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $5.00 - $20.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence shows that users generally find the game worth the money, with specific mentions of the price range of $5-$20 being fair for the content provided. Multiple reviews highlight that the game is worth the price of admission and recommend it at the current price point, suggesting a fair base-game price range.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 2.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 0.5h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provided gives a clear indication of the typical playtime metrics. The quotes mentioning 'A full run takes about 30-40 minutes' and 'Each run... takes about 20 minutes' suggest that a typical session length is around 20-40 minutes. The quote 'I've beaten Death three times now in 2 hours' indicates that the game completion time can be relatively short, especially for skilled players. However, there is no direct evidence provided for the story completion or endgame hours, hence those values are marked as null.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game becomes fun and addictive after players pass the initial tutorial phase and learning curve, with a full run taking about 30-40 minutes.
  - Stance: Fun after learning curve
  - Anchor: Unlocking most of the options and getting past the learning curve.
  - Time to anchor: 0h 30m
  - Friction: Tutorial phase; Learning curve; Tedious unlocking process
  - Unlock drivers: Unlocking diverse relics and dice; Satisfying combos; Achievement hunting
  - Conditions: Addictive gameplay loop; Challenging gameplay; Replayability
- Player Archetypes:
  - Quality Assurance Tester (sale)
    - Motivation: Sees potential but wants a polished experience.
    - Playstyle: Analytical and critical, focusing on game performance and content depth.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: early access player; bug reporter
    - Reference games: Balatro; Slay the Spire
  - Supportive Early Adopter (buy)
    - Motivation: Enjoys the game's current state and supports its development.
    - Playstyle: Casual and supportive, enjoying the game's unique interactions and chill atmosphere.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: early access supporter; dice game enthusiast
    - Reference games: Balatro; Yahtzee
  - Strategic Risk Manager (buy)
    - Motivation: Enjoys the strategic and risk management aspects of the game.
    - Playstyle: Strategic and calculated, focusing on risk management and decision-making.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: strategy gamer; risk manager
    - Reference games: Balatro; Nubby's Number Factory
  - Casual Relaxation Seeker (buy)
    - Motivation: Seeks a relaxing and casual gaming experience.
    - Playstyle: Casual and relaxed, enjoying short bursts of gameplay and a chill atmosphere.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: casual gamer; relaxation seeker
    - Reference games: Yahtzee; Balatro


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Enjoyable and fun gameplay (weight 0.44): Players consistently report that the game is enjoyable and fun to play. The gameplay mechanics are engaging and provide a satisfying experience.
- Satisfying core gameplay loop (weight 0.35): The core gameplay loop is described as satisfying, addictive, and fun. Players enjoy the short and sweet nature of the gameplay loop, which keeps them engaged.
- Great roguelike elements (weight 0.24): The game is praised for its roguelike elements, which are found to be interesting, engaging, and highly replayable. Players appreciate the unique dice-roller mechanics within the roguelike framework.
- Good value for money (weight 0.2): The game is considered to be good value for money. Players feel that it is worth the price and offers a fair pricing model.
- Simple and easy to understand (weight 0.19): The game is noted for being simple to understand and easy to get into. The mechanics and basics are well explained, making it accessible for new players.
- Fun and satisfying combos (weight 0.19): Players enjoy the variety of fun and satisfying combos available in the game. These combos add depth and replay value, making the gameplay experience more enjoyable.
- Responsive developers (weight 0.17): The developers are noted for being responsive to player feedback and bug reports. This responsiveness enhances the overall gaming experience and shows a commitment to improving the game.
- Variety of dice and relics (weight 0.17): The game offers a huge variety of dice and relics, which add depth and keep the challenge up. Players appreciate the unique abilities and the depth they add to the gameplay.
- Addictive gameplay (weight 0.15): The game is described as incredibly fun and addictive. Players find it surprisingly fun and deceptively addictive, making it hard to put down.
- Variety of builds (weight 0.14): Players enjoy the variety of builds available in the game. This variety adds dimensions to the gameplay and allows for different playstyles.
- Cool art style (weight 0.12): Players appreciate the cool and unique art style of the game. The art style adds to the overall aesthetic and appeal of the game.
- Engaging interactions with Death (weight 0.1): Players enjoy the interactions with the character Death. These interactions are found to be engaging, fun, and add a unique element to the game.
- Outstanding dialogue (weight 0.1): The dialogue in the game is praised for being hysterical, atmospheric, and outstanding. It adds depth and personality to the game.

Common complaints:
- Game lacks depth and content (weight 0.28): Many players find the game boring and repetitive, citing a lack of depth, difficulty, and overall content. The game is often described as shallow and getting stale quickly.
- Death character cheats (weight 0.27): Players express frustration with the Death character, who is perceived to cheat with dice mechanics. Death is often seen as having unfair advantages, such as extra dice and the ability to negate or steal player dice.
- Balancing issues (weight 0.15): Players frequently mention that the game needs better balancing and refinement. The current balance is often described as off or wacky, requiring significant updates and adjustments.
- Frustrating RNG mechanics (weight 0.14): The game's reliance on RNG (Random Number Generation) is a common complaint. Players find the RNG mechanics frustrating and unfair, which can significantly impact gameplay.
- More characters needed (weight 0.11): There is a strong demand for more characters to be added to the game. Players feel that the current number of characters is insufficient and limits gameplay variety.
- Slow animation pacing (weight 0.1): The game's animations are criticized for being too slow, which affects the overall pacing of the game. Players suggest that faster animations would improve the gaming experience.
- Occasional bugs (weight 0.08): Players report encountering occasional bugs while playing the game. Although these bugs are described as minor, they still detract from the overall experience.
- Needs more unlockables (weight 0.07): Players express a desire for more unlockable content, such as relics, dice, and trinkets. The current selection is seen as limited, and players hope for future expansions.
- Settings not saved (weight 0.06): There are issues with the settings menu, particularly with settings not being saved between game sessions. This problem is noted as a significant inconvenience by players.
- Lack of progression (weight 0.06): Players note a lack of progression systems in the game, such as an achievement system. The limited number of levels also contributes to this feeling of insufficient progression.
- Unintuitive menus (weight 0.06): The game's menus are criticized for being unintuitive and sometimes broken. Players find the start menu and other menus difficult to navigate.

Gameplay feedback:
- Dice mechanics central to gameplay (weight 0.34): The game heavily revolves around dice rolling mechanics, including combat, scoring, and tactical use of dice. Players enjoy the variety and animations of dice, though some bugs and balancing issues are noted.
- Relics and their synergies (weight 0.28): Relics play a significant role in the game, with players unlocking and choosing relics that have various synergies and combinations. This adds depth to the gameplay and build variety.
- Strategic and challenging gameplay (weight 0.15): The game offers strategic choices and risk/reward mechanics, providing a challenging experience. Players appreciate the different strategies and styles of gameplay available.
- Diverse character playstyles (weight 0.13): Characters have different playstyles, offering variety and diversity in how players can approach the game. This includes different character types and options.
- Multiple difficulty settings (weight 0.11): The game features higher difficulties and multiple difficulty levels, providing a challenge for players seeking more demanding gameplay.
- Interactions with Death (weight 0.1): Death is a character in the game, with players interacting and dealing damage to Death. This adds a unique and semi-adversarial presence to the gameplay.
- Yahtzee with strategic twists (weight 0.1): The game is compared to Yahtzee but with added strategy and roguelike elements. This twist on classic dice games provides a fresh and engaging experience.
- Special and unique dice (weight 0.1): The game includes special dice, such as reinforcement dice and unique dice like Alpha and Omega dice. Players can modify dice numbers, adding variety to the gameplay.
- Balanced item acquisition (weight 0.08): The pacing of new items and their balancing is crucial to the gameplay. Players need to time their item usage effectively to progress.
- RNG and luck elements (weight 0.08): The game includes RNG-based design and luck-based elements, which can affect the balance and outcome of gameplay.
- Similarities to Balatro (weight 0.07): The game is compared to Balatro, sharing some similarities but also offering unique mechanics. It is not a direct clone but shares some gameplay elements.
- Turn-based strategy (weight 0.06): Players need to consider enemy turns and maximize their own turns for strategic advantage. This adds a layer of tactical depth to the gameplay.
- Meta progression system (weight 0.06): The game features a meta progression system, allowing players to unlock new content and progress over time. This adds a sense of achievement and long-term goals.
- Farkle-like gameplay (weight 0.06): The game plays similarly to Farkle but with slightly different rules, offering a familiar yet unique experience for fans of dice games.
- Straightforward mechanics (weight 0.05): The game features straightforward implementations and mechanics, making it easy to pick up and play without excessive complexity.

Performance notes:
- Controller support issues (weight 0.1): While controller and Steam Deck support is improving, there are still issues and kinks that need to be worked out.
- High GPU usage and temperature (weight 0.08): The game causes high GPU usage and temperature, which can lead to performance issues and potential hardware strain.
- Animation pacing problems (weight 0.08): Animations in the game are reported to be too slow, with issues in pacing that affect the overall gaming experience.
- Performance issues on Linux (weight 0.07): The game has performance issues specifically on Linux, with some players reporting good performance while others note the need for improvements.
- FPS drops and stuttering (weight 0.07): The game experiences FPS drops and occasional stutters on PC, affecting the smoothness of gameplay.
- General bugs and errors (weight 0.06): Players report various bugs, including C++ runtime errors and specific issues like a dice rolling bug.
- Frequent crashes (weight 0.05): Players experience constant crashes, including crashes on launch, which significantly affect gameplay.
- Good performance on Steam Deck (weight 0.05): Despite some issues, the game runs well on Steam Deck, with some players reporting fantastic performance.
- Performance improvements (weight 0.05): Some players note that performance issues have been ironed out and hot fixes have been released to address bugs.
- Long loading times (weight 0.03): The game has long loading times, which can affect the overall gaming experience.
- Sound design issues (weight 0.02): There are reported issues with the game's sound design, though specific details are not provided.
- Clicking mechanism issues (weight 0.02): There are issues with the clicking mechanism in the game, though specific details are not provided.
- Save issues (weight 0.02): Players report issues with saving the game, though specific details are not provided.
- Restart requirements (weight 0.02): Players report needing to restart the game frequently, though specific details are not provided.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended by players (weight 0.22): Many players highly recommend the game to others, emphasizing its enjoyment and value.
- Wait for more content (weight 0.14): Some players suggest waiting for additional content patches before purchasing the game.
- Desire for more content (weight 0.13): Players express a strong desire for additional content, including more achievements, progression, and diversified build options.
- Recommended for specific genres (weight 0.12): The game is particularly recommended for fans of deck builders, dice games, roguelikes, and poker.
- Gameplay improvements needed (weight 0.09): Suggestions for gameplay improvements include adding a save mechanic, visual feedback for modifiers, score breakdown, and clearer explanations of hand calculations.
- Support further development (weight 0.03): Players encourage supporting the game's further development, indicating a belief in its potential.
- Quality of life improvements (weight 0.03): Players request quality of life improvements such as faster speed options for gameplay.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Enjoyment (weight 0.26): Players enjoy the game's unique blend of roguelike elements, dice mechanics, and strategic gameplay. The variety of builds, risk management, and frequent updates contribute to a fun and engaging experience.
- Frustration (weight 0.19): Players are frustrated with various aspects of the game, including performance issues, balance problems, and RNG mechanics. Specific characters like the Witch are seen as underpowered, and Death's mechanics are often perceived as cheating.
- Excitement (weight 0.13): Players are excited about the game's unique mechanics, addictive gameplay, and the anticipation of future updates and new content. The engaging story and characters also contribute to this excitement.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.05): Players feel satisfied with the game's depth, frequent updates, and the developers' responsiveness to feedback. The strategic elements and the game's complexity are also highly appreciated.
- Disappointment (weight 0.03): Players express disappointment with the game's lack of depth, limited content, and balancing issues. Some also mention high GPU temperature and repetitive music as detractors.
- Excited (weight 0.03): Players are excited about the game's addictive gameplay, unique mechanics, and the anticipation of future updates. The fun of pushing luck and engaging animations also contribute to this excitement.
- Hope (weight 0.03): Players hope for future improvements and believe in the game's potential. They look forward to more mechanics, content, and balance changes in upcoming updates.
- Happy (weight 0.03): Players are happy with the game's mechanics, worldbuilding, and overall enjoyable experience. The game's aesthetic and challenging nature also contribute to their happiness.
- Anticipation (weight 0.02): Players are looking forward to future updates, additional characters, and features. The anticipation of more content and improvements keeps them engaged.
- Appreciation (weight 0.02): Players appreciate the developers' responsiveness, frequent updates, and the strategic gameplay. The outstanding dialogue and lore are also highly valued.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Players are surprised by the game's engaging and well-designed mechanics. The unexpected enjoyment of the dialogue and the compelling nature of a Yahtzee-like roguelike game contribute to this surprise.
- Joy (weight 0.01): Players find joy in the game's replayability, art style, and story direction. The enjoyment of music, dialogue, gameplay, and graphics also contribute to their joy.
- Addiction (weight 0.01): Players find the gameplay loop and strategic choices incredibly addicting. The dice mini-game and overall gameplay mechanics keep them hooked.
- Love (weight 0.01): Players love the game's mechanics, story, and character snippets. The unique blend of roguelike elements and character interactions fosters a deep affection for the game.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.01): Players feel nostalgic about the game's early 2000s indie vibes and comparisons to Terry Pratchett's Death. Playing the game during specific times, like Saturday mornings, enhances this nostalgia.
- Frustrated (weight 0.01): Players are frustrated with game balance and difficulty, frequent unwinnable scenarios, and issues with RNG. Installation issues and required restarts also contribute to their frustration.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Players experience boredom due to repetitive gameplay and the game becoming trivial with certain combinations. Long eternity runs can also feel repetitive.
- Hopeful (weight 0.01): Players are hopeful for future improvements and enjoy the game idea. They express hope for future additions and believe the game has potential with more development time.
- Disappointed (weight 0.01): Players are disappointed with the lack of story content and feel the game is too short and lacks strategy. They also express disappointment with the game's lack of depth and originality.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Players feel anger due to frustration with game issues and the perception of opponent cheating. These issues significantly detract from their overall experience.}