Your first day as an office temp has taken a disastrous turn. The building appears to be connected to the underworld, your coworkers have become murderous demons, and somebody’s left a collection of magical playing cards lying around the corridors. You’ve also discovered that a severed intern’s head makes a surprisingly useful weapon. Nobody mentioned any of this during the interview, and you’re starting to suspect the employee benefits package might not be worth the trouble.
Still, you’ve got a job to do. Unfortunately, that job now involves fighting your way through a haunted corporate nightmare, collecting supernatural abilities, and finding an elevator that might eventually take you back to the land of the living.
Released in December 2023, Cards We’re Dealt is a first-person horror roguelike from Tiny Shiny Things that mixes deckbuilding, demon-slaying, and dark workplace comedy. With only 19 Steam user reviews at the time of checking, it’s an obscure little indie that has barely attracted any attention, despite having one of the strangest approaches to office life we’ve come across.
Welcome to the Team! Please Ignore the Demons
You play as an unfortunate temporary employee who’s somehow ended up trapped in a seemingly endless corporate underworld. The offices are full of dark corridors, strange rooms, and the lingering souls of former employees who appear to have taken their workplace grievances a little too far. Getting out means exploring the building, fighting whatever’s lurking inside, and uncovering the mystery of how you ended up there in the first place.
The single-player story unfolds across six chapters, gradually revealing more about the company and the nightmare you’ve stumbled into. There’s a strong Backrooms influence to the environments, with empty corporate spaces and strange architecture making the building feel like an office complex that somebody forgot to finish constructing.
Of course, the demons wandering around are a fairly good indication that this isn’t an ordinary workplace. You won’t be spending much time making coffee or answering emails. Unless the company has a particularly unusual approach to staff development, those responsibilities have probably been replaced by surviving supernatural attacks.
Pick a Card. Any Card. Preferably One That Won’t Kill You
Your main advantage against the underworld’s residents comes from a collection of magical cards. Scattered throughout the building, these cards grant supernatural powers that can help you survive encounters with the creatures hunting you. There’s a catch, though.
Not every card is entirely beneficial. Some come with drawbacks, forcing you to think carefully about which abilities are worth keeping and which might create more problems than they solve. As you explore, you’ll gradually assemble a collection of powers that changes how you approach combat and the dangers waiting ahead.
It’s a different take on traditional deckbuilding. Rather than sitting at a table playing cards against an opponent or fighting in a stationary position, you’re wandering through a three-dimensional horror environment, using the abilities you’ve collected to deal with whatever comes charging down the corridor.
A useful combination could make the next encounter much easier. A poorly chosen card meanwhile, may leave you wondering why you decided to pick it up in the first place.
Guns, Magic, and Your Colleague’s Severed Head
Cards aren’t your only option when something horrible appears. You can also use pistols and other weapons to defend yourself, combining conventional firepower with the supernatural abilities you’ve collected. Then there’s the slightly less conventional option of using the heads of former interns. Yes, really.
The game allows you to weaponize the remains of your unfortunate coworkers. Combat takes place in real time, so you’ll need to move, aim, and react while dealing with enemies throughout the building. The mixture of first-person shooting and magical abilities gives encounters a different feel from traditional turn-based deckbuilders, particularly when you’re trying to decide which power to use while a demon is rapidly closing the distance.
It’s difficult to imagine the company’s human resources department approving any of this. Then again, judging by the condition of the employees, there probably isn’t much of an HR department left.
Teamwork Makes the Nightmare Slightly More Bearable
If you’d rather not face the corporate underworld alone, Cards We’re Dealt also offers an online cooperative Escape mode. Here, you can join friends and attempt to fight your way out of the building together. The objective involves collecting keycards that allow you to ascend through the facility using its elevator, bringing you closer to escaping the underworld.
You’ll need to combine your supernatural abilities, help one another survive encounters, and work together to reach the next floor. The six-chapter Story mode remains a single-player experience, so cooperative play is focused on Escape mode rather than the main narrative. There’s also an endless variation of the escape experience, offering another challenge for anyone determined to see how long they can survive.
Naturally, bringing friends into the building introduces the possibility of watching them make spectacularly poor decisions. At least if somebody gets themselves killed, you’ll have another candidate for the severed-head collection.
The Company Is Still Accepting Applications
Cards We’re Dealt launched on Steam on December 12, 2023, and has received several updates since then. The developer introduced a series of Director’s Cut improvements throughout 2025, including changes to levels, additional cards, interface improvements, and new mechanics.
A February 2026 update added more cards and effects, alongside performance improvements and adjustments to enemy spawning. Despite that continued development, the game remains remarkably obscure, with just 19 user reviews contributing to its Mixed Steam rating when checked. It’s worth mentioning that reception hasn’t been universally positive, with some players criticizing its controls and rough edges.
Still, for anyone who enjoys unusual horror roguelikes, the combination of first-person exploration, supernatural card abilities, cooperative escapes, and workplace comedy makes Cards We’re Dealt an interesting curiosity. There’s even a playable demo on Steam if you’d rather investigate the company before committing to a permanent position.