The Devil’s Due

The Devil’s Due is a poker-based battler in which the player faces demonic monsters in one-on-one matches. Each monster has its own abilities. The strength of the player’s poker hand determines the damage dealt, while the combined value of the cards held acts as defence. Runs are structured around progressing through levels of Hell, and dying means starting a run again.

The player uses cheat tricks to influence each match. These include concealing and swapping cards during battle, raising card values to force stronger hands, and sabotaging the enemy’s draw. The player and the opponent draw from the same deck, so any card that is added, removed, duplicated or modified affects both sides. The deck therefore has to be built to suit the player’s current cheats and relics while limiting the benefit to the enemy. Each trick raises a suspicion meter, and if the player cheats too much, the opponent attacks with greater force.

Progress carries over between runs in the form of permanent upgrades, new cheat cards, relics and new strategies. At the start of each level of Hell, the Devil lays out tarot cards that set the route through monster and boss fights, shops, healing shrines and mini-games.