Open now · By request
Dead Hand playtest
by Studio Haute Roche
A post-apocalyptic roguelike deckbuilder where your cards are both your actions and your resources. Play them to act now, keep them to last longer. There is never enough for both.
It's free to ask. The developer chooses who gets in.
- Access
- By request
- On playtest since
- Aug 8, 2026
- Planned release
- Q4 2026
- Developer
- Studio Haute Roche
- Platforms
- Windows
- Players
- Single-player
- Languages
- English, French, German, Polish and 9 more
How to join the Dead Hand playtest
- Open the game's Steam page with the Request access button. Sign in to Steam if it asks.
- Request access to the Dead Hand playtest there. It's free and doesn't commit you to anything.
- The developer lets players in, often in batches, so it can take a while. Steam emails you when you're in, and the playtest appears in your library.
New to playtests? How Steam playtests work
How AI is used
Some visual assets in Dead Hand (card illustrations, backgrounds and character art) as well as some musical elements were created with the assistance of AI generation tools (ComfyUI), then refined and integrated into the game. Development was assisted by AI coding tools (Claude Code). Game design is entirely human-made.
The developer's own words, from Steam.
About Dead Hand
THE WORLD DIDN'T END ALL AT ONCE
It came apart over years. The cities emptied, then filled back up with
something else... There are still people out there. Fewer every week.
Dead Hand is a roguelike deckbuilder where you're one of them.
EVERY CARD COUNTS TWICE
Your cards are both your actions and your resources.
Play one and you act now. Keep it and you last longer.
There is never enough for both.
EIGHT BIOMES
A flooded metro, a zoo where the cages opened, an abandoned prison, a
blighted forest...
Each has its own enemies, its own events, its own boss.
The route between them changes every run.
SIX SURVIVORS
A cop, a zookeeper, a fighter, a hunter, a warrior, a sniper.
Each starts with a different deck, a different relationship with
resources, and a different reason for still being here.
WHAT YOU CARRY
Mementos from before, scavenged out of the ruins, that bend the rules of
the run. Gear to craft and repair. Consumables to save for the moment it
all goes wrong.
And hundreds of cards to find, combine and upgrade.
THE AESTHETIC OF CHAOS
Drawn in the raw style of 1990s American comics. Heavy ink, saturated
color. Every card, every enemy, every area reeks of the apocalypse.
Dead Hand is made by one person, evenings and weekends. Most of the
changes and balance passes come straight out of Discord feedback.
Studio Haute Roche, made in Belgium.
From the game's Steam page.
