Invokyr

Invokyr runs on a simple, nasty loop. Dice are scattered and hidden around the house, and every one can be rolled only once, so the group has to split up, search rooms and bring dice back to the board. Each roll moves you forward and triggers a summon: a creature that hunts in its own peculiar way, a trap, a curse, or general chaos that the whole team has to deal with before the next turn.

Some dice are special. They can heal a teammate, help you hide or hinder whatever is hunting you, but each comes with its own risk, which makes spending them a constant judgement call. Holding a special die for the right moment can save a run; burning it early can doom one.

The house itself works against you. It is a labyrinth of rooms, and wandering too far from the board in search of dice means you may not find your way back. Different biomes break up the haunted-house look, including a jungle, an ice mountain and an oversized toy chest. Death does not always end your night, and teams can choose to cooperate or leave a slow friend behind. Surviving earns rewards and unlocks tougher challenges for repeat sessions. Up to six players can join online, and text size and subtitles are adjustable.

The rumours about the house and the board game were always there, and now you know they were true. The house groans and the air is cold. On the table sits a 1970s board game, dusty but crackling with some unnatural energy, and a voice, playful and bitter at the same time, invites you to play.

That voice belongs to the Gamemaster. It started life as a much-loved toy, and somewhere along the way it became the ruler of this abandoned house and everyone trapped in it. Escape is possible, the Gamemaster insists, but only by finishing the game. Every roll pulls something otherworldly into the halls, and whether you walk out free or get dragged into the dark depends on how well your group plays together.

Invokyr is in Early Access on Windows PC through Steam at US$12.99. Southeast Asian prices are RM32.49 in Malaysia, S$14.49 in Singapore, ₱415 in the Philippines, ฿255 in Thailand, Rp 119,999 in Indonesia and 189.500₫ in Vietnam. It supports 13 interface languages, including English, Japanese, Korean and both Chinese scripts, but no Southeast Asian language. Minimum spec is a Core i5-7500 or Ryzen 5 1600, 16 GB of RAM, a GTX 1650 or RX 580 and 5 GB of storage. Online co-op needs a broadband connection.