Unhinged Studios has officially announced their roguelite deckbuilder, dev_hell based on the soul-crushing experience of working as a programmer in an office environment. It’s set to release on PC this year.
Before getting paid to write bad words, I spent nine years working in I.T. as a technician. That’s not the same as being an office programmer, but it is adjacent. The biggest difference is that people at least understood that I was going to fix their computer. For normal people, programmers just perform whatever magic they’re told to. And if they can’t perform that magic, they have failed.
Dev_hell puts you in the shoes of a new hire at a tech company looking to “change the future.” Not only do you have to program a lot of questionable features and meet the company’s expectations of you, you also need to exert constant positivity and build relationships with your co-workers. Because when shit hits the wall, you may need a few human shields to protect your career. You constantly add to a growing deck of cards that help you do your job better, or at least make it look like you’re doing your job well.
I feel like most people who have experience working in the office will find the trailer to be unsettlingly familiar. Everything from superficial interactions with co-workers to bafflingly ineffective “incentive” programs. It’s absolutely too damned real. Looks like fun!
Dev_hell is coming to PC sometime in 2024.
