Dice of Kalma is an upcoming deckbuilding roguelike on iOS and Android where you battle death
Gameble with death
- Face the guardian of the Underworld in tense dice duels
- Build a deck of skulls, chase synergies, and balance risk and reward
- Pre-registration is now live ahead of its expected 2025 release
Dice of Kalma is an upcoming deckbuilding roguelike, which, as a concept, sounds simple, but when you realise you're rolling dice against death itself, your brain immediately starts whirring with all the possibilities.
Developed by Pepperbox Studios, we first saw Dice of Kalma during The Very Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki, where it stood out among a sea of experimental roguelikes and clever deck-builders. Now, it’s gearing up for launch with pre-registration live on both iOS and Android.
You play against Kalma, the grim guardian of the Underworld. Each roll is a battle of luck and strategy, which determines your fate. Going further means unlocking more skulls that work either by turning the tide in your favour or dooming you to another round in the dark.
You can take the careful route, play the odds, or throw it all in and hope Death looks the other way. The real fun here, though, lies in the deck of skulls you build as you go. Each skull has its own effect, nudging your strategy in subtle ways, maybe rewarding risky rerolls, maybe salvaging a bad hand.
Over time, your deck becomes this strange reflection of how you’ve chosen to face Death. Precise and calculating, or wild and desperate. It’s a satisfying kind of roguelike loop, too, where success feels earned and failure only makes the next run more tempting.
And maybe that’s the trick: the more Kalma beats you, the more you start looking forward to the next round. And if Dice of Kalma plays half as well as it looked back in Helsinki, you’ll probably find yourself coming back again and again for just one more roll.
Pre-registration for Dice of Kalma is now open on the App Store and Google Play, with the release currently expected on December 31st.
While you wait, peek at this list of the best roguelikes on iOS right now!
