Every band dreams of a tour. Yours goes through Hell. Vestibule is a doom metal roguelite deckbuilder: recruit outcasts and burnouts, chain riffs, sign cursed pacts, stack damage, and play loud enough to kill the dead.

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Coming Soon To Early Access

The developers of this game intend to release as a work in progress, developing with the feedback of players.

Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Because a deckbuilder is only as good as the number of people who have tried to break it, and I am one person — even backed by tens of thousands of simulated runs testing win rates and difficulty curves before any player ever touched it. Vestibule's core loop is built — nine circles, five decks, five Stakes, the whole band and card system — but every new member and every new riff interacts with everything already in the game, and the kind of math that matters — what's fun, what's frustrating, what real players actually build around — gets found faster by a thousand people than by any simulation or any one developer. My goals for Early Access: keep rebalancing cards, artifacts, and the five Stakes against real player behavior, and keep adding content — riff chains, artifacts, band members — based on what players actually want more of. Early Access is how the balance gets real, and I'm in this until it's finished: reading feedback, shipping updates, seeing it through to 1.0.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Roughly by April 20, 2027 at the latest — that's the ceiling I'm building toward, though I'd rather ship a finished game a little late than hit an artificial deadline just to hit it. If balance and content come together faster than expected, it could land well before that; 4/20 is the outside estimate, not the plan. I expect this to be measured in months, not years, and that window gives me real room to get things right without rushing. Updates will land as they're ready, and I'll keep saying what's coming next without pretending to know exactly when it lands.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“I plan to add more band members, more riffs and riff chains, more artifacts and pacts, and a deeper endgame past Lucifer. The nine circles and the core loop are staying — the full version is meant to be a wider game, not a different one. Anything I add during Early Access will stay free.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Nine circles, twenty-seven fights, five starter decks, five Stakes, forty-three cards, eighteen band members, sixteen riff chains, and Lucifer waiting at the bottom with two health bars. The core loop is complete and playable — what's still being worked on is balance, additional content, and polish.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Yes — the price goes up when the game leaves Early Access. Buying now is cheaper, and every update between now and then is free.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“Discord and the Steam forums, and I read both. Balance complaints are the most useful thing you can send me — especially "this member is useless" or "this combination is stupid," because both are usually right. A lot of what's in the game already came from someone saying a number felt wrong.”
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About This Game

HELL IS A NINE-CIRCLE TOUR

You are a doom metal band. The venue is Hell. Twenty-seven gigs stand between you and getting off this stage — three fights per circle, nine circles deep, with a boss waiting at the end of each one.

VESTIBULE is a roguelike deckbuilder about building a band, stacking riffs, and hitting hard enough to kill things that are already dead.

STRIKES, NOT TURNS

Every fight gives you a set number of Strikes to work with — four, most runs. Between them you play cards: riffs that buff your members, utility that keeps you alive, embers that pay for all of it.

Then you Strike, and every member swings at once — one multiplier cascade of cards, Riff Chains, artifacts and pedals, all stacking into a single number.

BUILD THE BAND

Eighteen musicians across nine roles — guitarists, a drummer, a synth player, a vocalist, and a few things that aren't technically people. Ten keywords define how they play, and they stack: FRENZIED, BLASTBEAT, DISSONANCE, DIRGE, ANCHOR, TRICKSTER, and more.

Only the third fight of each circle — the boss — has a real trick up its sleeve. The Drifter survives its own death, once. The Devourer heals off every card you play. Lucifer gets two full health bars.

SIXTEEN RIFF CHAINS, NONE OF THEM LABELLED

Certain cards, played in the same Strike, chain into each other for a real multiplier spike. The chains aren't listed anywhere in the UI — you find them by playing. (There's a toggle if you'd rather just be told.)

THE DESCENT

Nine circles, Dante's own, three fights each: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, Treachery. Then Lucifer — two phases, 6,660 HP — waiting at the bottom. About one run in a hundred sees him dead. He's meant to be a wall.

Between fights: a shop, a descent choice, and if you've got the Stash for it, a trip from the Dealer — special items, each one a gamble on a one-fight buff that can just as easily go bad.

FIVE DECKS, FIVE STAKES

Five starter decks, each a different way to play: Standard's balanced and chain-dense, the Shredder is pure aggro, the Chaos deck reshuffles itself at random every single run, the Engineer builds around card copies, and the Survivor gives every member a second chance before they go down. Beat one, unlock the next.

Climb the Stakes and the whole thing gets meaner — more enemy damage, pricier shops, no heals between fights — until Demonic drops you to three Strikes a fight instead of four.

THE MUSIC IS REAL

The soundtrack is doom metal, recorded rather than assembled. Real riffs, written for the circle you're standing in.

EARLY ACCESS — LAUNCHING OCTOBER 2026

Vestibule is in active development. Everything above — the band, the decks, all nine circles, Lucifer — is built and running. What's left before launch is balance, polish, and whatever more playtesting turns up.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Vestibule's pixel art was generated with an AI art tool, with every design directed, refined, and hand-edited by the developer. Individual trailer and cinematic clips were generated with an AI video tool, built from the game's own artwork and developer-written scene descriptions — the final edit, scene sequencing, and music timing were done manually by the developer in After Effects. All game design, systems, writing, and code are original work.

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

Vestibule includes an optional, minor gameplay system: between fights, players may buy items from an in-game character referencing recreational substances for a temporary, randomized in-battle effect. This is a small side-mechanic played for the game's dark comedic tone, not a focus of the story or a major system — no drug use is depicted on screen, and its effects are limited to numerical stat changes.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows 10 64-bit or later
    • Processor: Dual-core 2.0 GHz
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Integrated graphics (DirectX 10 compatible)
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
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