Games Like Malys

Exorcise the infernal and exact vengeance in this unholy roguelite deckbuilder from David Gaider and Summerfall Studios. The city teems with demons and among them lies your prey: Malys, a demon of extraordinary cunning and power.

As you pick your path through the city, you’ll encounter its denizens - some friendly, some not so much, and some possessed by demons that you’ll need to exorcise. Use your deck to expose the rot within. Find unique combinations and strategies to withstand the miseries. Help the hopeless and free the possessed, or die in the attempt… over and over again.

As Noah, former priest turned exorcist and demon hunter, you’re armed with your faith and a variety of tools ranging from the holy to the dark and arcane… but you’ll need much more for this hunt, and there will be precious few allies to provide them.

Written by David Gaider (former BioWare Lead Writer on the Dragon Age series and Creative Director on Summerfall’s own Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical), Malys is our unholy roguelite deckbuilder, with a beautifully hand-illustrated style.

Your cards reflect your actions - invoking holy and ancient powers through prayer and chanting, or equipment like holy water and purified salt. In order to play cards, you must burn cards first to light candles - making every hand a series of strategic decisions and sacrifices. 

Succeed at exorcisms and receive a reward of Faith, a currency you can spend along your path. Use it to add, upgrade or remove cards, heal your Will, or buy Curios, run-long passive effects that add both power and different ways to play.

Improve your strategy and chance of success. Fail, die, and try again.

In an exorcism, your candles will light the way. You'll encounter a possessed host, desperate for your help. Burn cards in your hands to light candles, and use their holy power to play the other cards in your hand. 

Every hand is a choice: Which cards will you burn and which will you play? Candles are persistent between turns, and become a strategic challenge; will you use all your remaining candles this turn, or preserve some for the next?

Manage your Will, Noah's capacity to endure evil. Completing an exorcism does not restore your Will, and you'll need to decide what sacrifices to make and what paths to take in order to succeed. Run out of Will and your night comes to an end.

Demons hide within their hosts to maintain their power, and the first step to wrestling that power away from more powerful demons is to reveal their True Name. You’ll need to Expose these demons in order to gain the upper hand and begin to take control of the exorcism.

Now revealed and threatened, you must Endure the full measure of the demon’s wrath. Use every part of your arsenal to destroy its Will while protecting your own. Fail, and lose yourself and the host to darkness.

Once weakened, the time comes to Expel the demon for good. 

But beware — a desperate demon may draw on the life force of its host to power its most terrible abilities: protect the host or all is lost.

In Malys, death is not the end. Start the night over from the beginning, with only Noah and a select few aware of the horrors that have occurred. Noah must begin his hunt again.

We'll be posting most updates on our devlog online which you can find on our website, Otherwise, you can stay in touch with us via our mailing list, Bluesky, or TikTok!