What lengths would you go to if your life was on the line? In cruel new strategy RPG Sultan’s Game, you’re caught up in a twisted game of death where you must question your own morality to stay one step ahead of the eponymous ruling figure. Already proving a winner among the Steam Next Fest crowd last year, developer Double Cross has just given PCGamesN a fresh look at what’s in store. I’ve spent several hours pursuing all manner of dark deeds, and I’m already hooked on its tantalising loop. If you’re curious for a taste, there’s even a demo you can play right now.
After speaking your mind in his court, the pleasure-seeking overlord demands you act as the new key player in his Sultan’s Game. The rules are simple: draw a card and fulfill the demands it places upon you within seven days. Fail and your life is forfeit; succeed and your prize is another card from the box, on another week-long deadline. It’s an intriguing, distinctive blend of strategy game and RPG that reminds me a little of overseeing your town in Darkest Dungeon, or management sims in the vein of Cultist Simulator and The Deadly Path.
There are four card types you can draw, and each determines the manner of activity you must pursue. ‘Extravagance’ demands that you spend lavish sums or give away your hard-earned wealth. ‘Conquest’ mandates you overcome a dangerous challenge. ‘Carnality’ invites you to pursue pleasures of the flesh, and ‘Bloodshed’ places the ultimate price upon you – that of taking another person’s life.
The card will also bear a tier – stone, bronze, silver, or gold – that declares how impressive your target must be. Murdering a poor beggar in a dark alley won’t earn you much notoriety (and your crimes, by the laws of the game, are null and void), but it also won’t fulfill more than a stone-tier Bloodshed card. Draw one in gold, and you’ll need to end the existence of someone far more important, such as a high-ranking court official. That might earn you some dangerous enemies – but it could also present the opportunity to take out a troublesome foe.
Each turn, you allocate all the people in your corner – whether that be yourself, your loving wife, your humble servants, or other gathered allies – to various tasks across the map. More will populate based on events; a wolf attack on the village might be the perfect time to clear that Conquest card looming over your head. Others might come from listening for rumors at the local bathhouse, or attending the daily court proceedings (doing this also keeps the Sultan happy, and prevents slanderous rumors about you from slipping into his ears).
You can also ponder cards to create more opportunities. By thinking on a silver Extravagance card, I open the potential to build an expansion to my estate, which then allows me to rent my new room out to earn additional coin. In fact, the person who does so happens to be a shopkeeper, and I’m now also able to buy additional goods and equipment from her that can benefit my entourage by boosting stats such as their combat or charisma.
This sense of discovery really makes Sultan’s Game tick, and at each turn tooltips make it clear what your options are without entirely giving the game away. I could give a book to that young, begging girl showing interest, it tells me, but surely someone of her status wouldn’t be able to read. I do it anyway. Later, she comes to my house to return the tome, and I’m given the option to spend money to adopt and raise her as my own. This gives me another ally, one who comes with the powerful special ability of bypassing all prerequisites to read additional stat-boosting books.
Another time, a chance encounter means I spot my political enemy in a quiet locale. He’s not important enough to fulfill my gold-tier Bloodshed card (or my Carnality one, if I’m feeling like attempting an enemies-to-lovers arc), so instead I simply approach him alone. He makes me a proposal: what if we worked together in secret to overthrow the Sultan and put an end to his hedonistic game? It’s an intriguing idea, but one that will require me to amass far more allies and knowledge than I currently have.
Sultan’s Game is an intriguing, enticing premise wrapped around a robust set of mechanics. The beautiful art and sound design go a long way to really making it shine, and it’s full of little quality-of-life touches such as clicking an event slot to quickly highlight exactly which of your people, items, and chance-altering information can be put there.
Unfortunately, my first run came to an end when I was unable to find a sufficiently significant second half for some salacious side activities. But in true roguelike fashion, my other achievements allowed me to unlock some boons that will help my next attempt start a little more smoothly. It may be a dangerous game, but I’m already hooked.
The Sultan’s Game demo is available to download for free on Steam. You’ll find it right here. The game is currently slated for launch in March 2025, and I’m already eager to put my moral compass through its paces.
Take a stroll through more of the best turn-based strategy games on PC, and don’t forget to check in with the latest and greatest offerings from smaller studios with our pick of the best indie games in 2025.
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