The Balatro-like wave keeps rolling, and honestly, nobody’s complaining. Pepperbox Studios, a Finnish indie team, just announced that Dice of Kalma launches November 14, 2025 on Steam and mobile platforms. This is a deckbuilding roguelike where you’re literally gambling for your freedom against Kalma, the Finnish goddess of death who guards the Underworld. Roll dice, build a deck of magical skulls, find absurd synergies, and hope your luck holds long enough to escape back to the land of the living.
The Setup Is Simple and Brilliant
You’re dead. That’s the starting point. Kalma, the grim guardian of the Underworld in Finnish mythology, offers you a deal. Play dice against her, score highly enough to meet increasingly difficult thresholds, and you might earn your way back to life. Fail, and you’re stuck in the afterlife forever. The premise elegantly justifies the roguelike structure where death resets your progress but persistence is rewarded through unlockable content and meta-progression.
Each run plays out over multiple rounds. You roll five dice, choose which ones to keep and which to reroll, then play a hand based on poker-style combinations like pairs, straights, and full houses. Your score gets subtracted from the round’s threshold. Reach zero and you advance to the next challenge with higher stakes. Run out of hands before clearing the threshold and it’s game over, back to square one.
Skulls Are Your Jokers
If you’ve played Balatro, the skull system will feel immediately familiar. After each round, you select from a choice of skulls to add to your deck. These function exactly like Balatro’s Jokers, providing multipliers, bonuses, and special effects that modify how your dice scoring works. The Split Skull gives you extra points if your dice are arranged symmetrically. The Daredevil Skull, which wears a funky little hat that reviewers specifically called out, rewards risky plays.
What sets Dice of Kalma apart from Balatro is that there’s no cap on how many skulls you can collect. You’re not managing a limited number of slots or spending currency to maintain your collection. Every skull you pick stays with you, and the game becomes about stacking as many synergistic effects as possible. This creates exponential scaling where runs can go from barely scraping by to absolutely demolishing thresholds once your skull combinations align properly.
The game features over 200 unique skulls according to promotional materials, suggesting massive variety in possible builds. Some skulls will reward conservative play with consistent bonuses. Others will encourage gambling everything on specific dice combinations. Finding synergies between skulls that amplify each other’s effects is where the strategic depth lives.
The Quality of Life Details Matter
Early demo impressions from October 2025 highlighted how polished Dice of Kalma feels despite being from a small studio. One reviewer specifically praised the click-and-hold preview system on the Play Hand button. Before committing to a roll, you can hold the button to see exactly what your score would be with the current dice and skull modifiers. For players who aren’t lightning-fast at mental math, this removes frustration without dumbing down the strategy.
The UI is clean and minimalist, prioritizing clarity over flashy effects. Your current score and the remaining threshold are always visible and easy to parse. Clicking on Kalma during games triggers little personality touches like her complaining that it tickles or telling you to focus. These small details add character to what could have been a sterile dice-rolling simulator.
Performance across the demo was reportedly flawless with no bugs, glitches, or technical hiccups. Audio quality is solid, contributing to the dark atmospheric vibe without being distracting. The game runs on Unity and has been extensively tested on Steam Deck via Proton, with developers confirming it runs smoothly on Linux despite no native port being planned.
The Finnish Connection
Pepperbox Studios is a Finnish indie team, and they’ve leaned into that heritage by centering the game around Kalma from Finnish mythology. Most Western audiences are more familiar with Greek, Norse, or Egyptian underworld deities, making Kalma a refreshing change. The game’s dark, muted aesthetic and melancholic tone feel distinctly Nordic, avoiding the flashy neon colors that many deckbuilding roguelikes embrace.
This isn’t Pepperbox’s first game. They previously released Kaamos, a puzzle roguelike, and Vartio, a 20-minute atmospheric horror experience set in a haunted medieval forest. Both games share that minimalist, artistically focused design philosophy that emphasizes mood and tight gameplay loops over sprawling content. Vartio in particular demonstrated the studio’s ability to create memorable experiences with limited scope, using sound design and player imagination to build tension.
The fact that Dice of Kalma will launch with full localization in 11 languages including English, Simplified Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Italian, Dutch, and Finnish shows ambition beyond typical small indie releases. They’re clearly aiming for a global audience rather than limiting themselves to English-speaking markets.
Compared to Balatro and Others
The Balatro-like genre has exploded since LocalThunk’s poker roguelike became a surprise megahit in early 2024. Dice of Kalma joins titles like Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers, Yahtzee Solitaire, and dozens of others trying to capture that addictive one-more-run magic. What most of these games get right is understanding that Balatro’s appeal wasn’t just poker mechanics. It was the satisfaction of discovering broken synergies and watching numbers explode.
Dice of Kalma differentiates itself through aesthetic and presentation. Where Balatro uses bright playing cards and casino vibes, Dice of Kalma embraces dark mythology and death imagery. The minimalist UI and muted color palette create a contemplative atmosphere rather than pure dopamine rush. Both approaches work, but they appeal to different moods. Sometimes you want colorful chaos, sometimes you want to quietly outsmart Death in the shadows.
The dice mechanics also change the gameplay feel compared to card-based deckbuilders. With dice, you’re dealing with pure randomness modified by reroll strategy and skull effects. There’s no drawing through a deck or managing discard piles. Every roll is a fresh start, making each decision more isolated and immediately consequential. Some players will prefer this, others will miss the longer-term deck cycling strategy.
Launching on Multiple Platforms
Dice of Kalma releases simultaneously on Steam for PC and on iOS through the App Store. The mobile version is listed as free-to-play with ads, while the Steam version will be a premium purchase. This dual approach lets Pepperbox target both the premium PC indie market and the massive mobile casual gaming audience.
The game is designed to work perfectly on Steam Deck, with developers actively pursuing Steam Deck Verified status. Handheld play makes sense for a game built around short runs that can be completed in minutes rather than hours. Whether you’re on your gaming PC, your couch with a Steam Deck, or commuting with your phone, the Underworld is accessible.
The IGN Endorsement
IGN featured Dice of Kalma’s release date announcement trailer on their GameTrailers page, giving the indie game significant mainstream visibility. For a small Finnish studio without major publisher backing, this kind of coverage is huge. It demonstrates that the game’s quality and presentation caught the attention of major gaming media rather than just flying under the radar in indie circles.
The trailer showcases Kalma’s character design, which is genuinely striking. She’s this imposing figure with personality and presence, not just a faceless antagonist. The skull artwork is memorable and distinctive, with each one having unique visual flair beyond just different stat bonuses. Pepperbox clearly invested in making the game visually cohesive and aesthetically appealing even within the constraints of their minimalist approach.
Why This Launches at the Right Time
November 2025 puts Dice of Kalma in an interesting position. The initial Balatro explosion has settled, giving players time to digest that game and start looking for what’s next. The genre has proven it has staying power beyond being a flash-in-the-pan trend. Early adopters who burned through Balatro months ago are hungry for fresh takes on the formula, while new players who missed the initial wave can jump into Dice of Kalma without feeling late to the party.
The game also benefits from launching with a free mobile version. Players skeptical about spending money on yet another deckbuilding roguelike can try it risk-free on their phone. If they enjoy the experience, upgrading to the premium Steam version for the superior UI and controls becomes an easy decision. This try-before-you-buy approach through platform diversification is smart for building an audience.
FAQs
When does Dice of Kalma release?
The game launches November 14, 2025 on Steam for PC and the iOS App Store. A demo is currently available on Steam if you want to try before buying.
Who is developing Dice of Kalma?
Pepperbox Studios, a Finnish indie team, is both developer and publisher. They previously released Kaamos, a puzzle roguelike, and Vartio, a short atmospheric horror game.
How much does Dice of Kalma cost?
Pricing hasn’t been officially announced for the Steam version yet. The iOS version will be free-to-play with ads. Expect the premium PC version to be in the 10 to 15 dollar range based on similar indie releases.
Is Dice of Kalma just Balatro with dice?
The comparison is fair since both are deckbuilding roguelikes focused on scoring hands and building synergies. But Dice of Kalma has its own identity through Finnish mythology theming, unlimited skull collection, dice-based randomness, and a darker aesthetic compared to Balatro’s colorful casino vibe.
Can you play Dice of Kalma on Steam Deck?
Yes, the developers have extensively tested it on Steam Deck via Proton and confirm it runs smoothly. They’re working on getting official Steam Deck Verified status before or shortly after launch.
Is there a Linux version?
There’s no native Linux version, but the game runs excellently through Steam’s Proton compatibility layer. Developers tested it on Linux Mint and reported smooth performance.
What languages does the game support?
Dice of Kalma launches with full localization in English, Simplified Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Italian, Dutch, and Finnish.
How many skulls are in the game?
Promotional materials mention over 200 unique skulls with different abilities, modifiers, and synergies. The demo only shows a fraction of the total collection.
Conclusion
Dice of Kalma launches this week into a crowded genre, but it’s doing enough things right to stand out. The Finnish mythology angle gives it unique theming that feels fresh compared to endless poker and blackjack variants. The minimalist presentation and quality of life features demonstrate polish and attention to detail from a small studio that cares about their craft. The decision to launch simultaneously on Steam and mobile with different monetization models shows smart business thinking about reaching different audiences. Early demo impressions have been overwhelmingly positive, with reviewers praising the tight gameplay loop, clean UI, and addictive synergy chasing. If you enjoyed Balatro but want something with a darker, more contemplative vibe, or if you’re just looking for another excellent deckbuilding roguelike to consume your evenings, Dice of Kalma deserves your attention. November 14 is just days away. Add it to your wishlist, try the demo if you haven’t already, and prepare to gamble for your freedom against the guardian of the Underworld. Just remember, in Kalma’s realm, the house always wins eventually. Your job is making eventually last as long as possible.