The ultra-violent retro hockey game Super Blood Hockey is getting a sequel, but it’s not what fans expected. Developer Loren Lemcke announced Super Blood Hockey: Rogue Manager, a sports game where you don’t control the players at all. Instead, you play as a shady coach using a deck of dirty tricks to manipulate games and become season champion. The roguelike management twist transforms hockey from arcade action into strategic deck-building where your biggest weapon isn’t skill on the ice but willingness to bend or break every rule.
From Player to Puppet Master
The original Super Blood Hockey let players directly control teams in brutal arcade hockey matches inspired by the NES classic Ice Hockey. Players could freely punch opponents, start fights, and watch the bloodshed escalate to ridiculous levels with gore settings ranging from None to Excessive. The franchise mode featured management elements including player diets, workout regimens, and money management, but core gameplay remained action-focused.
Rogue Manager flips that formula completely. You’re no longer the one skating, shooting, and brawling on the ice. Instead, you watch games unfold while playing cards from your hand to influence the outcome. Think of it as a sports management sim meets deck-builder meets roguelike, where your deck represents the underhanded tactics and dirty tricks you’re willing to deploy to win at any cost.
Deck-Building Meets Hockey Management
The elevator pitch developer Loren Lemcke shared describes it perfectly: a sports game where you don’t control the players, instead play as a shady coach and use your deck of dirty tricks to become season champion. This positions Rogue Manager somewhere between traditional sports management sims and deck-builders like Slay the Spire or Monster Train. Your cards likely represent various coaching decisions, underhanded tactics, rule violations, and psychological manipulation.
The roguelike structure means each season campaign probably features procedurally generated opponents, random events, and permanent consequences for your choices. Lose key players to injuries you caused through overtraining? They’re gone for the run. Get caught cheating and face sanctions? That’s your problem to manage. The permadeath stakes typical of roguelikes should add genuine tension to a sports management framework that’s usually forgiving.
The Super Blood Hockey Legacy
Super Blood Hockey launched in 2019 and became a cult favorite for its excessive violence, retro aesthetics, and surprising depth. The game featured 8 playable countries, tight arcade gameplay, and a franchise mode that mixed on-ice action with off-ice management. Reviews praised how it captured the spirit of NES sports games while adding modern depth and humor. The option to adjust gore levels from None to Excessive became iconic, letting players choose exactly how cartoonishly violent they wanted their hockey.
Lemcke’s previous work also includes Terror of Hemasaurus, a Rampage-inspired monster destruction game. His games share a common thread of taking classic arcade concepts and adding layers of strategy, management, and ridiculous violence. That design philosophy carries into Rogue Manager, which takes sports management deeper into strategic territory while maintaining the irreverent humor fans expect.
Why Make This Instead of Super Blood Hockey 2
In a 2023 Reddit AMA, Lemcke mentioned unofficial plans for Super Blood Hockey 2 or some kind of Super Blood Sports game. Rogue Manager represents that vision taking an unexpected direction. Rather than simply iterating on the arcade hockey formula, he’s exploring what a Super Blood Hockey game could be when you remove direct player control entirely. It’s a bold creative choice that risks alienating fans who want more of the original but could attract an entirely new audience interested in deck-builders and management sims.
The decision also makes practical sense for a solo developer. Creating a full arcade sports sequel with updated graphics, new countries, expanded rosters, and refined gameplay systems takes enormous time and resources. A deck-builder where games play out with AI-controlled teams while you manipulate outcomes through cards requires less animation work, fewer gameplay systems to balance, and allows Lemcke to focus on strategic depth rather than moment-to-moment action controls.
Roguelike Sports Management Is Rare
Rogue Manager enters relatively uncharted territory by combining roguelike structure with sports management and deck-building. Most sports games feature traditional season modes with predictable schedules and safe savepoints. Roguelikes demand risk and embrace failure as part of the experience. Merging these philosophies creates interesting tension: sports fans expect progression systems that reward time investment, while roguelike fans expect challenging runs that might end in total failure.
The closest comparison might be Tape to Tape, another indie hockey game that launched in 2023 with roguelike campaign structure inspired by Hades and Slay the Spire. However, Tape to Tape still lets players directly control teams during matches. Rogue Manager goes further by removing player control entirely, making it purely about strategic deck management and coaching decisions rather than execution skill.
What We Know About Release
Super Blood Hockey: Rogue Manager is scheduled for a 2026 release on PC via Steam. The Steam page is live but light on specific details beyond the core premise. No exact release date or window has been announced yet, which is typical for solo developer projects that prioritize finishing the game properly over hitting arbitrary deadlines. Given Lemcke’s track record with Super Blood Hockey and Terror of Hemasaurus, fans can expect a polished product when it finally arrives.
The game appears to be Windows-only for now, with no announcements about console ports. The original Super Blood Hockey eventually came to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, so Rogue Manager could follow a similar trajectory of PC launch followed by console releases if it performs well. However, deck-builders typically work best on PC where mouse and keyboard provide intuitive card manipulation, so the Steam version will likely remain the definitive experience.
The Indie Sports Renaissance
Rogue Manager joins a growing movement of indie developers reclaiming sports games from the annualized franchise monotony of EA and 2K releases. Super Mega Baseball proved baseball sims could thrive without official licenses. Tape to Tape demonstrated appetite for creative takes on hockey beyond NHL’s exclusive dominance. Golf Story, What The Golf, and Cursed to Golf showed how much room exists for experimentation in the sports genre when developers prioritize creativity over realism.
By transforming Super Blood Hockey from arcade action into deck-building management, Lemcke is pushing boundaries of what sports games can be. Not every fan will appreciate the direction, but the willingness to take creative risks rather than safely iterating on a proven formula deserves respect. If Rogue Manager succeeds, it could inspire more developers to experiment with unconventional sports game hybrids.
FAQs
What is Super Blood Hockey: Rogue Manager?
Super Blood Hockey: Rogue Manager is a deck-building sports management game where you play as a shady coach using dirty tricks to manipulate hockey games. Unlike the original, you don’t control players directly but influence matches through strategic card plays.
When does Rogue Manager release?
Super Blood Hockey: Rogue Manager is scheduled to release in 2026 on PC via Steam. No specific release date or window has been announced yet.
Who is developing Rogue Manager?
Loren Lemcke, the solo developer who created the original Super Blood Hockey and Terror of Hemasaurus, is developing Rogue Manager.
Is this a sequel to Super Blood Hockey?
Yes, it’s a follow-up to Super Blood Hockey but takes the series in a completely different direction. Instead of arcade hockey action, it’s a roguelike deck-building management game.
Will you directly control players in Rogue Manager?
No, Rogue Manager removes direct player control entirely. You watch AI-controlled teams play while using your deck of cards to influence the match outcome as a coach.
What platforms will Rogue Manager be on?
Currently confirmed for PC via Steam. Console versions haven’t been announced, though the original Super Blood Hockey eventually released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch.
Is the original Super Blood Hockey still worth playing?
Yes, the original Super Blood Hockey remains available and offers completely different gameplay as an arcade hockey game with direct player control, violence, and management elements.
What other games has Loren Lemcke made?
Loren Lemcke developed Terror of Hemasaurus, a Rampage-inspired monster destruction game, and the original Super Blood Hockey, a violent retro arcade hockey game.
Conclusion
Super Blood Hockey: Rogue Manager represents the kind of creative risk-taking that keeps indie gaming exciting. By transforming a beloved arcade hockey game into a deck-building roguelike management sim, Loren Lemcke is exploring completely new territory while maintaining the irreverent spirit that made the original special. Not every fan will appreciate losing direct control of on-ice action, but the unique hybrid of sports management, deck-building strategy, and roguelike permadeath could attract players who never touched the original. Whether you’re playing cards to sabotage opponents, manipulating your roster through shady deals, or building the perfect deck of dirty tricks, Rogue Manager promises a sports game unlike anything else. The 2026 release gives Lemcke plenty of time to refine the systems and ensure this unconventional sequel lives up to its predecessor’s cult status. For now, fans can wishlist it on Steam and hope the deck-building mechanics prove as satisfying as punching opponents in the face was in the original. Sometimes the best sequels are the ones that completely reinvent what a series can be.