Solo developer Dylan of Decaf Bagel Games has released a free Steam demo for Pigeons Must Die!, a wave-based roguelite set in a subway station overrun by hostile pigeons. The game will also take part in Steam Next Fest later this month.
According to a release, the demo is live now; Next Fest runs from October 19th to 26th. The birds are described as ‘noisy, filthy’ and far more numerous than the player. No release date has been set yet. The Steam page lists Windows and Linux versions, with text in English plus Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
Roguelites are built around repeated attempts, known as runs, where failing sends players back to the start. Pigeons Must Die! also borrows from auto-shooters. Players steer, while their weapons do the firing.
How the subway fight plays out
A run lasts 20 waves, each harder than the one before, according to the Steam page. Movement is everything. Players dodge the flock (rolling out of danger when it gets close) while hunting for a path through the swarm.
Between waves, players spend Feathers, the game's currency, on weapons, support runes, trinkets and shop upgrades. There are up to six weapon slots. Socketing a support rune into a weapon changes how it fights; stronger weapons hold more of them. Two matching weapons can also be fused into one tougher version.
Feathers have a second use. Before a wave starts, players can wager them on a Wave Contract, which pairs a benefit with a hazard. The release frames it as a trade of ‘greater danger for greater reward’.
Then come the bosses. Dylan says they are ‘not damage sponges’: each one ‘rewrites the rules of the arena’, with new phases reshaping the fight as it goes. Store screenshots show one of them, a pigeon called Dumpster Bully, standing guard over a row of trash cans.
Decaf Bagel Games is Dylan's one-person studio; it is listed as both developer and publisher on Steam. The full game can be wishlisted on Steam now.
The following was sent as a press release to Inven Global.
