Face Down

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Win back your beloved in a rigged card game against a face-eating monster.

Platforms: Browser, PC, Mac, Linux
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: 4.5 out of 5 on itch.io (197 ratings)
Length: a few minutes per match
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse only: click a card to play it, click the bell to call out a cheat.
Made by: Vivian Saseta and team
Released: 2022

What frightens A grinning masked monster that eats the faces of those who seek it has taken your beloved. You sit across a dark table from it and play a card game it rigs in its favour, while it taunts you and swaps faces between turns.

Face Down is a short pixel-art card game made for the Indie Spain Jam 2022. A monster that devours faces has taken the one you love, and the only way to get her back is to beat it at its own card game, one it does not play fairly. It runs in the browser on itch.io or as a download for Windows, macOS and Linux.

About Face Down

Face Down was made in 2022 for the Indie Spain Jam by a small Spanish team led by Vivian Saseta, with pixel art by Mario Gil, Aina Gelabert and Nés García, music by DonutDroid and sound by Chris Glitch. It is built in Godot and plays in the browser or as a download, in English or Spanish.

The story is told in a few lines. In dark, forgotten places lives a monster that eats the faces of anyone who comes looking for it. It has taken your beloved. You go to it anyway and challenge it to a game of cards to bring her back.

The whole game happens at one table. The monster sits across from you in a suit, a pale mask for a face, a decanter of whisky at its elbow, and talks while it plays. Cards carry numbers and powers, such as guessing the opponent's highest card or stealing a capture, and the first to reach the point total wins. The monster changes its face as the match goes on, from a grinning mask to an old man offering you a sweet, and it cheats: it will claim penalties you did not earn, and you have to catch it with the bell.

The fear here is quiet and personal. There are no chases or jump scares, only a cruel host who knows the rules better than you, warped walls behind it and the sense that losing means losing a face of your own. Players who like the card-table dread of Inscryption or Buckshot Roulette in a few minutes rather than hours will find it here.

How to play Face Down

Open the itch.io page and press the button to run the game in the browser, or download it for Windows, macOS or Linux.
Read the monster's opening lines and the short tutorial on how cards score.
Play one card each turn; read each card's power before you play it.
Watch the monster's claims: when it charges you a penalty you did not earn, ring the bell to call out its cheat.
Reach the point total before the monster does to win your beloved back.

Screenshots

Face Down screenshot: the monster wears an old man's face with glasses while the player holds a card that swaps captures

Tips

The monster's dialogue hints at what it can do; listen to it between turns.
Use a card that reveals the monster's hand before committing a high card.
If the rules seem to break, it is usually the monster cheating, not a bug: the bell is there for that.