"You are the last one. The ship is dying. The log is running."
A solo horror RPG about survival in deep space, played with a deck of cards, a tumbling block tower, and a microphone. You are the sole surviving crew member of the intergalactic salvage ship The Wretched. Engines dead. The creature was vented out an airlock — but it didn't save you. Each day you draw cards, pull blocks from the tower, and speak into a microphone — until you don't. Named one of Tabletop Gaming Magazine's Best Games of 2020.
The near-future void. The salvage ship The Wretched drifts between stars following catastrophic engine failure. No signal. No rescue. The creature slaughtered the crew one by one. Now it is dead — or pretending to be — and you are alone in the silence as the life support systems wink out, one by one. Inspired by Ridley Scott's Alien, John Carpenter, and the music of Nine Inch Nails.
The tower is your life
The tumbling block tower represents the structural integrity of the ship — and your sanity. When it falls, the game ends. You are dead. There was no other way.
Suits are your world
Hearts — ship systems. Clubs — the dead crew. Diamonds — the ship's physical structure. Spades — the creature. Every card is a prompt; every prompt is a journal entry.
The four Kings
Each King drawn is set aside. When all four appear, the creature returns. This is inevitable. The Wretched is not a game designed to be won.
The audio log
You record each day into a microphone as a voice log. You begin: 'Day X, salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer [name] reporting.' This is what will remain after you are gone.
Open in Session Zero to let every player vote and see the results.