灵魂筹码 Soul at Stake is an oriental-themed survival horror game built around a deadly supernatural wager. Four gamblers are trapped in an illusion created by the ghost Xi’E, where a devil hunts them and escape is impossible by ordinary means. Their objective is to perform a sealing ritual and expel the devil, though the game’s fiction makes clear that the promised prize is a deception and the souls at stake serve the ghost’s scheme.
For the gamblers, survival depends on collecting cards from cardholders to break the seal, while choosing whether to focus on that task, help injured teammates, or rely on items. The opposing devil has a different set of decisions: use its pursuit ability to catch and execute gamblers, or wait and attempt a sneak attack. Both sides can earn stakes through their actions and redeem them for hunting or survival items, adding resource choices to each encounter.
The setting draws on eerie, half-real visions of places such as an abandoned train station, a deserted palace and a Hakka tulou. Each devil is a wronged spirit transformed by resentment and described as possessing a distinctive power. Character growth and the discovery of additional abilities extend the game’s cycle of gambles, while its central tension comes from an uneven hunt: the gamblers outnumber the devil, but are individually more vulnerable.
