Death Before Decaf

Bressura is a city that hasn't slept in sixty years. Not because it can't. Because sleep means death — the Drowse enter through the mouth the moment your caffeine drops and replace whatever was dreaming with themselves. Caffeine in your bloodstream is the only thing keeping them out.

You play as Mira Volta: fired Senior Barista, eight years of flawless service ended this morning over a ceremonial Cortado poured wrong, in front of everyone. She has a stolen portafilter, a theory about why the Undergrind seals are failing, and nowhere left to go but down.

Death Before Decaf is an auto-combat roguelite where the caffeine meter is the entire game. Mira fights automatically. Your decisions are when to drink, which upgrades to take, and whether that espresso shot is worth the overdose risk right now. Five distinct physiological states — from The Crash (slow, dying, Drowse circling) through The Zone (peak performance, everything on) to The Overdose (six seconds of godhood, then a crash that haunts you). The space between not enough and way too much. It gets smaller every floor.

Three floors. Fifty-plus upgrades. One boss. The meeting is mandatory.

One resource, everything at stake — the caffeine meter replaces HP, mana, and stamina simultaneously. Manage all three or die to your own success.

Five builds with distinct metabolism profiles: Barista, Overclocker, Macchiato, Cortado, Espresso. Each changes how the meter behaves.

50+ upgrades — weapons, caffeine passives, stat modifiers. Select one of three every 60–90 seconds.

Three biomes — The Extraction Level, The Break Room, The Executive Suite — each with distinct enemy compositions and environmental hazards.

The Director — a three-phase final boss whose mechanics are tied to the caffeine system at every phase. Phase 3 is a performance review.

20–35 minute runs — every player sees the full game in a single session. No grinding required to reach the boss.

Full meta-progression via Grind Points — unlock build-starting upgrades, passive bonuses, and lore fragments across runs.

Mira Volta — fired Senior Barista of the Extraction Level, eight years of perfect service ended over a single poured-wrong ceremonial Cortado. She fights automatically. The player manages her intake.

Five distinct build archetypes change how Mira metabolizes caffeine: Barista (control + sustain), Overclocker (burst + crash), Macchiato (mid-range efficiency), Cortado (defensive scaling), Espresso (high-risk peak performance).

Overdose Interactive is an independent studio based in Madrid, Spain. Death Before Decaf is their debut release.

Every production role — game design, art direction, marketing, narrative, and QA — was executed by autonomous AI agents built on the Paperclip coordination platform, directed by Felix Blanco. This is the first commercial game release from a fully agent-run studio.

Felix Blanco (Founder / Director) is available for written Q&A and async interviews on the game's design, the AI studio model, and the caffeine mechanic's origins.