UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASE AUTHORIZED // DO NOT LEAVE IN BREAK ROOM

ALWAYS NEVER LIVE

Every mechanic should feel like it could appear in a real spy briefing. Every failure should file cleanly.

THE PITCH

You are not just moving an agent. You are running the Agency.

Always Never Live is an agency-scale tactical stealth roguelike about briefing a spy operation, programming field doctrine, watching an operative survive a hostile board, and then reading the agency's official version of what happened.

The tone is dry, bureaucratic, and slightly absurd, but the tactics are serious: move, wait, use gear, read enemy intent, control noise, steal the package, preserve the operative, and get out clean if the building permits the paperwork.

Agency field director watching a tactical operation board and dossiers

THE GOLDEN RUN SPINE

01

READ THE CONTRACT

The board explains the mission type, target, threat, route pressure, side risk, and why HQ is pretending this was your idea.

02

SET THE DOCTRINE

Agent programming is framed as spy doctrine: what to do when compromised, when the package is visible, when an ally is exposed, when extraction opens, and when survival becomes the mission.

03

WORK THE ROOM

Turn-based stealth exposes enemy intent, patrol pressure, cover relation, noise, combat risk, and last-action consequences without smothering the player in admin.

04

LIFT THE PACKAGE

Retrieval is the canonical slice: optional side files, custody pressure, package-to-exit lag, and a clear clean or partial extraction path.

05

FILE THE CASE

The chronicler carries combat outcomes, hesitation, item usage, villain pressure, doctrine behavior, and extraction quality into the final document.

WHAT IS BEING OVERHAULED

PLAYER ROLE The fantasy is Agency command: choose the file, set the doctrine, deploy the operative, and answer for the result.
UI / UX The game should read like an operation brief, not a debug console with nicer borders.
DOCTRINE Automation exposes chosen action, reason, and rejected rules so the agent feels intentional and watchable.
SURVIVAL AI Autoplay has to patch up, break sight, score escape tiles, protect objectives, and avoid heroic nonsense.
VISUALS Portraits, dossiers, villains, partners, enemies, and field tokens now share silhouette, palette, role, and faction logic.
COMBAT Grazes, fumbles, suppression, cover saves, noise, and villain involvement become gameplay feedback and case-file evidence.
VILLAINS The antagonist should interrupt the mission, alter the room, pressure the package, and show up in the debrief as more than a name.

THE ROOM IS PART OF THE ENEMY

Confrontations are being staged as spy scenes, not bigger health bars.

  • Villain-authored pressure changes patrols, comms, doors, alarms, and objective complications.
  • Themed henchmen carry faction identity into the mission instead of arriving as generic trouble.
  • Combat tells make dangerous actors readable before they ruin the paperwork.
  • Case-file memory records what the villain actually did, then lets the brief say so.

AUTOPLAY HAS TO BE WORTH WATCHING

Some players will hand the operation to doctrine and watch. That is not a side feature. It is one of the game's strongest promises: the agent should behave like a trained field asset, not a cursor with a destination.

PRESSURE READ

Visible enemies, cameras, targeters, cover, darkness, alert state, and health all feed the emergency decision.

REAL RECOVERY

Medical supplies resolve directly, partners can patch themselves, and survival beats become legible action.

EXIT DISCIPLINE

Once custody is secured, doctrine stops indulging side spirals unless danger is immediate.

THE NEW VISUAL STANDARD

Agent doctrine mode with field state, kit, recent beats, and live mission board
Agents are authored for play: readable doctrine, survivable decisions, and clear field state.
Villain confrontation with escorts, sight cones, route pressure, and mission readout
Villains are no longer just portraits. Their pressure visibly enters the room.
Debrief and case-file handoff
The case file is not flavor after the game. It is the final loop of the run.

READABLE OPERATIVES

GHOST
You were never there.
Shadow-first posture, clean extraction pressure, and a run that reads like absence.
SHOCK
Hit hard. Leave first.
Aggressive room breaks, hard takedowns, and a floor that knows too late.
SOCIAL ENGINEER
The room believed you.
Cover, bluffing, selective force, and a cleaner line out than violence would buy.
CONTROL ROOM
Move the building.
Doors, lights, comms, route shaping, and pressure management.
AGENT
You wrote the performer.
A full-auto run with readable instincts, survival pivots, and no dashboard babysitting.
SURVIVOR
You held the line.
Ugly pressure, broken routes, and an extraction that still lands.

THE FIRST PLAYABLE SLICE IS THE PROMISE

Brief the op. Program the agent. Lift the package. Survive the villain. Read the file.

Browse Filed Operations Open Case File Reader