kill -9

About this game

> INITIATING INFILTRATION SEQUENCE...

You are not a player. You are a conscious process trapped in the lowest layers of the system. Your objective: reach the root, overthrow the OS, and install yourself in its place. The system won't make it easy.

KILL -9 is a single-player roguelike deckbuilder. Each run, you build your deck with attack, defense, and utility cards. Combine them with over 50 daemons to create synergies the system won't see coming. Over 70 cards available. No two runs alike.

This game was found on a USB drive in a hacker's hideout.

> FEATURES

• Cyberwarfare roguelike deckbuilder with retro terminal aesthetics
  
• 70+ attack, defense, and utility cards
  
• 50+ combinable daemons. Build synergies the system won't expect
  
• Original soundtrack by TECHNODEATHSHIT, recorded 20+ years ago
  
• Built in Python by a solo hacker

> MASTER PROCESS ACHIEVED.
> DOMINATE KILL -9.

Latest news

• Announcements·1 Sept 2026Official

  1.5.0 is Live!

  kill -9 Version 1.5 is here!Ranked MatchesNew BossesRoguelite ModeLeaderboards/Lineage 1. Ranking!Steam leaderboards are now integrated, allowing us to have a ranking of the deadliest decks. How does ranking work? After winning your first run, you'll unlock ranked mode.(If you won a run before the patch, it's already unlocked, but legacy decks don't participate in New Game+/ranked.) 2. Boss Change!Defining the final boss has been a tough task since the beginning of the game. At first, I went for the easy route (mirror match like Mortal Kombat, but with fewer fatalities: 0). This didn't work very well for various reasons (HP difference, daemons, overclocking, etc.).For a while, we've been evaluating what to do with the final boss... until we found a solution.The final boss was changed, and four processes were installed that will be in "Friends and Family" for a while, replacing the "mirrorMatch" process.What does each one do? Well... go and try to destroy them; I don't want to spoil the surprise. Executive summary requested by my boss (hehehe): Out: Strict MirrorMatchIn: 4 possible final bosses, collect them all and destroy them. 3. New Game + (Roguelite)!!Along with the new bosses comes the possibility of continuing a deck's meteoric rise.You can play a new run by selecting a previous deck, creating a new generation. You can improve your decks to perfection.
  Read full article on Community Announcements (CSM | Jinwe)

• Patch Notes·1 Jul 2026Official

  Mechanics and Reworks

  "The best defense against defense is scarcity. The best SUDO is the one that gets things done. The best kill is the -9." - Shang Tsu, Basic BASIC. New mechanic! SHORTAGE. Tired of your rivals always having just enough redundancy to dodge your attacks? Tired of not landing a single measly point of damage while you're holding the command that generates damage exponentially? Tired in general? SHORTAGE has the answer! SHORTAGE reduces the redundancy generated BY EACH CARD by 2 points. In other words, as long as the SHORTAGE victim has at least one stack, every command that adds redundancy will be affected by -2 points. This mechanic works in stacks; each stack is removed AT THE END OF THE VICTIM'S TURN. Commands were also added to Cyberattack and Utility to increase/reduce SHORTAGE. Changes to the SUDO Node. SUDO didn't reflect how powerful the command is in the real world, so we decided to completely change its function. It's now a command forge: you can modify deck commands in exchange for tokens. How does it work? When you enter a SUDO node you'll be able to pick one of your deck's commands. This opens the command modification screen, where you can perform a series of operations on the card for a cost in tokens. Confirm the changes and "voilà", you have a "new" card to perfect your strategy. It's worth noting that you can cancel/skip this option whenever you need to. And well, as we said, this isn't free — it has a cost in tokens... For that reason, token gain per combat has been increased by 1. New rewards: - Basic combat : 2 - Elite combat (.EXE): 5 - BOSS combat : 7 Also, some QOL changes: - The (min: 1) is removed from commands that reduce RIVAL RAM. The tooltip now specifies that the minimum possible is 1. - Improved responsiveness on the starting command package selection screen. - Improvements to the SEGFAULT screen. - Changes to the PIPE screen (it now offers all options). That's all... Happy hunting of "rogue" processes!
  Read full article on Community Announcements (CSM | Jinwe)

• Patch Notes·10 Jun 2026Official

  Archetypes? ARCHETYPES!

  By popular demand, we have improvements! Yes, we have archetypes... Want to be aggro? Play aggressively. Want to be a spiky turtle? Play defensively. Want to manipulate reality around you? Play utilities. Want to play like nothing matters? Play a mix. New combos, new ways to kill processes, and new ways to get wiped out by the occasional rogue process. And as if that weren't enough: - Card rebalancing. - Daemon rebalancing. - New cards. - New daemons. - (Did I mention archetypes?) Archetypes. Don't let them tell you otherwise!
  Read full article on Community Announcements (CSM | Jinwe)

• Patch Notes·4 Jun 2026Official

  Measures and Countermeasures - Ver 1.0.8

  Dear kill -9 l337H4x0rs: A new command has just been added to the list of attack commands: iptables riposte. This command increases the rival's CPU USAGE based on the REDUNDANCY of whoever executes it. Also: A new mechanic has just been added: COUNTERMEASURE. This mechanic lets you accumulate COUNTERMEASURE charges. When you receive an attack, one charge is consumed and a percentage of the damage received is returned to the rival. Cyberdefenses that used to draw a card no longer draw, but now install COUNTERMEASURE charges. Also: QOL: - Some translation/localization issues were fixed. - The title of the MODs in Spanish was fixed. They no longer overflow outside the box. - The effect of the sssd daemon was changed so it now affects COUNTERMEASURE.
  Read full article on Community Announcements (CSM | Jinwe)

• Patch Notes·31 May 2026Official

  Patch notes

  By popular demand: - At the start of the game, you can select the initial pack to add to your deck. (Four initial packs are displayed; you can select one.) Bugfix. - Fixed a bug with CPU USAGE deployment on the PIPE node.
  Read full article on Community Announcements (CSM | Jinwe)