5 Video Games With Dice Rolls As The Main Mechanic

Dice have been around for centuries with some dice games dating as far back as 3000 BCE in Egypt. Their traces can be found in several Bronze age civilizations as well. Many tabletop games of today that employ dice have evolved through thousands of years and these games are enjoyed in every corner of the world. The digital world is no stranger to playing dice either as there are many video games that have integrated these historical throwing objects within their game mechanics perfectly.

Dice are most commonly seen in board games, role-playing games, casino games such as bitcoin craps and poker dice. Quite a few modern video games have been made where rolling dice plays a central role, and there are also dice mini-games in AAA titles such as Witcher 1 & 2. Like craps offered by online casinos, which are enjoyed with real money, Witcher allows you to earn in-game currencies, essential for the game’s progress. Rolling dice is always fun no matter what game you are playing.

For that reason, below we have listed 5 best video games that use dice rolls as their main mechanic.

5. Dice Legacy

Developed by Destinybit, Dice Legacy is a survival city-builder game that implements various gameplay elements of real-time strategy titles. In the game you control a village where everyone’s fate is determined by a die, each villager’s options are limited to the dice they are represented by.

After discovering a mysterious ringworld, players settle on it to build a village from scratch. This is done by gathering resources, expanding and defending your territory. Each villager has a caste, and each caste can only perform a set number of jobs, these jobs are assigned by rolling the dice.

Although you can reroll, too much rerolling comes at a cost. The goal of the game is to create as much stronger village you can build that will be able to survive harsh climates and raids from hostile village. Dice Legacy is available on Nintendo Switch, Windows, PS4 and PS5.

4. Lost In Random

Dice usage can be incredibly creative as seen in a variety of board games, strong believers of fate and some gamblers often roll dice before making important decisions in life. But what if dice were sentient beings? That’s the idea we explore in “Lost in Random” an action-adventure game developed by Zoink and published by EA. The game’s premise is set in “Kingdom of Random,” where every citizen's fate is decided by a roll of a dice. You set on a journey with a young girl named Even and her companion Dicey to rescue her sister from the clutches of the evil queen of Random. Combats in the game take place in arenas that look like a game board, where rolling Dicey is a must to progress. A must-play title for those who are looking to try unique games based on dice.

3. Children of Zodiarcs

If you love dice and collecting cards, Children of Zodiarcs will offer you the best of both worlds. Developed by Cardboard Utopia and published by Square Enix, the game was released in 2017 on various platforms including PS4, Nintendo Switch, Windows and Xbox One. Children of Zodiarcs is a tactical RPG set in a fantasy world controlled by aristocrats and affluent lords. The world of Lumus is divided into rich and poverty-stricken outcasts, where a player starts as the latter. The game is story-driven and very visually appealing with a combat system based on dice and cards, where you build your own deck, cast a die and strike down the overlords.

2. Tharsis

Games set in outer space have amassed a huge fanbase as seen with No Man's Sky, Halo, Mass Effect and other similar titles. Tharsis, the 2016 strategy game developed and published by Choice Provisions allows players to enjoy outer space from the perspective of stranded astronauts. The game is played using dice that the player must roll in order to fix their spacecraft. You control a group of four astronauts each assigned their own specific jobs, and your goal is to survive the entire journey by effectively managing your resources. The game is available on Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

1. Citizen Sleeper

Citizen Sleeper is a sci-fi-themed RPG, where the player’s main objective is to survive and escape the Eye in the ruins of interplanetary capitalism. The game implements a lot of elements from traditional TTRPGs, and its cyberpunk-style world-building will leave you speechless.

For the gameplay part, you roll a number of dice every in-game day, and their outcome determines how the player will progress through the game. As the player tries to survive the interstellar society, they can freely move around and explore with tons of flexibility in gameplay style. This critically acclaimed title of 2022 is available on Windows, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.