Payroll: Clear mounting debts set by a loan shark by manipulating dice symbols

Games like CloverPit have had players up to their eyeballs in debts that must be paid off by gambling. The Payroll gambling mechanics continue that premise, but this time, you must customize dice faces with symbols that each have abilities that can be stacked and combined to chain the high combinations needed to pay increasing debts to get a loan shark off your back. 

We’ve got all the latest Payroll news, so you can learn how to outplay luck through strategy and use the magical dice to your advantage to build multipliers in a game of controlled chaos. 

What is Payroll?

The Payroll demo begins with a loan shark, who is a literal shark in a suit, informing you of your debts caused by a missed parking ticket. It seems the amount owed has gotten out of hand, because you now have to use dice that you modify with symbols to earn cash and pay off an amount set by the loan shark on each table within three rounds. 

Payroll gameplay is unique because simply rolling the dice doesn’t entirely dictate how much money you earn each round. To begin, three dice will automatically be thrown on the table. You can then only select the visible faces of the dice to flip the dice face you want to score to the top, meaning you may not always be able to score with the faces you want to use. The symbols on the faces that are on the top of the dice will then earn you cash. 

After every round in the Payroll game, you can select at least one symbol to add to your dice. Thanks to the symbols, there are over 100 dice faces to craft. The Spade, for example, adds three dollars per empty slot on the dice you choose to add it to, and the Octopus contributes a further two dollars per rotated dice. There are even symbols that chain together to earn large amounts of cash, such as the Cultist, which is worth plus five dollars per other cultist symbol selected as the scoring face. 

When you select a symbol in the Payroll demo, your three dice are opened as a map, allowing you to select exactly what face of the dice you want the symbol to be positioned on. This allows for the building of a strategy in the rotation of dice to have some control over your luck and in the formation of powerful symbol combinations.

As you play Payroll, you will quickly realize that the loan shark isn’t on your side. His facial expressions are rather unhappy when you complete a table, and he will throw random round modifiers at you in an attempt to nudge your Payroll roguelike run off track. You will have to clear increasing debts in a round where all faces on a random dice are locked, or be unable to use the same dice faces from a previous round, for example. 

The loan shark will also inform you of a pending verification holding fee, supposedly set by the finance department, a document review charge from the legal team, and more excuses to raise the amount owed than you can shake a stick at. 

It is possible to skip debts to earn rewards, but that will keep the figure mounting. The Payroll game is designed to be difficult, so expect to be hit with challenges that test your deck and your ability to adapt on your journey to defeating the loan shark once and for all.

Who is the developer of Payroll?

The Payroll developer is known as Thyme. They’re a solo developer, and Payroll is their first game, in development for 2 years. During the course of the demo, Thyme has continued to support it with updates, including refreshing the art style of all symbols, adding new faces such as Boltimus the Worldshaper as the first mythic rarity face, and enabling controller support.

When will Payroll be released?

The Payroll release date is scheduled for March 2026. A specific launch date has yet to be confirmed, but it’s likely to be announced in the not-so-distant future. 

When the full Payroll game releases, it will be playable on PC via Steam and Itch.io.

How long is the Payroll demo?

Payroll roguelike runs are designed to last anywhere between 15-30 minutes, but the time it takes to beat the demo depends on how well you’re able to manipulate the dice with your chosen symbols to meet increasing debts. 

As a true roguelike, Payroll features no meta-progression, so if you fail, you must start a run again from the beginning, at the very first table, with new dice that you must fill their blank faces with symbols all over again.

Even if you complete the Payroll demo, there’s more to it than the standard mode. The Green Die modifier, where the first reroll of each debt is free, is unlocked by completing table five in standard mode. Also, there’s the Blue Die mode that adds an extra item to the first shop of each debt, which is unlocked by completing 100 debts.

Moreover, the demo version of Payroll features a leaderboard that shows your current position, along with the high scores of other players, so you can challenge yourself to reach those top scores and master the mechanics before the game fully launches.