It's 2026. Every engineer works alongside AI agents, every PM promises an AI-native future, and "just use Claude" is both a solution and a curse.
LADDER is a roguelike deckbuilder about the job.
You start at L3. You draft a deck out of the things people actually do at work: pairing sessions, design docs, one-on-ones, and the shortcut you will regret in two sprints. You fight the things that actually stop work: scope creep, spec ghosts, the reorg. A run pauses whenever real work interrupts, and resumes right where you left off.
THE SATIRE IS IN THE RULES
AI-leveraged cards genuinely are faster. Delegate the ticket and it ships by lunch. The card that writes itself costs you one Tech Debt, and Tech Debt is a real resource that really comes due. Nothing here is flavor text pretending to be a mechanic. The shortcuts work, and then the bill arrives.
FOUR CAREERS, ONE COMPANY
LADDER is free to install, and the Engineer's first two levels cost nothing. The Engineering Manager and the Product Manager each let you play their opening level before you decide. The CEO is a paid role from the start.
Each role is a one-time purchase with its own resources, its own enemies, and its own way to win. The EM balances AI Literacy against Politics. The PM races a roadmap clock against stakeholder trust. The CEO does not climb at all, because she is already at the top: her ladder is time, and each tier is another fiscal year she has to survive.
All four work at the same company in the same fiscal year. An event you live through as an Engineer is one you caused as a CEO.
WHAT YOU GET
- Over 600 cards across four characters
- Over 380 enemies, from the daily standup to the board room
- Over 220 workplace events, most of which have no good option
- Over 150 relics, several of which are just bad habits
- An AI companion who comments on your run, and occasionally on you
No ads. No gacha. No timers on your run. Portrait, one-handed, and the game itself plays offline. The AI companion is the one part that needs a connection: it runs on a daily allowance of Cognits that refills each day, with optional top-ups and a monthly plan if you want more of it.
LADDER is not affiliated with or endorsed by any AI company named or parodied within it.
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