A robotic dog trying to find its humans faces a city full of hostile machines. That is the premise of Dog in the Machine, a tactical turn-based roguelite where escaping means learning new attacks and putting the battlefield’s hazards to good use.
French developer Studio Chahut and Goblinz Publishing have announced that the game will arrive on Steam on September 29, 2026.
The AutoDog’s journey takes it through compact grids populated by enemy guardians and objects that react to your actions. Conveyor belts, interactive buttons, explosive obstacles, and a collision system create opportunities to trigger chain reactions. An attack is therefore worth considering for what it sets in motion, not just the enemy it hits first.
Working out those interactions is where the real-time preview system comes in. Combat itself is turn-based, but you can see how a sequence of instructions will play out before committing to it. Try a plan, cancel it, and test another until you are happy with the result.
Being able to watch the outcome is especially useful when several collisions are involved, instead of having to calculate the entire sequence in your head.
There is also some freedom in how you teach your dog to fight. After each battle, the AutoDog learns a new Trick, and two existing Tricks can be combined into a more complex ability. Blueprints provide combinations to follow, but you can also experiment with your own. Building a set of attacks that work well together is part of each run, with the combinations you choose helping determine your approach to later encounters.
Between fights, encounters with the city’s inhabitants reveal more about the setting and provide further deckbuilding decisions. Buying, exchanging, looting, upgrading, and stealing all provide ways to expand the Trick Library. These encounters give you another opportunity to adjust your build before returning to combat.
Dog in the Machine will cost $17.99 / €17.99, with a 20% launch discount during its first two weeks. A release-date trailer accompanies the announcement, and you can find it below.
