The Castle Doctrine

Released: Jan 29, 2014
Platforms: WindowsmacOSLinux
Last updated: 09 Sep 2026, 14:48 GMT

Updates & announcements

10 posts

08 Apr 2026Developer post
Celebrating 13 years and 2,069,877 robberies
The Castle Doctrine first launched off-Steam back in March of 2013. And what do you know? I just tested it on Steam Deck, and it works great on there. Even the wonky Windows-pop-up for server-side account creation works. Looking back on it from the twilight of my career, with 19
04 Mar 2020Developer post
Fresh Meat
"This game will never go on sale." But, hey look, this game is on sale. Is nothing sacred? I've lost my moral compass. I've been besmirched. I've changed. I'm not the game developer that I used to be. I'm not the man you married. I'm not the son you fathered. I'm not the baby tha
15 Nov 2017Developer post
50+ daily active players
Since the recent update to the house list, there has been the biggest boom in the player population in almost two years, with 50+ unique players per day for the past few days. The irony is that we now have so many houses online that the original fix, to pad out the house list, is
15 Nov 2017Developer post
50+ daily active players
Since the recent update to the house list, there has been the biggest boom in the player population in almost two years, with 50+ unique players per day for the past few days. The irony is that we now have so many houses online that the original fix, to pad out the house list, is
13 Nov 2017Developer post
There are now 100 houses on the list
In low population situations, the available content of the game dwindles. Remaining players are left with very little to do, especially if the available houses are beyond their reach in terms of tool budget. For example, the top house currently contains $400,000 in value, but it'
13 Nov 2017Developer post
There are now 100 houses on the list
In low population situations, the available content of the game dwindles. Remaining players are left with very little to do, especially if the available houses are beyond their reach in terms of tool budget. For example, the top house currently contains $400,000 in value, but it'
23 Oct 2017Developer post
Improving the game for low player populations
As you may have noticed, The Castle Doctrine's player population has dwindled since it's peak of 3600 active players back in January of 2014. Over the past week, for example, there have been an average of 10 players per day, with a min of 6 and max of 14. Not bad for a game that
23 Oct 2017Developer post
Improving the game for low player populations
As you may have noticed, The Castle Doctrine's player population has dwindled since it's peak of 3600 active players back in January of 2014. Over the past week, for example, there have been an average of 10 players per day, with a min of 6 and max of 14. Not bad for a game that
05 Feb 2014Developer post
Last 10 minutes of the 25% off discount
This is it folks, the last 10 minutes to EVER get The Castle Doctrine at a discount.
29 Jan 2014Product Release
Now Available on Steam - The Castle Doctrine
The Castle Doctrine is Now Available on Steam! The Castle Doctrine is a massively-multiplayer game of burglary and home defense. It's 1991, and things are bad. You're a guy with a house and family. Other players are coming to take what's yours. Build security to stop them. Study
The Castle Doctrine is Now Available on Steam!
The Castle Doctrine is a massively-multiplayer game of burglary and home defense. It's 1991, and things are bad. You're a guy with a house and family. Other players are coming to take what's yours. Build security to stop them. Study their houses, buy tools, and break in to take what's theirs. Everything you do is permanent.

I'm Jason Rohrer, and The Castle Doctrine is my 10th game. It's a bit hard to describe, because there's never been anything quite like it before. It's a brutal game in terms of its perma-death and perma-destruction consequences, and it is turn-based, so it's rather Rogue-like. But building such a brutal game in a multiplayer context, with absolutely no cushion between players to stop them from brutalizing each other, is quite strange and new.

Everything is real in this game. When you rob someone, you are actually hurting another player in a permanent way by destroying and stealing their hard work. When someone dies in this game, they lose everything and start over. If you devise perplexing security systems, you can perma-death other players when they come to rob you. Watching those security tapes, where someone gets what's coming to them, is an exhilarating experience. On the other hand, you just killed someone and perhaps caused them to lose days of their hard work. And you've been on the other side too, losing everything because of some thoughtless move you made in someone else's house.

But there is no randomness in this game, so everything is fair. When you die, it is always your fault. When things get dicey, you can always retreat back out the front door to save your own neck. Of course, human folly will get the better of you.

Here's what you get when you buy the game:

A lifetime account on the central world server that I'm running.
Access to the full game source code (after launching the game on Steam, go here).
Everything you need to run your own game server (requires a PHP/MySQL web server, download the source bundle to get started).

Updates & announcements

Now Available on Steam - The Castle Doctrine