The world
runs on rumor
We build games on a rumor engine. The thrill of sifting truth from uncertainty runs through everything we make.
A studio built on a single idea
Grapevine Games is an independent studio with one obsession: making rumor the core mechanic of play. Most games hand you the truth. Ours make you earn it — from sources that lie, exaggerate, and misremember.
Every title we build runs on the same foundation, the Grapevine Engine — a deterministic core that models how information spreads between people, warps as it travels, and can be pieced back together by a careful player. We wrap that engine in wildly different worlds — history and myth, the trading floor, the back rooms of politics, a village of liars, a Joseon household, a duel of wits — so the same deep loop of deduction feels new each time. Coming to Steam, iOS, and Android, with playable web previews today.
One engine,
many worlds
A deterministic core governs how rumors spread, distort, and get untangled. Swap the world as data — the fun carries over intact.
Propagation
Rumors travel through people. Who you tell, and what, changes the board.
Distortion
Every retelling warps the truth. Weigh each source’s bias and stake.
Deduction
One clue is never enough. You win by cross-checking your way to the truth.
What we’re building
Six very different worlds growing on one engine — all in the works.
Legends
Step into a figure of history and myth, and read fate through the rumors around you.
Try the preview → Play nowRumor Street
Survive history’s great market storms by betting on the right rumor.
Try the preview → Play nowKingmaker
Manipulate opinion from the shadows. Plant the right rumor, crown your candidate — and never get caught.
Try the preview → Play nowThe Wandering Detective
Wander a village of liars. Interrogate everyone, and catch the culprit in their own contradictions.
Try the preview → Play nowProvidence
Raise a struggling household in old Korea — thrift, virtue, and shrewd judgment turn misfortune into a family’s fortune.
Try the preview →Counterpoint
A prodigy of words takes on a tyrant magistrate — topple absurd authority with counterexamples and hard-won facts.
In developmentQuestions, answered
What is Grapevine Games?
Grapevine Games is an independent game studio that builds every title on a shared “rumor engine.” The common thread across our games is the fun of gathering conflicting rumors, weighing who to trust, and reasoning your way to the truth.
What is the Grapevine Engine?
It’s a deterministic core that models how rumors propagate between characters, distort as they’re retold, and can be cross-checked back into truth. The world is swappable data; the engine — and the deduction loop it creates — stays the same across every game.
What games is Grapevine Games making?
Six, all on the same engine: Legends, a history & myth deduction RPG; Rumor Street, a rumor-trading game set in history’s great market storms; Kingmaker, a dark-satire game of political opinion warfare; The Wandering Detective, a village mystery solved by interrogation and contradiction; Providence, a Joseon household-management sim; and Counterpoint, a game of knowledge duels (coming soon).
Can I play the games now?
Yes — playable web previews are live. You can try Legends, Rumor Street, Kingmaker, The Wandering Detective, and Providence from the cards above. Counterpoint is still in development. They are works in progress, and the official releases are still on the way.
What platforms will the games release on?
The planned launch platforms are Steam, iOS, and Android. The web previews exist so we can test and prove the engine quickly before those releases.
How do the games actually play?
You collect rumors from biased, self-interested sources — some lie, some are frightened, some simply misremember. No single source hands you the answer; you win by cross-checking independent accounts and deciding when you know enough to act.
“We don’t make games you win by chasing green checkmarks. You win by reading, weighing, and judging.”