All in Abyss: Judge the Fake sees players gamble their way to the top! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Review Overview

What is All in Abyss: Judge the Fake?

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake is a poker battle mystery adventure RPG developed by ACQUIRE Corp. and WSS Playground, and published by Alliance Arts. Released on April 9, 2025, for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, this game is centered around gambling and deception.

In "The City," Asuha Senahara, a self-proclaimed genius gambler, experiences defeat at the hands of the ruling elite gamblers known as the Witches. Due to this, she embarks on a quest to expose their fraudulent tactics and reclaim her status. To do so, players will have to explore The City’s various districts, gathering information and challenging opponents to poker battles, with the ultimate goal of dethroning the Witches.

The game’s core gameplay is structured around one-on-one Texas Hold‘em battles. Standard Texas Hold’em rules are adhered to here: Each player is dealt two private cards and combines them with five community cards to create the best possible five-card hand. To gain an advantage during matches, Asuha can make use of various skills that influence gameplay.

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake features:
　⚫︎　Visual Novel Investigations
　⚫︎　Texas Hold’em Style 1v1 Poker Battles
　⚫︎　The "All-In" Mechanic
　⚫︎　Unique Character Skills

For more gameplay details, read everything we know about All in Abyss: Judge the Fake's gameplay and story.

Steam			PlayStation			Nintendo
Price		$15.99

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Texas Hold'em in All Its Glory Fun Boss Fights Well-Drawn Illustrations	Unbalanced Gameplay Mechanics Visual Novel Elements Are Barebones Undercooked Narrative Forgettable OST

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Overall Score - 68/100

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake is a stylish and perhaps slightly deranged combination of Texas Hold’em and anime-styled visual novel, where poker hands hit just as hard as the over-the-top character executions. It’s absurd and occasionally brilliant—especially when the Witches’ personalities bleed into their rigged mechanics. While the depth of its gameplay thins out fairly early, it at least plays with enough confidence to keep you entertained.

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Story - 7/10

All in Abyss spins a tale of vengeance through the eyes of a deeply flawed but undeniably entertaining protagonist. While its flirtation with social commentary fizzles out before it finds its footing, the game at least thrives on the personality of its cast. The game often felt like a thriller anime with chips on the line—and honestly, that’s half the fun.

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Gameplay - 8/10

Luck may be the name of the game, but after a while, All in Abyss starts showing the same hand a little too often. Its stylish boss battles and flashy skills inject flair into every match, but once you’ve seen a few tricks, you’ve pretty much seen them all. The core Texas Hold’em mechanics are solid and spiced up with clever gimmicks, yet the thrill slowly plateaus as the game leans hard on repetition. It doesn’t help that its visual novel elements often felt tacked on. It’s a fun ride, just maybe one card short of a flush.

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Visuals - 8/10

There’s a sharp confidence in how All in Abyss presents itself—character portraits are stylish and often paired with backgrounds that paint The City as both glitzy and grimy, depending on where you are. Some of that backdrop, according to the developers, was partially created using AI, which may raise eyebrows for some, but It doesn’t detract from the game’s overall visual appeal. Really, the game’s fetishized executions, while well-drawn, are more of a concern than its use of AI.

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Audio - 5/10

The soundtrack in All in Abyss plays its role competently, never quite fumbling, but never really raising the stakes either. It does the job—tense when it needs to be, metal when it wants to be cool—but rarely does it leave a lasting impression. There’s nothing here with the instant recognition or dramatic punch of, say, Danganronpa’s discussions heating up.

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Value for Money - 6/10

All in Abyss doesn’t overstay its welcome, but it also doesn’t leave much behind once its chips are down. Its 13-hour ride is fun and packed with enough spectacle to make the first playthrough feel worthwhile. But once all is said and done, there’s little reason to come back for more. For $16, it might be wiser to wait for a sale or invest in something with more replay value—Balatro, anyone?

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Review: Danganronpa As a Waifu Poker Game

Let me preface this by saying that I have only played Texas Hold’em twice in my life; both times were on a whim during game nights with friends. My relationship with the said poker game is, admittedly, quite casual—long sessions at a friend’s coffee table, where the chips were often small bills or merely metaphorical, and the trash talk flowed freer than the drinks. But we never played for the money, really, just for the glory, pride, and maybe the last slice of pizza. My favorite part, though, about these games was how they could last for 10 hours or so. It was less about the cards and more about the ritual of it all—the bluffing, the banter, how the pot didn’t matter nearly as much as the performance, and so on.

So imagine the glee on my face when I saw All in Abyss: Judge the Fake, an indie game that I had hoped would experience the same success as Balatro. Not only is it a Texas Hold’em game, but also a visual novel, one drenched in an anime art style that brings to mind Danganronpa or the Zero Escape series. That’s not a combination you see every day. One part high-stakes card game, one part investigation and death game—it’s the sort of mashup that either collapses under its own ambition or pulls off a royal flush of game design.

But while the concept alone is enough to raise eyebrows and curiosity, what’s surprising is just how committed the game is to its premise. There’s no fallback plan, no soft pivot to a safer territory. All in Abyss: Judge the Fake plays its hand face-up from the very start—whether you call, fold, or go all in—for better and for worse.

The City That Bets It All

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake is, in many ways, a game that has a lot of confidence. It’s loud, stylish, and utterly committed to its setting. Everyone—and I mean everyone, old and young alike—plays Texas Hold’em here as though they’re Pokemon trainers seeking battle. Conflicts in this city are mainly resolved in this way, so egregiously that they even built a coliseum essentially just to play poker. Our protagonist, Asuha Senahara, embodies that exact energy. She’s brash, prideful, and undeniably flawed—a gambler through and through, with the ego and tenacity of someone who simply refuses to lose, even when she’s already hit rock bottom.

After a humiliating defeat at the hands of Ulu Amamino—the Witch of Sweets—Asuha finds herself penniless and sleeping wherever. But like any great gambler, she plays the hand she’s dealt. With the help of a kind-hearted girl named Mina, she vows to defeat every single one of the Witches and be the best (and prettiest) gambler in the world… a goal that hardly exemplifies a positive role model.

The game wastes no time setting its rhythm. Each chapter almost always plays out in three acts: Act one introduces the Witch du jour and ends with Asuha suffering yet another unfair loss, usually due to some clearly-illegal cheating tactic that somehow flies under the radar, as The Witches hold all power in The City. Act two becomes a kind of detective interlude, where you and Mina scour the city for gossip, tools, and evidence to decipher how the Witch rigged the game. Then, in act three, you prepare for your rematch, armed with the knowledge and items necessary to outwit the cheater at their own game. Each act is capped with a deliberation sequence—dialogue-heavy wrap-ups where you and Mina piece together your findings in order to expose the Witch’s scam.

And this is where the game’s visual novel elements come into play… loosely. Yes, All in Abyss presents itself with the drama and flair of Ace Attorney or Danganronpa, but it never quite reaches the same depth as those games. Deliberation scenes involve choosing the right answers from a set of dialogue options, but they’re so forgiving and straightforward that there’s no real tension nor brain-wracking involved. You can fail repeatedly with no consequences, and the correct answer is almost always the most recent clue you acquired, often spoon-fed just minutes before.

Sure, these visual novel elements are there, but they don’t alter outcomes nor do they present a challenge. If not for the poker games, you’d wonder if you were even playing a game at all.

There are a few half-hearted gestures toward social commentary, with hints at class disparity, systemic exploitation, and nods to how wealth is hoarded and manipulated only by those at the top, but the game doesn’t seem all that interested in carrying those thoughts through the end. Though a missed opportunity, not every game understandably needs a manifesto. Asuha just wants to win and talk trash while dismantling a corrupt system, and really, that’s fine.

Boss Battles Go Beyond Gimmicks

What keeps the story afloat is its cast—particularly Asuha herself, a mess of a human being with enough personality to light up the room, and Mina, her loyal companion who probably deserves a better protagonist. Outside of them, though, the bench is shallow. NPCs are mostly faceless filler who blend into The City’s backdrop. The Witches, meanwhile, are more colorful, but not always deep. Their tales are mostly delivered in brief asides or passing exposition—never quite given the depth or time they deserve.

But while their pasts may be forgettable, the Witches’ presentations are anything but. Their personalities ooze through every interaction, every line of dialogue, and most importantly, every poker battle. Without spoiling much, each Witch has a gimmick that shapes their cheating style and boss fight. Ulu Amamino’s sweet tooth is the center of her tactic that’s both ridiculous and thematically perfect. Another Witch, Yuragi Tenraku, has her "madness" woven into the structure of her match.

And this—this right here—is All in Abyss’ best aspect. The boss battles may be limited in number, but they’re flashy, intense, and often surprisingly difficult, especially as the Witches enter multiple phases or suddenly pull the rug out from under you with some scripted sequence that forces you to redo the entire match.

Yes, they’re gimmicks, but they’re the kind of gimmicks that demand your full attention. These fights are tense, clever, and yes, sometimes maddeningly unfair—but that’s what makes beating them feel so good.

Texas—Hold On a Minute

As mentioned, these battles are done through a Texas Hold’em game. For those unfamiliar, Texas Hold’em is a poker game where each player is dealt two private cards and shares five community cards placed face-up on the table. The goal here is to make the best five-card hand using any combination of these cards. Betting occurs in four rounds, with players folding, calling, or raising as they try to outplay one another or outlast them to claim all the chips. Victory often hinges not on simply having the best hand, but on reading your opponents.

But here’s the thing: In All in Abyss, there’s no one to read. There’s no subtle twitch of the lip, no bead of sweat on a forehead. Your opponents are static anime portraits with maybe three or so expressions. Without the human element, bluffing loses much of its nuance. To compensate for this lack, All in Abyss introduces a suite of skills—abilities powered by a resource called Luck. These range from simple passive boosts, like reducing chip loss from a bad hand, to more powerful tricks like seeing a preview of upcoming cards or locking your opponent out of folding.

I am particularly fond of the Sharp Eye skill, which gives you a rough sense of what your opponent might be holding. It’s far from infallible, and misreading clues can lead to a game loss, but it injects strategic depth that compensates, in part, for the lack of psychological warfare.

However, not all skills are created equal. Some, like minor damage reducers, feel practically useless. Others are so wildly unbalanced they shatter the rhythm of the game. For example, certain skills allow you to select the final card drawn. Combine that with another skill that prevents your opponent from folding, and you can easily steamroll any battle in a single turn. This undermines the strategies that the game could have had, as the quickest and most efficient way of defeating non-boss battles becomes folding until you have accumulated enough Luck, then going all in and wagering all your chips to deal the most damage once you’ve gotten a strong hand. The worst part of it all is that both of those skills are readily available to the player at the very start of the game.

It’s really a shame, as without those, All in Abyss genuinely encourages clever play—holding out with a weak hand to bait a raise, or carefully managing your Luck economy to activate a clutch skill. Of course, if you’re a purist, you can ignore all the flash and play the game straight. No skills, just cards, gut feeling, and blind faith. That’s how most boss battles go, and they’re frustratingly fun. But in doing so, you’ll be playing with a disadvantage, and honestly, once you’ve seen behind the curtain, it’s hard to unsee the strings.

Has the Spirit of Danganronpa, Down to the Executions

If All in Abyss has one ace up its sleeves that never fails to impress, it’s the sheer spectacle of its visual presentation. Backdrops are flashy and often drip with comic-book-like halftones. Character portraits and expressions are stylish, frames crack and burst when a big play lands, and there’s always just enough visual bombast to make even regular battles memorable.

Every now and then, the game rewards you with full-screen illustrations, and this is how the game’s more… curious stylistic choices are shown: the executions. Lose a boss fight, and Asuha is subjected to a character-themed death. Win, and the Witch suffers a similarly over-the-top demise. They’re not fully animated like in Danganronpa, but they are a lot to take in. These scenes toe a strange line between campiness and discomfort.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re not bloody nor are they graphic, but they are just a bit too detailed for their own good.

Some of these sequences cross into territory that feels fetishized, particularly in how they present these characters in states of vulnerability or exaggerated distress, begging for their lives as they are executed. It might not sit right with everyone, so it’s a good thing that viewing these illustrations are entirely optional. I will say, though, that they’re worth seeing at least once, not necessarily for the narrative payoff, but for how they underscore the absurdity the game leans into, as each Witch’s death is tailored to their personality. Though, again, do be warned.

Is All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Worth It?

Balatro’s Cheaper and Better

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake might not be the most generous hand in the deck, but it plays its card with enough flair to be worth the gamble—at least once. My playthrough clocked in at around 13 hours. Its pacing is tight, its visuals are striking, and the boss battles, while few, are memorable enough to justify the journey. That said, the game’s loop can start to feel repetitive midway through, and the lack of meaningful post-game content doesn’t help its longevity. Modes like Poker Royale offer a bit of extra challenge, but they’re ultimately limited by the same systems that hold the main game back.

At $16, the asking price feels just a little steep for what’s essentially a one-and-done story-driven poker game. It’s not a bad deal, but it’s not a steal either. If you’re the type to chase stylish single-player experiences and love your card games laced with waifus upon waifus, then this might be a game for you. But for most, it might be wise to wait for a discount before going all in.

Still, for all its faults, All in Abyss is a fun game, and it commits to its bits with such confident bravado that it’s hard not to be charmed. Like its heroine, Asuha, it stumbles and talks a big game—but when it hits, it hits with style.

Steam			PlayStation			Nintendo
Price		$15.99

All in Abyss: Judge the Fake FAQ

What are All in Abyss: Judge the Fake’s PC System Requirements?

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All in Abyss: Judge the Fake Product Information

Title	ALL IN ABYSS: JUDGE THE FAKE
Release Date	April 9, 2025
Developer	ACQUIRE Corp WSS Playground
Publisher	Alliance Arts
Supported Platforms	PC (via Steam) PlayStation 5 Nintendo Switch
Genre	Card Game, Visual Novel
Number of Players	Single-Player (1)
ESRB Rating	ESRB Teen
Official Website	Official Website for All in Abyss: Judge the Fake

L A R Opalec

Lloyd grew up bonding with his big brother over video games. While RPGs like Disco Elysium and Final Fantasy IX hold a special place in his heart, he's always up to try new genres.