Demo Talk: Side Effects — High Stakes Pill Popping
October 5, 2025
Pill popping has never had higher stakes than in Free Lives’ Side Effects. Clearly inspired by the likes of Buckshot Roulette, Side Effects throws players into a turn-based medical roulette game — a twisted experiment where just one player leaves alive. Every decision matters if you want to survive the death match.
Side Effects may look simple at a glance, but progressing through the rounds completely reshapes the experience. Behind the basic premise is a game that gets tactically deep. Side Effects is incredibly engaging, frustrating in a fun kind of way.
Red Pill, Blue Pill, Death Pill
Side Effects doesn't require much skill, but it does demand good tactical thinking. It's possible to just get unlucky — Side Effects does depend on RNG, after all — but a well-thought-out plan can make a huge difference. The item system gives players a decent amount of agency over a round. It is absolutely possible to get a strong advantage by simply using your items at the exact right moment.
The Side Effects demo offers 10+ items to play around with, and the full release will include even more, aiming for 15+ unique items. That may not sound like a lot, but the items available in the demo do more than enough to spice up the gameplay substantially. Having the ability to skip turns and force opponents into taking a specific pill already gives players plenty of ways to navigate through matches — and that's only scratching the surface.
The different pill types also meaningfully change the flow of each match, adding an extra layer of strategy. You truly get to pick your poison. Some pills on the board might leave you in a super comfortable position afterward, while others could quickly send you to your grave. The power of choice can really feel like a cruel gift at times.
Does Side Effects Offer Enough?
For a demo, Side Effects feels fairly complete. The concept has been just about fully realized, and it works really well. It takes just a few matches to tell that this formula is a winning one. The full version will be even more fleshed out, which will no doubt make it feel even better.
Side Effects provides a good single-player experience, but, let's be real, it's tailor-made for multiplayer fun. Strategizing against a CPU isn't bad, but there's nothing quite like facing a fellow human. It's a good thing then that Side Effects plants to include a multiplayer mode in its full release, supporting up to 4 players at a time. You can expect to enjoy this game with friends as soon as it drops.
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Side Effects is an uncanny kind of weird, and I love that. Hopefully, the full game leans into that as much as possible. Being Buckshot Roulette with a different coat of paint just isn't enough. A strong identity is important for any indie game, and I think that's all this game needs to hone in on more to leave a lasting impression.
