Night Shift: Devil Division Brings Over-the-Top Anime to Draw Steel

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While MCDM’s Draw Steel RPG was originally built around heroic cinematic high fantasy, its crunchy, tactical mechanics are also flexible enough to be dropped into just about any setting—including the gore-spattered streets of shonen-style Tokyo.

UK-based indie publisher Slightly Reckless Games has just launched a crowdfunder for a new project entitled Night Shift: Devil Division. Inspired by popular anime series like Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man, the game trades monster-infested dungeons for the neon-drenched alleyways of 199X Japan. The project has also far surpassed its initial funding goals and is close to reaching the $200,000 USD mark, making it one of the first major third-party titles powered by the Draw Steel engine.

The campaign runs from now until June 4th, 2026 on BackerKit. Below, we slap on our leather jackets, fire up our motorbikes and get ready to kick a little anime-inspired devil ass.

What is the Night Shift: Devil Division RPG about?

In the world of Night Shift, the bursting of the Japanese economic bubble in 1991 didn’t just break lives, it also broke reality. The collective fear and institutional betrayals of millions of people manifested as “Kegare,” a corrupting force that has also given birth to devils and other supernatural horrors. Players take on the role of Operatives in the Devil Division, a secret government unit tasked with maintaining the thin line between civilization and a warped underworld beneath the streets of Tokyo known as the “UT ZONE.”

Every operation follows a high-stakes escalating structure: Detect, Detain and Destroy. The first step involves detecting devils through investigation and surveillance. If you so choose, you can then detain it for “The Vault,” a high-tech lab where its powers can be extracted or pacts can be made with it to unlock “Vault Techniques” that provide supernatural enhancements. Alternatively, if things do go sideways, you can try and destroy any of the devils you face using your elite combat skills, weaponry and powers fuelled by the taint of Kegare.

The game also features a variety of styles of play. Cinematic Mode is used to handle investigations, social encounters and day-to-day operations. Engagements are the tactically crunchy grid-based combat mechanics of Draw Steel. Chase Sequences handle high-stakes pursuits through the neon and steel streets of 199X Tokyo.

The game also features several of the hallmark mechanics of Draw Steel, including Momentum (an individual resource for your Operative earned through the pressure of a fight and spent on their most powerful techniques) and Adrenaline (a shared resource among your Squad which can be used during particularly high stakes moments). Triumphs are essentially Night Shift’s version of Draw Steel’s Victories and occur as you complete operations. At the end of a successful operation, your squad converts Triumphs into XP and chooses to keep pushing or go On Leave. If you keep pushing, your characters increase in power, but you also run the risk of having limited resources. When the squad finally does go On Leave, a 24-hour window opens, with players able to regain stats, learn new abilities and participate in downtime activities like karaoke and batting cages.

Notably, you don’t need a copy of the base Draw Steel core rules to play Night Shift: Devil Division, with all of the rules included in the two primary sourcebooks.

What are the backer options for Night Shift: Devil Division?

The focus of the campaign is on two sourcebooks:

• Division covers the complete rules along with character creation, campaign management and setting lore. This is technically all your really need to play the game.
• Devils is geared towards Game Masters (referred to as “Duty Managers”) with devil stat blocks, enhanced rules and advice for building standalone operations and larger campaigns.

There is, however, also the Operative Starter Set, which contains the basic rules and an introductory adventure.

As with other major crowdfunders there are also a number of add-ons, including a GM screen, cards, dice, posters and deluxe edition hardcovers.

The primary backer options are as follows (with rough prices before shipping listed in USD). Notably, most of the backer options also include a digital starter kit that includes player handouts and VTT tokens.

• Digital Operative Bundle (≈$50 USD): Both the Division and Devils core books in PDF.
• The Operative Starter Set (≈$57 USD): The boxed starter set with rules and an adventure.
• Division Hardcover (≈$65 USD): The Division hardcover and PDF.
• Devil & Division Hardcovers (≈$120 USD): The Division and Devils hardcovers and PDFs, plus all digital assets.
• The Full Arsenal ($144 USD): The two hardcover books plus the physical Operative Starter Set.
• Limited Edition Bundle ($170 USD): Both core books in premium limited edition covers and a BackerKit-exclusive slipcase.
• THE VAULT ($313 USD): The limited edition books and slipcase, plus GM screen, poster maps, chase cards, dice and all digital assets.

What is the Draw Steel RPG?

Draw Steel is a tabletop RPG created by MCDM Productions (the publisher founded by popular TTRPG YouTuber Matt Colville). Designed as a modern alternative to D&D 5E, the game differs from traditional fantasy RPGs in that players start the game at Level 1 as high-powered heroes who already have access to a wide range of abilities.

Mechanically, the game uses a tactical, grid-based system to handle combat and features a unique resolution system where players roll to determine varying degrees of success rather than binary pass/fail outcomes. It also includes clear tactical roles for every class and characters gain resources as battles progress, rather than having to track diminishing spell slots and other features.

Notably, Draw Steel was designed primarily by Matt Colville and James Introcaso, following a record-breaking $4.6 million BackerKit campaign in late 2023. The game also features a Draw Steel Creator License, which allows third-party publishers to make their own games using the core rules.

Why we’re excited about Night Shift: Devil Division

• A major expansion of Draw Steel: We’ve been waiting to see how third-party publishers would utilize the Draw Steel license and it’s interesting to see that one of the first big entries is tackling a unique genre and setting.
• The shonen-style art: The initial illustrations and designs we’ve seen look like they were literally pulled from a 90s anime cult TV series, and we are 100% on board for it.
• The setting and vibes: The concept of a government-run organization that hunts devils in 199X Tokyo sounds absolutely gonzo and definitely something we haven’t seen with a lot of other TTRPGs.
• Unique mechanics: The gameplay loop of detect, detain and deploy sounds like it has a ton of potential and we’re curious as to how it translates at the table.

Final Thoughts

Night Shift: Devil Division looks like a true love letter to the gritty, gore-spattered anime of the 90s, while also tapping into the tactical crunch and character mechanics of Draw Steel. Of course, we’ll have to see how it holds up in play, because when it comes to TTRPGs, sometimes the devil really is in the details.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on Night Shift: Devil Division in the months ahead. In the meantime, you can back it from now until June 4, 2026 on BackerKit.