Moves of the Diamond Hand next chapter gets liminal and kafkaesque later this month

Brooklyn, NYC, United States - October 8, 2026 - Award-winning indie developer Cosmo D Studios is today pleased to reveal that the third chapter of its dice-rolling, jazz-drenched, narrative RPG Moves of the Diamond Hand will launch on Monday, October 26 via Steam Early Access.

The third of five planned chapters takes place in the dilapidated Building 18; a residence of sorts which looms tall over the circus grounds. Here, clones who cannot integrate into society, or those that have been kicked out of it, are put out to pasture.

After being asked to hand deliver a message to one of the building’s residents, players will soon find themselves caught up in a tale of kafkaseque-dread and deadpan surrealness as they explore the liminal floors. Building 18 may have seen better days, but it holds unsettling secrets and opportunities that might prove useful in joining Circus X.

In addition to the new location and narrative content, players will also find their own strategic possibility space is expanding with the latest update in the form of the emerging Moves system. This brings a new, turn-based flow to dice-duals, in which every round breaks the rules to deliver a heightened sense of pace and push-pull tension.

In this new system, each dice rolling round asks players to choose a unique “Move”, a rule-bending change to how dice rounds are won and lost. Moves cost the player valuable resources they’ve built up over the first two chapters, so they’ll have to think strategically about which moves to choose. Full details of the Moves system can be found here.

Moves of the Diamond Hand has been officially selected as part of the acclaimed digital event LudoNarraCon, which begins today and concludes on October 15. Throughout the event, the game will be available to purchase at a 25% discount - it’s largest to date.

Moves of the Diamond Hand Features

• A Full Embrace of the Spirit of Tabletop RPG Gaming - Your stats are all represented as dice. These dice offer opportunities for drama and strategy. Items are dice. Conditions are dice. Disguises are dice. These dice are all customizable in a myriad of different ways.
   

• A Tight Narrative Full of Twists and Turns - Explore a dubby jazz noir mystery. You, along with your dice, will determine how it all plays out, right up to the very end.
   

• Choices and Consequences Aplenty - Three very different mayoral candidates offer stark points of view and personality. But their race for The Key to the City is as close as it gets.
   

• A City of Personalities - Odd characters, each with their own agendas, perspectives, and secrets, await your arrival. Some of them might have connections to previous Cosmo D games, but knowledge of those games is not required.
   

• A Vibe Like No Other - Cosmo D games put a premium on head-nodding music and thick atmosphere. Moves of the Diamond Hand continues to elevate this approach.
   

• A Collaborative, Transparent Approach to Release - Starting with Chapter One, all players will have access to a bug reporting and feedback menu in-game. Bug fixes, balance adjustments and quality of life improvements will be ongoing and continuous.

Moves of the Diamond Hand is now available in Steam Early Access. A full Early Access roadmap can be found here.

For more information on Cosmo D Studios and Moves of the Diamond Hand, please visit the official website, or follow on Bluesky and X.

A press kit is available to download here.

Note to Editors - Steam Keys Now Available

Steam keys are now available for Early Access reviews and impressions. Please get in touch via tom@strangesignals.co.uk to request access.

Media Contact
 

Strange Signals for Cosmo D Studios

Tom Copeland
tom@strangesignals.co.uk

About Cosmo D Studios
 

Cosmo D is a game designer based in New York City, with a background in cello performance and music composition. One rainy night in June 2013, he was struck by a car while crossing the street and found himself unable to play or make music for several months.

While convalescing, he took it upon himself to learn the Unity Engine. The result was Off-Peak, released in 2015. A homage to Cosmo D's home city of New York, as well as a commentary on the commodification of art and music in the urban space, Off-Peak gained a cult following, with hordes of press nods, let’s plays on YouTube, and a fanbase eagerly awaiting the follow-up.

With assistance from NYU Game Center's Incubator program, publisher Alliance Digital Media, as well as the New York game development scene at large, Cosmo D released a sequel, The Norwood Suite, in October 2017. Building on the momentum from this release Cosmo D released Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1 in Spring of 2020, the award-winning Betrayal at Club Low in Fall 2022, and is now developing Moves of the Diamond Hand - his biggest project to date.

For more information on the weird and wonderful work of Cosmo D, please head over to the official website at cosmod.net.