Surprisingly, Hell Maiden marks a massive shift for the team. They’re taking the famous setting from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy to create a horde survival rougelite deck-builder. It will be interesting to see how the team approaches this new genre. This is where we asked them about the game’s features, its tarot-inspired card system, when to expect the first demo, and if their iconic anime graphics will still be present.

In Hell Maiden, you play as Dante who inexplicably finds herself back in Hell after already reaching Paradiso, her memories completely wiped. Determined to claw her way back to Heaven and uncover the truth, she’s joined by the wise Roman poet Virgil and the saintly Beatrice. Your journey takes you through the nine Circles of Hell, where you’ll face swarms of fiends and bosses. You’ll build your arsenal by collecting, stacking, and merging tarot-inspired cards.

The game is set to release on PC via Steam with no current date, and the developers describe it as “Touhou meets Vampire Survivors”.

Hell Maiden is described as an original retelling to Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. What inspired you to reimagine this classic work as a horde survival deck-building game with an anime-inspired twist?

The idea was initially proposed by our creative director, Kira (António Lopes), based on his own original character designs for two of the main characters of Dante’s Divine Comedy — Dante and Beatrice. This spontaneous character design exercise was what kicked everything off and led to the creation of Hell Maiden.

As fans of the horde survival genre and games such as Vampire Survivors and Halls of Torment, we decided to pair it with another much beloved genre among our team members, deck-building, to create an unlikely combination of mechanics that work surprisingly well together.

Anime being an integral part of our artistic expression, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to reimagine Dante’s Divine Comedy with an all-female cast, which lines up perfectly with our studio’s previous titles. More than a retelling, Hell Maiden is mainly a sequel that picks up from where the original poem left off.

Your previous titles Pocket Mirror and Little Goody Two Shoes leaned heavily into horror and narrative-driven RPGs. What motivated the shift to a more action-packed genre?

The team had been itching to explore other genres that involved more action and fast-paced gameplay ever since the development of our previous title, Little Goody Two Shoes. While we’ll forever love the horror RPG genre and would be happy to revisit it in the future, we consider it’s the right time to expand our horizons and explore other genres, ideas and possibilities for our small studio. Personal taste and creative vision weren’t the only factors going into Hell Maiden’s creation and genre choice.

As an independent game development company, we feel ready to explore not only different creative avenues, but especially the possibility of self-publishing. After Little Goody Two Shoes, we decided to aim for a project that makes the most of our in-house strengths, skills and abilities in order to develop a game that’s more in line with what we can accomplish independently at this point in time.

Dante is portrayed as a female character who has lost her memories and is back in Hell after reaching Paradiso. What can you tell us about her character?

Hell Maiden’s Dante is rather different from the original poem’s protagonist: from her motivations to her circumstances. Contrary to the original Dante, our protagonist isn’t solely motivated by the prospect of meeting her beloved, Beatrice, in Paradiso and instead is moved by a strong sense of justice and determination to get to the bottom of why she was cast out of Heaven.

While the original poem’s protagonist personality encapsulates common and universal traits, our Dante is unreasonably determined, passionate and incredibly willful. She isn’t easily swayed by her emotions, nor is she intimidated by her opponents — no matter how tough. The one trait she does have in common with the original Dante, however, is her prideful nature.

The game features a cast of characters like Virgil, Beatrice, and the Poets of Limbo. How did you decide which figures from Divine Comedy and history to include?

Virgil and Beatrice are integral characters of the original poem and we couldn’t go without including them in our main cast. All other characters, however, were directly mentioned by Dante.

Right at the beginning of Inferno, Dante lists a series of virtuous poets, polymaths and philosophers (among others) from antiquity whom he admires. Virgil, Ovid, Homer, Lucan and Horace are among the most virtuous of all which made our decision to include them as the five main Poets of Limbo rather straightforward.

While Dante’s list is quite extensive, we’re taking our own liberties and including others with similar characteristics to the canonically included historical figures as well. The same doesn’t apply to the antagonists, however, as they’re all canonical residents of Hell.

The graphics feature that unique anime style you showcased in Little Goody Two Shoes. Do you now consider this your signature style, or is it simply a style you’re comfortable working with?

Our visual identity is very much intentional and unique to our studio — more specifically to our creative director, Kira, whose personal style in illustration and design shapes our games’ visuals. In that sense, it is very much our signature style although we collaborate with different artists for our games and often enjoy working with mixed media elements as well.

We’ve been experimenting with 3D as of recently, so there’s still plenty of room to experiment with and explore our signature style!

What’s the current state of the game, when can we expect its release, and when might the demo be available?

While we don’t have a release date yet, we’re currently working hard on a demo version of Hell Maiden which we’re hoping to release soon. In a general sense, the game is still in early development, but we’ll be keeping everyone updated with our every move!

Moving onto the gameplay, can you walk us through the process of designing the tarot-inspired card system? How do Spirit Cards, Weapon Cards, and Mod Cards work together?

Hell Maiden’s card system is meant to provide players with unique skills throughout each run. There are two types of Spirit Cards — Weapon and Mod Cards.

Weapon Cards empower players with unique skills and abilities. For example, Dante’s signature Weapon Card, “Blazing Quill’, unleashes a close ranged attack upon players’ targeted enemies. Other Weapon Cards include different abilities such as periodically summoned lightning bolts and spikes, energy spheres that surround Dante’s character sprite and damage surrounding enemies, projectiles, among others.

In order to enhance the chosen Weapon Cards, players will be able to equip them with Mod Cards which, as the name suggests, modify that weapon’s attacks — from increasing attack speed, damage and area, to imbuing them with status effects such as poison, burn, slow, etc.

We’re also developing other ways players can influence and diversify their runs with meta-progression mechanics, Spirit Cards you can acquire after defeating certain bosses, a perk system and more! We believe Hell Maiden’s deck-building will be exciting for players to tinker with and explore.

The Poets of Limbo, like Homer and Ovid, provide Blessings and Signature Weapons. What do these characters bring to the gameplay?

In one word — complexity. All Poets of Limbo have their own Signature Weapons which are unique to them. These open up a myriad of possibilities throughout each run by allowing players to experiment and tinker with different card combinations. The same applies to their Blessings which are character-themed card pools which offer Mod Cards that are unique to each Poet.

As such, players will be able to mix and match Weapon and Mod Cards from various different pools to create truly unique combinations. The more Poets players rescue from the depths of Hell, the more cards they’ll have at their disposal!

Do you plan to make Hell Maiden highly replayable to keep players returning, and since it’s releasing in Early Access, how often do you intend to update it?

Yes, we’re focusing a lot on replayability and making sure the game remains fun throughout with new cards, features and characters to unlock!

This also applies to the narrative’s progression — from side quests that further expand on the lore, to new interactions with the Poets of Limbo after each run and even new dialogue every time players revisit bosses they’ve already defeated.

Our plan for Early Access is to update the game regularly and keep a close relationship with our community to make sure we’re maintaining a good pace while simultaneously addressing players’ concerns, bug reports and suggestions. At this point in time, we cannot say how often we’ll be making updates, but we’ll most definitely keep everyone updated!

Is there a unique mechanic you’d like to highlight, something you’re particularly proud of?

Just like all our other titles, Hell Maiden is very near and dear to our hearts.

One of our flagship features for the game is its deck-building elements which bring a new and fresh take into the horde survival genre. We’ve been having a ton of fun playing around with the different combinations of attacks, buffs and enhancements this system allows for. It’s a really magical experience when the game you’re making turns out to be genuinely fun and compelling!

The addition of a complex and gripping narrative is also one of Hell Maiden’s unique features we’re most proud of as it’s something we haven’t seen being done before in the genre.

Dante’s Divine Comedy is the perfect fit for something like this and we’ve been having a lot of fun deconstructing and redesigning its narrative into something that’s playful and lighthearted while also retaining all the passion, earnestness and sincerity we’ve weaved into our previous titles’ storylines. All in all, we’re very excited about Hell Maiden as it’s allowing us to explore new possibilities while still retaining 100% of our identity, self expression and signature style.

Why did you decide to go with Early Access? What can you tell us about bosses and enemies we’lll face in the game?

There are two main reasons why we think Early Access is the right choice for Hell Maiden.

Having worked alongside publishers for previous two titles, we’ve reached a stage in which we feel ready to follow our own path and release a game independently. As such, our fans’ support is now more essential than ever as we’re relying solely on our growing community to take AstralShift further.

In that same vein, working alongside our community is priceless to us and Early Access allows us to do just that by involving players in the development process to a certain extent. As independent developers we’ll be able to freely take in and implement feedback from fans and keep a closer relationship with everyone on our own terms.

As for the opponents you’ll fight throughout the game all we can say is that we hope you’re good at bullet hell games!

What’s your view on the gaming industry overall? Are you seeking a publisher for Hell Maiden, or will you self-publish it?

Our goal is to self-publish Hell Maiden for both the sake of independence and autonomy, but also for financial reasons.

Game development was never easy, but it has recently become even tougher to stand out even when we do our best every day and we’re very glad that AstralShift’s charm continues to reach so many people even in today’s climate.

Now more than ever we need our fans’ support to be able to further grow our studio and continue to deliver what’s expected from us and what we love doing the most — creating immersive, visually stunning and narrative-driven gaming experiences!

The post AstralShift Reveals More About Hell Maiden, Project Which Combines Anime and Vampire Survivors Gameplay first appeared on IndieGames.

Here’s the deal: you’re on a hellish adventure as a washed-up musician, fighting demons to become a legend. Your character attacks on the beat, so music is a huge part of this game. This means you can control when your weapon hits with upgrades, which is a really cool idea. But, listening to what felt like the same song for 10 minutes just to reach a boss doesn’t quite hook you in. The beat system unfortunately doesn’t do the game justice. While attacks and abilities are supposed to sync with the beat, that satisfying feeling isn’t there; the beat itself isn’t very noticeable, and its presence doesn’t add any real impact.

Great ideas, but underwhelming gameplay

On the other hand, the unique inventory system is a good idea. It lets you equip up to 12 items – weapons, abilities, or buffs in a grid. The demo shows off a few items, like arrow attacks or crowd-control abilities. However, the big problem is that every attack feels useless. Even with critical hit and damage upgrades, enemies quickly gain so much HP that leveling and upgrading become a slow grind. If you want a truly strong build, your best bet is a healing setup combined with an attack that throws massive bombs; only then can you somewhat manage to reach the boss.

I haven’t seen anything quite like the slot inventory system shown in this game. But, it feels lackluster. We also have skills that boost other skills and passive abilities, but none of them feel balanced or truly impactful. What’s worse, there are only a few skills to pick from, which forces you into repetitive sequences. While you can bind with several demons for their unique skills, these always end up feeling the same. There’s just not enough variety to force experimentation.

This is a game where you face endless waves of enemies, like groups of them and tougher demonic foes. It gradually improves the more you play, much like Vampire Survivors. Enemies do get stronger and more varied, from simple bats to fast-moving coffins and even slimes. However, it quickly becomes repetitive; by minute 10, you’ve likely seen everything. There’s no different character to choose from, and while mini-bosses (just larger versions of regular enemies) sometimes appear, and various landmarks offer bonuses (like XP, HP, or temporary speed buffs), these aren’t enough to break the monotony.

Hopes for the future

Sadly, the enemies are also underwhelming. Green slimes just chase you if you get close, imps shoot nearly invisible projectiles, and you’ll constantly see the same massive waves of bats flying at you. Some enemies are simply too hard to kill, and even when you fully upgrade an ability to mythic status, it doesn’t feel like it makes a real difference.

My biggest issue is the pacing. There isn’t enough content to fill a 10-minute run, and then everything goes wild. The early parts are great and satisfying; you have enough time to complete your build with rerolls. But after about 5 minutes, things get chaotic. Enemies suddenly become incredibly tough, like trucks. Once your build is set, the rest of the game is just about upgrading everything.

While Devil Jam has some really great ideas, it’s a bit too short, doesn’t offer proper experiemntation and it’s content is bogged down to the same type of enemies for 10 minutes unitl you reach a boss that’s also impossible to kill, talk about having 1000 projectiles thrown at you which are so hard to see. I sersiouyl hopped for much more skills and attacks to use, but it was never the feeling oh I should try to pick these, instead I know these work very well.

The post Devil Jam – Disappointing Roguelite with Vampire Survivors Vibes first appeared on IndieGames.

While Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade isn’t a bad game, it’s definitely not for hardcore fans of the roguelite genre. Despite having three distinct characters with unique stories and abilities, it suffers from excessive repetition. You’ll encounter the same bosses, enemies, and skills, run after run. Even with random skill acquisition and saved progression, the lack of varied levels means nothing ever feels new. Once you’ve learned the boss patterns, the game quickly becomes boring. The only real difference between runs is your starting weapon and its upgrades.

Set in a mythical Edo-period Japan, this action roguelite RPG plunges you into a fight against yokai and the Nine-Tailed Fox to restore balance between humans and demons. It blends Hades-inspired roguelite mechanics with a stunning ukiyo-e art style, offering fast-paced combat, character-driven stories, and weapon customization across three campaigns. Previously overpriced, the recent price drop makes this game well worth diving into.

Combat flows smoothly, though level design can feel repetitive

The game’s core loop starts with you picking a hero: Shigure, a katana-wielding samurai; Sara, a speedy dual-dagger wielder; or Taketora, who uses both a bow and his fists. Each stage throws you into enemy-packed arenas, broken up by rest areas for upgrades, and capped off with a boss (a Kraken, a giant Crab, or even your own demon-tured Master). Runs either end in victory or death, but death doesn’t mean the game is over.

Combat is top-down, a dynamic mix of combos, dodges, and parries. You’ll use light and heavy attacks, unleash a special move after a successful parry, and use unique character abilities. As you play, you’ll grab Soul Orbs for temporary boosts like extra damage or speed, and collect materials for permanent upgrades like crafting new weapons or boosting your stats. In rest areas, you can grab ramen for buffs, buy items from vendors, or take on risky challenges.

Weapon customization is another strong point, allowing two unique weapons per run, for example, one might grant critical attacks while another unleashes exploding or homing petals. However, this system is poorly designed. You’ll rarely use a second weapon because stages are too short: just two before a boss fight, preventing you from properly utilizing both. While one weapon might excel against specific bosses, and dual-wielding becomes more viable in the lengthy late-game campaigns, there’s little reason to switch otherwise. It basically tricks you into thinking its useful.

“Weapon customization is another strong point, allowing two unique weapons per run.”

Yasha steps into the roguelite scene with a new vibe

While initial impressions are positive, but as mentioned, the fixed stage design quickly leads to repetition. Bosses, despite being visually distinct and well-designed, quickly become predictable once you learn their patterns. Although various buffs offer an edge, I often felt my damage output was insufficient against the ridiculously high HP pools of some bosses. Though hidden stages and yokai festivals offer rare items, they don’t alleviate the repetitive “rinse-and-repeat” structure, which feels oddly implemented.

Each campaign demands multiple runs to advance chapters, with permadeath resetting run-specific upgrades. While you’ll unlock weapons, abilities, and stat boosts at the hub, meta-progression is a slow grind due to sluggish Soul Power gains. The high cost of upgrades feels disproportionate, especially considering the length of each campaign. This early grind is a major deterrent, often leading to frustrating deaths even against weaker bosses. However, the game does improve once you acquire some upgrades.

It’s not all bad, though. The game offers plenty of build diversity, numerous weapons to try, and characters to play, rewarding your investment. However, as mentioned, if you’re a roguelite veteran, this game likely won’t stack up to others in the genre. I can’t help but compare it to Realm of Ink, which draws heavily from Hades and offers incredible replayability with insane builds and varied buffs/debuffs. Yasha feels like a baby in comparison.

“Each campaign demands multiple runs to advance chapters.”

Perfect for players who love a bit of grinding and diverse playstyles

That said, Yasha does have interesting ideas for buffs, such as the yin and yang system – one offering pure positives, the other a mix of boons and drawbacks to maintain balance. There are also abilities and weapon skills designed to synergize. So, don’t misunderstand; Yasha is still a decent roguelite game with solid combat.

With an art style that fuses ink outlines and watercolor, the game evokes traditional Japanese paintings. Environments are also detailed, from lush forests to haunting yokai designs. Characters faces are expressive too, with cutscenes feature great anime-inspired portraits, while weapon effects like flaming spheres and drills enhance the visual appeal. Unfortunately, the vibrant hub village lacks depth, featuring unmoving NPCs and repetitive dialogue.

In the end, Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade is a visually stunning action roguelite, boasting great ukiyo-e art, fluid combat, and unique character stories. However, repetitive level design, grindy progression, and clunky mechanics make the experience repetitive. Roguelite newcomers might appreciate its accessibility, but veterans may find it shallow. It’s a fair choice for fans of Japanese mythology and fast-paced combat, though casual players should consider waiting for updates or a sale.

“Yasha is still a decent roguelite game with solid combat.”

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.6

The post Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade – Solid Japanese-styled rougelite game first appeared on IndieGames.

In this strategic game, you manage a kingdom by constructing buildings, planting and harvesting crops, and gathering key resources to strengthen and upgrade. The game offers dynamic gameplay where each run is different, forcing you to adapt your strategies while defending your kingdom from waves of enemies.

However, it features a rather complex system of production chains and strategies; you’ll trade resources with villages to craft rare materials or unlock ancient spells. Additionally, fortifying your castle with stone walls and tactically positioning various types of troops is crucial. Each biome you encounter brings new challenges, making the roguelite concept work perfectly in this game.

The post The King Is Watching, a roguelite where you build your own kingdom, awaits us in July first appeared on IndieGames.

In Drill Core, you become the manager of a mining platform. Your task is to drill to the core of alien planets and extract precious minerals. You’ll recruit miners, carriers, and guards, carefully manage resources, and plan the most efficient drilling routes to keep operations running smoothly. While cutting-edge drills and technology help you carve through rock, each planet harbors a unique ecosystem with its own challenges, from hostile creatures to unpredictable terrain.

Since its Early Access debut on September 12, 2024, Drill Core has been shaped by direct community feedback, gaining new biomes and tweaks for tighter roguelite gameplay in less than a year. Version 1.0 arrives with more platforms, challenges, and content, with development continuing even after the game’s official release.

The post Drill Core exits Early Access this July first appeared on IndieGames.

In Hell Maiden, you play as Dante who inexplicably finds herself back in Hell after already reaching Paradiso, her memories completely wiped. Determined to claw her way back to Heaven and uncover the truth, she’s joined by the wise Roman poet Virgil and the saintly Beatrice. Your journey takes you through the nine Circles of Hell, where you’ll face swarms of fiends and towering bosses. You’ll build your arsenal by collecting, stacking, and merging tarot-inspired cards.

What sets Hell Maiden apart are the Poets of Limbo, legendary figures like Homer, Ovid, and Lucan, who lend their Blessings and Signature Weapons to your cause. Each poet offers unique perks, abilities, and ultimate attacks, letting you mix and match for unstoppable builds. The game’s visuals are amazing too, brilliantly merging nostalgic 2000s pixel art with a modern flair.

Hand-painted environments and dynamic 2D animation really make combat stand out, while the all-female cast, inspired by the charm of Touhou Project, adds a playful edge to The Divine Comedy’s themes. With multiple bosses, branching paths, and endless card combos, it’s a game built for replayability.

The post AstralShift Leaves Horror Behind for Hell Maiden, a Deck-Building Trip Through Dante’s Inferno first appeared on IndieGames.

The demo introduces the narrative through two biomes: The Deluge, a dilapidated capital outskirts, and The Snarl, a lush forest filled with dangerous creatures. It also highlights a new playable hero, Fletch, a defense-focused character rooted in his peasant origins, who builds structures to shield allies. You can also control the Doberknight, a sword-wielding fighter who repositions enemies with kicks or unlocks fire-spreading abilities for area control.

Combat unfolds on 3D grid-based maps, where elevation and angles are critical, demanding precise positioning. The demo includes one-third of the full game’s cards, charms, and relics, allowing you to craft synergistic strategies. Five sidekicks, each with unique abilities like healing, magic, or archery, join the fight, but you can choose only two per run, making team composition vital.

Four bosses, including two new ones, challenge you with randomized encounters per biomes. The roguelite design, with permadeath and unlockable content, offers high replayability, while medals for fastest runs, lowest damage taken, and highest attack damage appeal to competitive players.

The post Shuffle Tactics launches in June on Steam, gets expanded demo first appeared on IndieGames.

It’s been a while since I enjoyed a roguelite game that’s more than just wandering and watching the game play itself. Hordes of Hunger has some of that, but it’s much more engaging. This title drops you into a dark fantasy world where survival depends on defeating relentless waves of monstrous enemies and while it has some great moments, being in Early Access means some aspects could definitely use polish and improvement.

Fidget spinner type of gameplay

You play as Mirah, a warrior and the last hope against this evil, tasked with defending her homeland and saving others from different enemy types that can attack you from close or from afar with repetitive guardians that kill the fun. Unlike Vampire Survivors, which leans on passive gameplay, this game puts you in direct control of combat. You manually attack enemies, though an experimental mode lets you focus on movement while your character auto-attacks.

In Hordes of Hunger, you fight with light attacks, heavy “Beyblade spin” attacks, dodges, parries, and special abilities. You can choose from various weapons like swords and hammers to create fun builds, such as a vampire build that heals while dashing and killing enemies, an elemental build with thunder, fire, or holy magic, or a speed-focused build boosting attack and movement.

There’s plenty to explore, but the gameplay can feel repetitive since there’s not much content currently available, with some play styles, like the overpowered vampire build, being far stronger than others. While you have multiple ways to fight, dashing and dodging are quick and effective that also come with great upgrades. Parrying, however, is trickier. You time a yellow circle to hit enemies, although fairly easy to land, but if you miss, it leaves you stuck for two seconds in one place, making you vulnerable to enemy attacks, meaning dodging is a much safer and stronger choice.

As you level up, you choose one of three randomized abilities – physical (like extra strikes), elemental (like lightning auras), or magical (like divine contracts) – to boost your combat skills. The environments also provide tactical options, such as chokepoints, high ground, and breakable structures, but these have little impact since monsters tend to swarm openly.

“In Hordes of Hunger, you fight with light attacks, heavy ‘Beyblade spin’ attacks, dodges, parries, and special abilities.”

Early Access = Missing content

In each run, you complete objectives like killing enemies, escorting donkeys, or destroying nests to advance toward a boss fight, with only two boss types available so far. After objectives, a short break lets you collect EXP or healing items and find chests that give unique rewards, offering a moment to strategize. However, the objectives can feel very repetitive, and the limited boss variety reduces the hopes of getting a proper challenge. Runs end with either victory or death, sending you back to the Sanctum, a hub where you use feathers (a permanent currency) to buy stat boosts or new weapons.

The gameplay in Hordes of Hunger is highly satisfying, packed with dynamic action that keeps you on edge, constantly spamming attacks and abilities to survive. This kind of intense, engaging combat hooks you instantly. However, the more you play, the less likely you are to return because the game currently offers only two maps. Each map section and its story take about 30-40 minutes to complete, including objectives and the boss fight. While finishing everything takes around 4-5 hours, with some failures if your build isn’t the best, the game feels short on content.

In the Sanctum, you interact with NPCs like Father (offering perks), Mother (providing food and buffs), and the Workshop (for weapon crafting), while advancing the story through quests and rescues. The story feels mysterious, with characters like the prisoners hinting at deeper lore. However, in the Early Access build, the lack of cutscenes or a clear narrative arc leaves dialogues feeling disjointed and contextless. Repeated conversations between Mirah and the father also become slightly annoying. Additionally, the codex helps by providing text explanations of the game’s elements, letting you explore its world.

My biggest issue with Hordes of Hunger is the awkward camera, with Mirah positioned too high and off-center, making panning feel clunky. The game needs significant polish: loading times are noticeable, character movements feel stiff, and menus, especially the weapon crafting interface, lack clarity. Voice-subtitle desync and grainy resolution also hurt the experience. While the voice acting is decent, the repetitive dialogue, as mentioned earlier, really drags down the overall experience. The game also experiences slight stuttering at the highest resolution and graphics settings, which feel poorly optimized.

“The gameplay in Hordes of Hunger is highly satisfying, packed with dynamic action.”

Definitely worth a try

Having played the demo before, I knew what to expect, but Hordes of Hunger still needs more content to enhance the gameplay experience. Its responsive swordplay, Dark Souls-inspired visuals, and varied objectives form an addictive loop that fans of Vampire Survivors will enjoy, making it a promising roguelite title. Plus, its budget-friendly price makes it an appealing choice for genre enthusiasts.

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.8

The post [Early Access] Hordes of Hunger – Obećavajuća survivor-like roguelite igra first appeared on IndieGames.

I love the roguelite genre, with its permadeath, randomized levels, and brutal difficulty, but so many games stick to the same old formula. Drop Duchy, though, feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s not just another die-and-retry loop, it mixes strategy, puzzles, and kingdom-building in a way that’s so clever and addictive, I can’t put it down.

You play as a medieval lord, building your kingdom by dropping terrain tiles such as plains, forests, and rivers onto a grid to collect resources like food, wood, and gold. The deckbuilding comes alive with special cards, like farms or bridges, that you add to your hand to shape your strategy. Want more food? Place a farm on a plain. Need gold? Link river tiles with a bridge. Every move feels like solving a fun puzzle, and the roguelite randomness makes each run new and unpredictable.

Drop Duchy really shines by blending easy-to-pick-up gameplay with surprising depth. The tile-dropping mechanic is super intuitive, and while it takes a bit to fully master the progression, it’s crafted well enough to keep you playing. Still, there’s plenty of complexity to dig into, picking which buildings to add to your deck or weighing the risk of hitting a combat node for bigger rewards brings layers of strategy that feel satisfying without being overwhelming.

Unlike roguelites that hammer you with constant combat, this game gives you room to breathe. Peaceful nodes let you focus on building your kingdom, gathering resources at your own pace, while combat nodes push you to outsmart CPU opponents using your terrain and troops. The preview build’s combat felt a bit rough, leaning too hard in the CPU’s favor, but the full release has ironed that out somewhat.

In a genre that can feel stale, Drop Duchy is a total game-changer. It boldly mixes Tetris-style puzzles with roguelite deckbuilding, and it nails the execution with flair. Whether I’m a roguelite veteran chasing the perfect run or a casual player craving something fresh, you won’t regret playing this game. It’s the kind of title that makes hours vanish as I plan my next move, watching my kingdom grow tile by tile.

The post Drop Duchy Brings New Life to the Roguelite Scene first appeared on IndieGames.

Ten Anime Episodes You Actually Play

Wander Stars plays out over 10 episodic chapters, each 60-90 minutes long, featuring a unique word combat system, in other words, you craft custom attacks by combining words, like “SUPER AWESOME FIRE KICK,” to target enemy weaknesses. Additionally, there are multiple randomized maps to explore, diverse characters to meet, and choices that shape your journey, with replayable episodes unlocking new paths, side quests, and events. With 200 collectible words and Pep Up bonuses earned from honorable wins, Wander Stars delivers a dynamic, story-driven experience that will hook you instantly.

It’s tough to pinpoint what makes Wander Stars shine most. Is it the simple word management system, letting you choose words and elements to craft attacks? Or the beautifully polished, animated characters? Maybe it’s the many combinations and options that make gameplay so fun. There’s so much to explore in this game. The roguelike structure can feel slightly punishing and repetitive, as you often face the same characters, but they offer rewards in return. Choosing to make honorable peace instead of fighting unlocks special Pep Up passive abilities, which can be a big help on your journey.

The demo and beta offer plenty of content to start, leaving you eager for more. They introduce the first few chapters, letting you meet key characters before exploring the combat system, which gives a good idea on what to expect once the full version of the game comes out.

Unique Word-Combination Combat System

I loved experimenting with the word combinations, and everything is clearly explained, so you’re never left guessing about damage output. Being tactical is crucial, as you need to carefully choose attacks and elements effective against each enemy, since they can resist or be immune to certain moves. The system uses Spirit Points (SP), where higher spirit levels unlock more word slots for crafting complex attacks.

Outside of combat, Wander Stars uses a top-down map exploration system similar to Mario Party, where you navigate randomized maps and encounter battles, NPCs, events, or treasures. It’s tricky to pin down how these work, some moments feel scripted, while others are clearly random. Dialogue and narrative provide a nice break from combat, with each character bringing unique traits that make them distinct and valuable.

Ringo’s heartfelt search for her brother and Wolfe’s shadowy past, linked to figures like the space pirate Ax, create a good story. The dynamic between Ringo’s optimism and Wolfe’s sarcasm, make their partnership feel “alive and believable.” Delivered in a visual novel style with anime-inspired cutscenes, the narrative is enriched by supporting characters like witches and talking crows, adding charm and depth. The Wanderstar Map acts as a central MacGuffin, with hints of its galaxy-wide importance.

Wander Stars has a ton to offer

The game has some issues, mainly with a cluttered UI. The move selection screen could be larger, and scrolling through items and words in the inventory is slow and glitchy. Text speed feels sluggish, adding an option to speed it up would help, especially for fast readers. Move cooldowns can also feel unfair at times, making some battles overly tough.

Despite those issues, Wander Stars has a ton to offer. It’s a bold, creative RPG that captures the ‘90s anime vibe with its unique word-based combat, colorful art, and episodic storytelling. For fans of anime, JRPGs, and roguelites, it’s a must-watch, and the demo is a great way to experience its charm firsthand.

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