Take the action RPG combat and creative skill combinations of games like Diablo 4 and Path of Exile, but put them into a branching, repeatable dungeon structure that draws from roguelike games such as Hades and Dead Cells, and you have upcoming indie game Into the Necrovale. With a gorgeous pixel-art style, hundreds of different items to find, and endgame challenges already implemented, PCGamesN is happy to exclusively reveal when you’ll be able to play Into the Necrovale as it launches via Steam early access later this month.
Into the Necrovale comes from solo developer Casey Clyde, with publishing from Tribal Storm. Clyde, who cites the likes of Diablo, PoE, and Guild Wars among his many influences, says he hopes to build an action RPG “that can be played for tens of hundreds of hours, including thousands of items, and hundreds of levels and enemies.” Currently, the version launching in early access has the first of its five zones built out, along with over 300 items to find, and a special endgame challenge that pushes you to complete increasingly difficult runs.
While the top-down combat is immediately reminiscent of ARPGs such as Diablo, the structure is much more akin to the likes of roguelike games such as Hades and Dead Cells. At the end of each area, you’ll get a reward, then have to choose between two zones to tackle next – ranging from combat encounters to buff areas where you can forge your weapons, sacrifice health for item drops, or even meet new NPCs, who might join you in your home refuge if you give them the delightfully fitting currency of Hope.
Unlike those games, however, you don’t lose everything when you die – although your progress on the current dungeon run will be reset. As you get deeper in, you’ll earn more Hopestones, which can be used to unlock and upgrade additional areas and amenities. You, too, have your own Hope rating, however – spend too long in the dungeons, or die too often, and you’ll start to face increasingly negative consequences as you fall into despair.
“My dream in making this game is giving players a place where they can have fun experimenting with making builds and finding playstyles that they personally enjoy. That will require thousands of items, each one interesting, polished, and balanced,” Clyde explains. “It will require more enemies to challenge the player in new ways, more bosses, more levels, and more NPCs to aid the player. The final game will have much more of everything.”
Into the Necrovale launches Saturday January 27 via Steam Early Access. You can head to the Steam page to add it to your wishlist now, where you can also download the free Steam demo and check out Into the Necrovale for yourself today.
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