has a hub world, The Dark Woods, that players return to after each loop. This is where you’re able to apply upgrades, equip new weapons, alter your appearance and get some training in.

, and though I initially tried to fade into the pixels and treat it as a single-player game, I quickly found myself emoting and seeking groups of warriors to join.

Sustain your numbers as best you can, for only the strongest group of survivors stand a fighting chance in brutal boss battles. Rise above the Almighty

Thankfully, Thunder Lotus has been listening it seems, as a changelog for the day-one patch I’ve seen lists a permanent reduction of the dodge cooldown to 1 second. The update will also offer more perks when starting out and reduce the number of hurdles you have to jump through to unlock features like weapon upgrades, hopefully reducing the starting grind.

. Multiplayer games live and die by their playerbases, and releasing a cooperation play-focused indie game that wants 33 players in each session is a tough ask even in the short-term unless the title simply blows up across the current gaming landscape.

This multi-tiered approach to finishing your roguelike “run” is challenging, yet very fun to play with — even though I only managed to complete just three Torture Chambers before succumbing to the elements (aka ‘ripped apart by monsters’). As I would learn during repeated runs – it seems the number of completed Torture Chambers is retained should you die and reenter Inferno — the larger the group of fellow Souls I traveled with, the larger my chances of survival became – and you can imagine how much bigger those chances get with 32 other people on your side.

I had good luck defeating Torture Chambers with just three or four fighters Completa, but six was always welcome, hence my eventual shepherding. I also ended up prioritizing keys when shopping at the Bone Shrines scattered around Inferno because, dang it, I love unlocking chests.

That Dark Woods safe haven I mentioned is where weapons are chosen, perks are wished for, and upgrades are purchased using loot from previous runs. At the early access launch, the title has four weapons to choose from: sword, bow, daggers, and staff, each offering a different play styles, movesets, and powers. After trying out the sword’s heavy slashes and blocks, the staff’s AOE blasts, and the dagger’s unrelenting aggressiveness, the bow was what I clicked with.

I thought my experience with 33 Immortals Gameplay ARPGs would be enough to push back against this enemy horde alone – I was wrong. It’s once I found other Rebel Souls (fellow players) to tag along with when my journey through Hell became a bit more manageable.

The tutorial ensures you experience failure firsthand, as the relentless enemies eventually overwhelm you. 

Attempting to solo almost any activity can get boring quickly. I found that even the smallest enemies can be massive bullet sponges until you build up your character with hours of upgrades. Even as a late-stage herculean character, having some backup can upgrade the amount of damage you deal exponentially. This is thanks to the title’s use of critical hits, which only begin racking up when another player is also hitting the same target.

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I played the preview solo because I was feeling particularly antisocial that day, but of course that doesn’t mean I was alone. Other players occupy the hub world and the main maps in 33 Immortals

You start a run by picking a weapon — justice sword, sloth staff or greed daggers — and each has a special ability that only works when three players stand together and activate it. It’s different for each weapon, but the effect is consistently grand. I stuck with the Staff of Sloth, a weapon that flings purple balls of magic and whose special ability slows enemies across a large swath of the battlefield.