Steam Early Access recently got a modern addition: Guidus Zero, a top-down roguelike game from independent South Korean studio Izzle.
The action takes place in a world where a war has been going on for centuries with no clear winner. After its completion, the central continent was considered a neutral zone. On this continent, a huge pit called the Scar has opened up, and from its depths rises a mysterious substance known as the Black Blood, which spawns corrupted beings. There is no telling how this sinkhole was created, where the Black Blood comes from, or what awaits in the deepest reaches of the Scar. That’s where you come in.
You’ll join a group of characters in The Scar as they journey deeper and deeper beneath the surface, facing all manner of enemies that have been tainted by the Black Blood. You’ll have a choice of several different characters to control, each with their own strengths and abilities. There is real-time combat with a bit of a twist: You and your enemies move between tiles on a grid where you can only move in four cardinal directions.
When an enemy is about to attack, an exclamation mark will appear over their head and the ground will be highlighted, showing where their attack will land. Different enemies have different attack patterns – some hit directly in front of them, others hit a long line, and still others target a larger area of the grid. You will have to face several enemies at once, which means you will have to stay alert and quickly react to dodge attacks.
While moving, you can throw to become invincible, but each throw consumes stamina. And since you can’t move diagonally, you have to be strategic about which direction you move and how often you’ll roll. You don’t want to get trapped between attacks you can’t avoid.
However, fighting isn’t just about avoiding damage. You also need to be able to dish it out, but how you do this varies depending on the character you choose. Before each run, you choose a character and its starting trait. In classic RPG style, killing enemies earns you experience, which helps you level up.
As you level up, you’ll unlock skill upgrade options that are unique to the trait you selected at the start of your run. These will determine the playstyle of that run, so even if you’re playing the same character, runs may play out differently depending on your starting trait and the upgrades you choose. Your levels and selected progressions are exclusive to this run, so when you die they will all be reset.
However, not everything will be reset. As you run, you’ll come across veins of ore that you can break down to obtain stones that have their own stats. All stones in your bag will be totaled and reaching certain stat thresholds will grant your character buffs. You can equip stones in accessible slots that will keep them even after you finish your run. Any unequipped stones in your bag at the end of the run will be converted into stone fragments, which can be used as currency or forged into modern stones by the NPC blacksmith.
During each run, you can also discover special rooms with treasure chests where you can find artifacts. They provide unique buffs and upgrades to your abilities, and can accumulate stacks of elemental effects over time. If an artifact reaches five charges, it becomes connected to the spirit corresponding to that element and allows the utilize of unique attacks and elemental effects.
Bonding with Ignis, the Fire Spirit, gives you access to the Ignite debuff, which deals continuous damage. Atlen, the water spirit, slows enemies and freezes those with the saturated debuff. Rathorus, the lightning spirit, has a shock effect that deals extra damage. Enryl, Wind Spirit, increases movement speed and buffs multiple hits with a sprint buff. Terrania, the Earth Spirit, causes a petrification debuff that causes fragments to shoot out when you attack petrified enemies.
It all adds up to a roguelike with the classic “one more run” feeling. Stones provide lasting progression, and choices for characters, starting traits, and skill upgrades make each run different. If you’re interested in checking out Guidus Zero, it’s available in early access now on Steam.
They are celebrating the launch by offering a 10% discount that will last until December 9. Guidus Zero is also considering future releases on Xbox and Nintendo Switch, but a console release has not been officially announced.
