revealed a surprising amount of depth for what could first appear to be a simple action-roguelike. And there’s so much more for me to see: What’s the Ascension Battle like? How hard is it to face down Lucifer?

, and though I am ecstatic to see it finally released to the public, my first impression of the game had left me confused. Like all players, I spawned somewhere in Inferno, immediately thrown into a chaotic battle as Beatrice, the guide, instructed me on the basics of combat—though you won’t survive that first run.

makes sure you feel every decision, every mistake, and every moment of triumph has weight on your soul. 8 33 Immortals 33 Immortals is a bold take on the roguelike genre, but its large-scale co-op is both a thrill and a challenge. When teamwork clicks, going against divine judgement it’s an otherworldly experience—but when it doesn’t, runs can feel chaotic and frustrating for solo players.

Each one doesn’t have a lot of power in their hands alone, but even Hell itself can be taken down with enough unity and coordination. At least I hope so, since non-e of the runs I did with my teammates ended up beating even Lucifer at his domain.

. 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 is a large-scale cooperative dungeon diver roguelike, all streamlined for accessibility so that you can enjoy the best parts of a typical raid experience without much of the setup.

In particular, to me Lucifer’s and Adam and Eve’s boss themes perfectly capture the overwhelming presence of these divine adversaries making you feel like just a poor, damned soul in looking to defy the impossible.

With so many random players on the map at any time, it’s easy to feel like your small mistakes aren’t spotted, while your successes are clear for all to see, and even participate in.

describes itself as a distillation 33 Immortals Gameplay of the MMO raid experience, an action-packed roguelike where 33 players are placed together on a large world map, a land littered with charred buildings and jagged spears of stone surrounded by flames. It’s also full of monsters. Lots of monsters.

isn’t without its flaws. The movement system feels stiff, with attacks locking you in place and dashes on a very brief, frustrating cooldown. Early on, this makes combat feel clunky and restrictive, and while later upgrades help smooth things out, it still never reaches the fluidity you’d expect from a game that throws you into such chaotic battles.

would probably fly under a lot of people’s radar. It’s a fun hook, even while playing with randoms that you might not cross paths with again.

The available content isn’t a small amount, but feels just a little underwhelming when there’s promises being made for more things that are coming in a few months’ time. A small delay could have meant shipping the game with at least the missing options menu items.

was conducted on a pre-release copy of the Xbox version provided by the developer and Microsoft. The game was played on a Windows PC.

There are also the co-op abilities attached to every class, which is one of my favorite feature implementation in the game. Holding down this button makes your character slam down a massive rune on the ground, making specific areas where more players must stand and activate them together. This can be extremely perilous when so many enemies are on screen.