Guides Zero, a top-down dungeon-crawling roguelike created by independent South Korean studio Izzle, was just added to Steam’s Early Access.
In the universe where the novel is set, a war has been going on for a very long time with no obvious winner. Following its conclusion, a neutral zone was established on the center continent. On that continent, a huge pit known as The Scar opened, and a mysterious material called Black Blood that produces corrupted creatures emerged from its depths. The origin of the Black Blood, the origin of this sinkhole, and the contents of the deepest parts of The Scar are all unknown. Here’s where you can help.
In The Scar, you will accompany a group of characters as they venture deeper and deeper beneath the surface and encounter a variety of adversaries that the Black Blood has tainted. Some controlled characters will be available, each with unique skills and strengths. You and your adversaries travel between tiles on a grid you can only traverse in the four cardinal directions, making it a slightly different take on a real-time action battle.
An exclamation point will show up above the enemy’s head and the ground will be highlighted to indicate the landing spot of their assault. Different adversaries attack in different ways; some hit a lengthy line, some hit a bigger region of the grid, and some strike right in front of them. You will be up against multiple opponents at once, so you will need to be alert and quick to dodge strikes.
You can roll to become invincible while moving, but each roll uses up stamina. You must also be clever about your movement and roll frequency because you can not move diagonally. You do not want to find yourself stuck in between unavoidable attacks.
However, combat is more than just avoiding damage. Depending on the persona you choose, there are differences in how you must be able to deal it out. Before every run, you will select a character and its initial attribute. In traditional role-playing games, you level up by gaining experience from killing opponents.
You will discover options for skill enhancements specific to the trait you choose at the beginning of the run as you level up. Even if you play the same character, the playstyle of that run will be defined by these, so depending on the upgrades and starting traits you choose, runs may play differently. When you die, all of your levels and progression choices will be reset because they are unique to that run.
However, not everything will reset. You can break the ore veins you encounter on a run to obtain stones, each of which has unique stats. Your character will receive bonuses when you achieve specific stat thresholds, and all of the stones in your bag will tally up. Stones will remain intact even after your run is over if you equip them in the slots that are accessible. When your run is over, any unequipped stones in your bag will be turned into stone pieces that an NPC blacksmith can use to create new stones or use as cash.
You may also encounter unique rooms with treasure chests containing artifacts during each run. They enhance your skills, provide special bonuses, and accumulate stacks of elemental effects over time. You can employ special elemental attacks and effects once an artifact reaches five stacks since it will be associated with the spirit that represents that element.
You can obtain a burn debuff that does constant damage by bonding with the fire spirit Ignis. With a wet debuff, Atlen, the water spirit, slows down adversaries and freezes them. The lightning spirit Rathorus applies a shock debuff that causes more harm. With a sprint bonus, Enryl, the wind spirit, improves multi-hits and speeds up your movements. When you assault foes who have been petrified, Terrania, the earth spirit, unleashes a debuff that causes fragments to fly out.
All of this results in a roguelike that has the traditional “one more run” vibe. Every run is unique depending on your selections for character, starting traits, and ability upgrades, while stones offer permanent progress. Guides Zero is currently available on Steam in Early Access if you would want to give it a try.
A 10% discount is being offered in celebration of the debut, and it will remain valid until December 9. Although a console release has not yet been formally confirmed, Guidus Zero is also thinking about future releases for the Xbox and Nintendo Switch.
