Rogue titles have been making a comeback after a noticeable hiatus from the ’90s to ’00s from titles, and it’s thanks to indie-developers.  From Dead Cells to The Binding of Isaac, they’ve proven to be a successful medium that combines skill and chance into titles that capture our imagination for a surprisingly large period of time. Whether you choose roguelikes or roguelites to scratch that arcade itch is up to you.

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There’s a difference between roguelike and rogue-lite, however: roguelike means that all progress is reset between runs.  There aren’t long-term upgrades; every run is started fresh as though you’ve opened the title for the first time.  The only actual improvement between runs is chance and player understanding of the title.  Roguelites, on the other hand, offers incremental progress between runs that slowly builds up the power of your character, allowing you to progress further.

Both typically feature dungeon crawling as its main gameplay loop, and permanent character death.  The term comes from a video game released in 1980 called Rogue: Exploring the Dungeons of Doom, and was a free application along with Unix in the 1980s that featured punishing permanent deaths, dungeon crawling, and items to be found to equip to the character that would make combat a bit easier.

A new title is entering the popular medium, titled ScourgeBringer, and it’s looking impressive already.  Featuring fast action and platforming, you control Kyhra, the deadliest warrior of her clan.  You cut through hordes of ancient (and angry) machines, interspersed with platforming, in an attempt to redeem all of humanity at the end of what appears to be a massive dungeon.  The movement feels fantastic, the combat is difficult and rewarding, and multitasking between avoiding enemies while hacking them up is simply a delicious exercise in fluidity and satisfaction.

ScourgeBringer is currently set to arrive on Steam on February 6th in the Early Access program.

In released promotional gifs and videos, the title looks to be readily living up to the claim of fast action; dodging projectiles while closing the distance against enemies has Kyhra wall-hopping and dashing through stages, delivering swift death to everyone that dares cross her path.  It looks surprisingly good for a title that’s just about to begin its Early Access journey on Steam.

Development studio Flying Oak Games has already been offering Alpha keys to members on Twitter and Discord, so if you’re interested in trying out ScourgeBringers before it officially hits Steam, joining their growing community seems to be a fantastic way to start.  On their Discord channel, it’s surprisingly simple to request and receive a key to test the Alpha

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If you’re interested in what they’re offering, it would be wise to follow the title on Steam to stay up to date with development.  Flying Oak Games has yet to announce the price point that ScourgeBringer will release at, but has successfully garnered my full attention towards future developments.