Steam’s Early Access has just welcomed an exciting new game into its fold: Guidus Zero. This top-down dungeon crawling roguelike is the latest creation from the indie South Korean developers at Izzle.
The narrative unfolds in a world where a prolonged war left no clear victor, leading to the declaration of a central continent as a neutral zone. In the heart of this land lies The Scar, a colossal sinkhole from which a bizarre substance known as Black Blood emerges, bringing forth corrupted creatures. The origins of The Scar, the source of the Black Blood, and what lurks in its deepest parts are all shrouded in mystery. And that’s precisely where your adventure begins.
Embark on a journey with a band of characters as you delve into The Scar, battling enemies tainted by the Black Blood. You’ll be able to control a variety of characters, each boasting unique strengths and abilities. The game offers real-time combat with a strategic twist: both you and your foes move on a grid limited to four cardinal directions.
As you face off against enemies, you’ll notice an exclamation mark pop up above their heads just before they strike, while the ground beneath them will highlight the area they’re targeting. Each enemy has distinctive attack patterns—some lunge forward, others attack long lines, and many aim for larger grid sections. You’ll often confront multiple enemies simultaneously, necessitating quick reflexes and sharp movement to dodge their blows.
Timing is crucial as you traverse this terrain. You can roll to gain temporary invincibility, but remember that each roll burns through your stamina. The inability to move diagonally forces you to think tactically about when and where to roll, ensuring you don’t find yourself cornered by unavoidable attacks.
While dodging is vital, dealing damage is just as crucial. The method of attack will vary depending on your character choice. Before each dive into the depths, you’ll select a character along with a starting trait. True to RPG tradition, defeating adversaries earns you experience and levels up your character.
Each level brings with it unique skill upgrades specific to the starting trait you selected, allowing for varied gameplay styles on each run, even with the same character. These upgrades are temporary and unique to each run, resetting upon your character’s death.
However, not everything resets. Throughout your journey, you’ll stumble upon ore veins that yield stones, each with distinct stats. The stats from all collected stones combine, granting you character buffs once certain thresholds are met. Equipping stones in available inventory slots will keep them safe beyond a single run. Conversely, stones left unequipped turn into stone fragments, which function as currency or can be re-forged into new stones by an NPC blacksmith.
As you progress, you might also encounter treasure rooms laden with artifacts. These artifacts grant unique buffs and can build cumulative elemental effects. If an artifact hits five stacks, it bonds with a spirit corresponding to that element, offering special elemental attacks and abilities.
Bonding with the fire spirit Ignis, for instance, lets you apply a burn debuff dealing continuous damage. Atlen, the water spirit, slows enemies and freezes those under a wet debuff. Rathorus, the lightning spirit, adds a shock debuff for additional damage. Enryl, the wind spirit, boosts movement speed and enhances multi-hit attacks. Terrania, the earth spirit, petrifies foes and causes fragments to scatter when attacked.
This collection of features culminates in a roguelike with that irresistible “just one more run” allure. While stones offer permanent progress, your choices in character, traits, and skill upgrades make every playthrough unique. If Guidus Zero piques your interest, it’s already available in Early Access on Steam.
There’s also a launch celebration with a 10% discount running until December 9th. Though Xbox and Nintendo Switch releases are under consideration, official announcements for console versions have yet to be made.
