A Massive Roguelike Battle for Redemption
The subject of today’s preview is a game called 33 Immortals, part of the Game Preview program on Xbox Game Pass.
What this means is that everyone with an Xbox Game Pass subscription gets to have a crack at the game, and the developers get to have some stress testing done in the process. It comes from the team at Thunder Lotus, and whilst this is still a work-in-progress game, I have been spending some quality time with the current product.
So, let’s go and see what the story is, shall we? As is usual for a preview, this will be very much a fact based scribble, and a review will follow in due course.
A Co-op Roguelike with a Twist
Now, what is 33 Immortals, I hear you ask? It is a form of electronic entertainment that runs on the Xbox’s under our various tellys, and the developers describe it as “a co-op action roguelike for 33 players”. In fact, the only bit missing from this description is the phrase “twin stick”. See, 33 Immortals plays out as a kind of twin stick shooter (especially if you choose the bow as your starting weapon) and moving with the left stick and aiming with the right stick soon becomes second nature.
Being a roguelike, you’ll expect to die often and messily, and here you won’t be disappointed. The general story of the game is that we are a damned soul, and rather than meekly accepting the judgment of God, we are emboldened to take up arms and try to change our fate. We do this by fighting our way through hordes of enemies, ascending our character through battle until we can challenge the boss of the area we are in.
In this Preview build, there are three worlds to go at, and they have a distinct flavour of the Divine Comedy in the names of the zones, and also in the character of Dante, who is an NPC we can interact with. So you should have a rough idea of what’s to come from that, no?
Perks and Relics
Obviously, part of a roguelike (some would say the whole point) is to get incrementally stronger on each run, and the story is much the same in 33 Immortals. As we go through the zones, fighting and gaining strength, we can unlock not only new perks to equip, but also happen upon relics that can change the way we play. Dante is the man we go to see to equip any new perks, and while some of the choices are a bit odd, there are others that either increase your life or your attack, for instance. Picking the right perks, relics and also weapons to complement your chosen play style is vital if you want to survive longer than about 33 seconds!
Now, despite being a Game Preview title, the world of 33 Immortals is a well populated one as I write this, and there is no shortage of fellow damned souls to join up with; we’ll applaud Game Pass for that, I guess.
But whatever, the game is built on a drop in, drop out kind of basis, and spawning into a realm on your own is a sure way to die an early death. Luckily, there are plenty of other players to hook up with, and while I’ve never actually managed to find anyone willing to team up properly (you know, this is gaming in 2025!), joining in with a fight that is ongoing is easy enough. There are even some of the most powerful moves that can only be performed in cooperation with two other players, so to do the amount of damage that you can do, you do need the help of others.
The enemies that you fight seem to get stronger as you go, and while the combat looks very nice, it does seem to be missing a feel of any real heft. Getting hit doesn’t seem to register, and so an early bath is almost inevitable. However, with various attack moves and a handy dodge to utilise, it is possible to keep yourself alive as long as you are concentrating. Of course, while the small enemies are hard enough, the bosses, when they appear, need some serious team work to take down.
A Promisingly Populated Roguelike
All in all, 33 Immortals is shaping up to be something interesting. If there could be a function similar to Destiny 2’s LFG feature, this would make venturing into the game a bit easier, knowing that people have your back. Other than that, the world of 33 Immortals is looking good, and I for one am cautiously excited to see where it goes next.
Dive in, what is the worst that can happen? Maybe I’ll see you on the battlefield – I’ll be the dead one trying to find someone to revive me!
You’ll find 33 Immortals available to download through the Xbox Store, both through Game Pass or a £16.74 cash outlay. There are a few DLC packs to consider if you wish to really go wild.
33 Immortals is playable on Xbox Series X|S, PC and Xbox Play Anywhere.
