Guidus Zero: A Top-Down Roguelike Enters Early Access

Steam’s Early Access has an exciting new arrival: Guidus Zero, an engaging top-down dungeon-crawling roguelike crafted by the indie talents at South Korean studio, Izzle.

Set against the backdrop of a world worn down by a seemingly endless war with no clear winner, the aftermath has turned the central continent into a neutral zone. In this scarred landscape, a massive sinkhole known as The Scar emerges, releasing a mysterious substance called Black Blood, which spawns formidable corrupted creatures. The origins of this sinkhole and the source of Black Blood are shrouded in mystery, and the depths conceal untold secrets. This is where your journey kicks off.

You’ll find yourself part of a diverse crew navigating The Scar, diving deeper and encountering relentless enemies tainted by the Black Blood. Players have a variety of characters at their disposal, each equipped with unique abilities and strengths. The combat is a real-time action treat with a twist: movement is restricted to a grid, allowing navigation solely in the four cardinal directions.

Anticipate enemy attacks through visual cues; an exclamation mark warns of incoming strikes, and the ground highlights potential impact zones. Each adversary has distinct attack patterns—some target directly ahead, others slash in extended lines, while some can swipe at wider grid sections. You’ll confront multiple enemies simultaneously, requiring quick reflexes and sharp instincts to evade their assaults.

While dodging damage is crucial, dealing it out is equally vital, driven by your chosen character and their skills. Before each adventure, select a character and decide on their starting trait. In true RPG fashion, defeating enemies earns experience points, contributing to your level-ups.

As you advance, you’ll unlock skill upgrades aligned with your initial trait choice. This customization offers a unique flair to each session, meaning even repeated character selections can unveil different experiences based on chosen traits and upgrades. However, your character’s progress resets upon death, keeping things fresh.

That said, not everything vanishes. Throughout your journey, you’ll encounter ore veins, which can be mined for stones yielding various stats. Accumulating stones enhances buffs for your character, and equipped stones can be preserved across runs. Meanwhile, any non-equipped stones transform into fragments at the run’s end, usable as currency or reforged into new stones by a blacksmith NPC.

While exploring, you can also discover special rooms with treasure chests containing artifacts. These grant unique buffs and can stack elemental effects. Get them to five stacks, and you’ll bond with a spirit, unlocking potent elemental attacks.

Link up with Ignis, the fire spirit, to apply a persistent burn debuff. Atlen, the water spirit, can slow and freeze foes with a wet debuff. Rathorus, the lightning spirit, deals shocking secondary damage. Enryl, the wind spirit, boosts your speed and enhances multitasking through a sprint buff. Meanwhile, Terrania, the earth spirit, petrifies foes and creates shards that explode upon hitting these stoned enemies, adding a thrilling tactical layer.

Guidus Zero delivers a roguelike with that addictive “just one more run” charm. Stones allow for permanent progression, while characters, traits, and upgrades ensure each journey feels brand new. If diving into Guidus Zero intrigues you, it’s now ready to explore on Steam under Early Access.

They’re marking the launch with a tempting 10% discount available until December 9th. While plans for Xbox and Nintendo Switch are under consideration, no official console announcements have been made yet.