Welcome, Dear Reader, to Mike and Kieran’s round-up of roguelike news from The Triple-i Initiative, which has returned for its second year with another full slate of indie announcements.
There is plenty to get into, so I won’t take too much of your time with a wordy intro, but it’s great that the event has returned and it seems to have made an even bigger splash than it did last year.
There was a lot to get through, but only a handful of the stories were relevant to what we’re doing here, and so here is our collection of roguelike headlines from The Triple-i Initiative 2025.
VOID/BREAKER | Stubby Games | PC (Win), PS5, Xbox | One of my favourite trailers of the show was for VOID/BREAKER, which looks like a cross between Returnal and Crysis – and for that you can sign me up! In fact, there’s a two week playable alpha available right now over on Steam and you can bet your procedurally-generated bum that it’s downloading to my machine as I type this missive.
Tears of Metal | Paper Cult | PC (Win) | Another game with a public playtest available right now is Tears of Metal from Paper Cult, which has a mediaval theme and a Warriors-inspired combat style. Along with your battalion of warriors you must battle through waves of enemies as you explore the ominous-sounding Dragon Metoer. This one looks good as you can see in the trailer below.
Morbid Metal | Screen Juice | PC (Win) | This third-person actioner looked slick in the trailer, as it showcased Morbid Metal’s rapid and visceral combat. The plan is to bring this to Early Access in the summer, at which point players will be able to try out the game’s central mechanic, where you can switch between four unique characters on the fly during combat.
CloverPit | Panik Arcade | PC (Win) | My final entry in this article before Kieran picks up the baton, is described as the demonic lovechild of Balatro and Buckshot Roulette. The Steam listing then goes on to describe a game that sounds more like Luck Be A Landlord. Either way, these are all games that I love and as such, CloverPit went straight on the ol’ wishlight… Over to you, Kieran.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault | Digital Sun | PC (Win), PS5, Xbox Series | Why, thank you, Mike. My personal favourite trailer from the evening featured beavers and zip lines, but as that one is not a roguelike, it’s sadly disqualified. Runner up is Moonlighter 2, and I was pleased to see the game despite it only be announced at February’s ID@Xbox showcase. Here, we learned that the game is landing in summer 2025, but sadly, no Switch 2 port was announced, so we can’t add it to our new list just yet.
Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core | Ghost Ship Games | PC (Win) | Fans of Ghost Ship’s procedurally generated mining adventures were treated to not one, but two Deep Rock announcements during the showcase. In an all-new gameplay trailer, we learned that a closed playtest is coming soon for the FPS action roguelite spin-off, Rogue Core. Head to the game’s Steam page to enter your details and request access.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor | Funday Games | PC (Win) | The second announcement that Ghost Ship Publishing shared was that Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor would be tunneling out of Early Access on 17th September. This Survivor-like spin on the beloved series first launched on Steam last February and has generated a ‘Very Positive’ user response. Oh, and by the way, the game currently has a 25% discount, so you might want to consider diving in early before its full 1.0 launch.
Super Fantasy Kingdom | Super Fantasy Games | PC (Win) | Another game that caught my eye despite its new gameplay trailer being a lightning-fast 45 seconds was roguelite city builder, Super Fantasy Kingdom. The visuals in this one pop with them being brightly colourful, and it looks to offer an engaging mix of city building and close-quarter encounters with hordes of enemies. As well as getting a glimpse at both the game’s announced factions, we also learnt it would be targeting a Q3 2025 release date.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect | 91Act | PC (Win) | We got another double whammy of announcements this time for 2D action roguelite, BlazBlue Entropy Effect. This summer, the game is paying homage to one of its biggest influences by adding to its roster a free playable character from Dead Cells. Couch co-op is also planned to be “coming soon” for the game. To celebrate this unique crossover, both games are now available as a bundle and have a special 11% discount on Steam.
Vampire Survivors | poncle | Android, iOS, PC (Lin, Mac, Win), PS, Switch, Xbox | We’re wrapping up our coverage of the showcase with the one, the only, Vampire Survivors. A FREE update inspired by the Square Enix fantasy RPG franchise SaGa has today dropped for the trailblazing game, and it sounds like a pretty spicy one. Emerald Diorama’s headlining features include 12+ characters, 16+ weapons, and a new world weaving stage. That’s not all, as a smaller chicken-themed FREE update called The Coop has also shadowdropped, bolstering the game’s content.
