In the last week, a couple of roguelikes of the shooter variety emerged in the world, both in their respective 1.0 releases.
- Abyssus – developed by DoubleMoose Games, who under that name at least, have no other titles.
- Deadzone: Rogue – developed by Prophecy Games, who have the dubious credit of Tribes 3 behind them.
Frankly, I was more worried by the Tribes 3 credit than the lack of them, so I started out with Abyssus.
But here’s the thing. After even just a couple of runs, I had to duck back out to Steam to double-check that it really was a full release and that it wasn’t still in Early Access.
Not because it was janky or technically inept, but just because it was so lacking in both breadth and depth of systems — even for the price point, which, to give a positive, is great vs. the quality of the gunplay and combat feel! Boss design was awesome, too.
So I was left somewhat mixed on it. Especially after what was on display failed to bring in the interest of my friend group to make it a co-op game.
Enter Deadzone: Rogue.
In amongst a half-hearted job to cajole the crew to the refrain of, “OK sure, but it’ll be better in co-op!”, one noted that Deadzone: Rogue had also just launched.
Shooter. Roguelite. Looter(!!!). Co-op.
Also looked to have decent gunplay, but with far more guns on offer, a large array of perks and modifiers, and heck- even something of a story as you go through it.
Kluwes has some first impressions up if you’re interested in more, so I’ll simply say: We’ve had a great time with it so far.
The ‘normal’ difficulty does perhaps skew a little easy in co-op, but Hard is also a fair jump up. We’re through Zone 2, with another already launched to go, and another one after that to launch in the not-too-distant future!
So if you’re looking at the two of these as well, wondering which might be better — my strong recommendation is to lean toward Deadzone: Rogue.
If, after that, you’re still looking for more — can always then turn your gaze toward the depths of Abyssus.
This was posted during Blaugust 2025, the annual blogging event normally hosted by Belghast, with a twist this year of being hosted by Krikket. Blaugust is an event aiming to welcome new blogger blood into the fold and revitalise those who’ve been at it a little longer.
The Blaugust Discord is still available to join in, year-round!
