New release: Epilogue

Ryan Krafnick, the man behind indie studio Kraflab, began work on a graphical roguelike he entitled Epilogue in or around March of this year. On April 1, 2012, he released version 1.0. No one reported it on it. (Which is why we don’t release games on April Fools’ Day.)

Fast forward to a little less than two weeks ago, when the game reached version 2.6. Actually, strike that: fast forward to yesterday, when I finally learned of Epilogue‘s existence. Here’s the premise:

Years ago, the last heroic types failed to defeat Slith, the demonic overlord. Now, all peoples live as mindless slaves to him, and have for many generations. In this great absence of combat, your mind has been left to wander and you have started to realize who Slith is and what has happened to your people. Now you are free from his control and must defeat him once and for all! Dive down through 10 dungeon levels of fierce tactical roguelike gameplay and face your greatest fears!

Don’t be turned off by the standard-issue story–Epilogue features a nice little bundle of interesting mechanics that (in my view) make it worth checking out. For one thing, this game eschews the idea of random loot drops: as in a Fire Emblem title, all the loot you find on an enemy is stuff that that enemy was actually using. Epilogue also features limb-specific injuries, a fatigue/sleep system, class and skill specialization, and a bizarre menagerie of enemies (I quote: “On the first floors you can expect to find Robotic Snowmen, Dual Wielding Sea Otters, and Crazed Martial Artists”).

Here is a trailer that shows off the game’s visual style:

Epilogue is now available for Windows and Linux for $6.99 through Desura, and will perhaps one day be available on Steam if its Greenlight page gets enough upvotes. In the meantime, there is a free demo out for you to try–go ahead and see if you like it (Windows demo here, Linux here)!