AK-xolotl, one of the most-anticipated (and easily the cutest) roguelikes of the year, is out now.
As the name suggests, AK-xolotl puts you in the gills of an adorable amphibian, but gives that amphibian a deadly assault rifle with which to defend their family. Fresh off the back of winning the Best Indie Game Award at Gamescom, this top-down roguelite shooter tasks you with slaughtering your way through a wide variety of different biomes to collect food with which to nourish your pond of baby Axolittles.
Those Axolittles are key to AK-xolotl's roguelike gameplay. Inspired by roguelite royalty like The Binding of Isaac, Nuclear Throne, and Enter the Gungeon, you'll battle through randomly-generated rooms to ensure a different path every time you play.
You'll also need to indulge in AK-xolotl's more tender side.Drawing from creature-collectors like Ooblets and farming sims like Stardew Valley, you'll collect ingredients to cook delicious food for your Axolittles. Eventually, they'll grow up to help you with new abilities and even stronger weapons. In turn, that will help you as you rise from the ashes each time you're defeated in combat.
You'll need all the help you can get as you fight your way to challenging bosses, from slithering snakes to Giant Enemy Crabs (with knives). With the AK-xolotl's regenerative powers at your disposal, even if you fall to your foes, you'll come back stronger to take them on with the help of powerful boosts, from Gamer Juice to the literal Hammer of the Gods.
The only roguelite to feature gun-toting amphibians, AK-xolotl is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch for $18.99, or on PC via Steam where you can grab it at a special launch discount of 10% on Steam.
