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Roguelikes can be off-putting to some players thanks to their tendencies towards steep learning curves, where trial and error is usually the best method to progress. If that doesn't sound like your thing, then Ring of Pain takes away the skill-based challenge and instead presents difficulty through the choices you make, meaning it's much more accessible for a wider range of players. It's not about your reflexes or mechanical skill; the dynamically adjusting levels scale in difficulty automatically through your decisions.
As you can see from the trailer above, Ring of Pain presents a striking art style that uses bold colours on a dark background, creating an absolutely gorgeous aesthetic. Since all movement is done automatically depending on the choices you make, the lack of fast-paced gameplay means a visual style like this is more possible. It almost seems concept art-esque, which makes sense when you consider Simon Boxer – the solo developer who started the project – worked on AAA titles as a concept artist for over 10 years.
Inspiration has been taken from a number of other dungeon crawlers including The Binding of Isaac, with the developer describing it as "like a turn-based Binding of Isaac in the darkest corner of your mind". On launch, Ring of Pain will have over 150 items and 50 creatures, each with unique combat behaviours. There are also four distinct regions, 25 special rooms, and "mysterious story encounters" to discover.
Each playthrough will take around 40 minutes to an hour – provided you succeed and don't succumb to the Ring of Pain, of course – which means it's an ideal game to play in short bursts. There are a number of different endings too, so you can enjoy exploring the different narrative paths the game will take you down. Even if you beat the game multiple times and earn all of the 50+ achievements on offer, there is a daily dungeon to entice you back and add longevity to the game. Ring of Pain will be releasing on PC later this year, so you don't have to wait too long before you can get stuck into this mysterious and unique take on the dungeon crawling genre.
