33 Immortals' 33-player co-op roguelike chaos keeps pulling me back, and its early access is on Xbox Game Pass today

A true ‘eureka’ moment in 33 Immortals comes when I realize the ‘collect arrows’ button not only reloads your bow, but damages enemies as the arrows pass through them on the way back to you. Suddenly it’s not just a simple twin-stick shooting system, but a gleeful, real-time crowd management game as you aggro kite enemies, luring them back into the path of the very arrows you just perforated them with. And as they finally turn black and fall into dust, this Early Access release is working very nicely, thank you very much.

But the 'Bow of Hope' isn’t the only weapon available so far in Thunder Lotus Games’ new title; four other weapons are available to try, each filling a specific role. The Tank role gives you a reasonably long sword to swing, and it has both quick and charged variants. Then there’s a 'Staff of Sloth' mage’s staff which lobs magic projectiles into the fray, and finally (for now) a close-up, quick-moving pair of knives called the 'daggers of greed' for slashing your way through enemies.

Ticket to hell

The server for my session was switched on for just two hours, and the first of those was spent getting to know how the game worked. It’s a bit like Fortnite in that you join a publicly populated server with, in this case, up to 32 other players. You ideally need six players to take on some rooms and bosses, but in the main levels, you can hold the left trigger and bring up a map showing you where every player is in the level, allowing you to go and join in the fun where the crowd is. It certainly is more fun when you join up with other players, not least because you can perform large-scale team up attacks using screen-filling magic. Even at the lowest of levels, these are still pretty to look at and exciting to pull off when you get two other randoms to step into your casting circles and activate the magic.

For the second of the two hours I was fortunate enough to find five other players who had also worked out how the game works, allowing us an attempt at finishing the first of three proposed gameplay loops. This involved finding Torture Chambers, which close off when up to six players enter. If you enter alone and nobody follows, you’re basically screwed, as waves of enemies appear and you can’t possibly beat them all. But get in with some good people and the screen fills with enemies, magic attacks, and environmental hazards, making for a grand old time. It’s the logical evolution of 80s classic Gauntlet, only here it’s set in the literal (and literary) hell of Dante’s Inferno.

Completing these challenge rooms gives you two chests, and each contains a perk, though one of the chests needs a key. You can buy or find keys, but eventually you fill the left-hand side of the screen with perks like an additional health point every 5 seconds or 20% extra damage to large enemies. It works really well. And then? You complete an ascension challenge with even more fearsome enemies, before you face Lucifer himself, attacking his hand-drawn heart with everything you’ve got.

You go boss

The game does a good job of elevating the comparatively mundane button mashing battles of the low-level crowds with more cerebral encounters with large enemies, and these boss battles, bringing in organ music coupled with cinematic camera pull-outs to show the scale of the scenes you’re engaged in. The drama level does ramp up well, as does the challenge. Sadly that did prove to be my makeshift team’s undoing, as we cleared almost half of Lucifer’s segmented health bar before running out of chances to revive each other, ending up with a ‘failed rebellion’ message.

The hand-drawn artwork does look gorgeous in static screens and moves beautifully and smoothly on the Xbox Series X I played it on, but is let down a little by the slightly thin feel of its movement. Attacks don’t feel particularly meaty, and the pauses to aim and recall arrows detract a bit from the fluidity of play. The game also began to feel a touch repetitive after just an hour and a half, though there are plenty of perks and noticeboard quests to unlock through levelling up, as well as costume upgrades to earn and buy, so there should be more variety coming.

The first two hours have certainly made me want more, and knowing now how the gameplay loop works, the prospect of exploiting its possibilities to maximize my chances against Lucifer is very enticing. But that said, be warned: it seems it's only fun when the people around you know what they're doing too, otherwise you'll be left high and dry with hordes of abominations engulfing you. Still, it's early days so there's every reason to expect the enjoyment to ramp up as the character levels and weeks tick by and people learn how to play it. You can play it later today on Game Pass for Xbox/PC or via the Epic Games store. One of the stronger Early Access starts, that's for sure.

There's a chance that, with time, 33 Immortals could be one of the best Xbox Game Pass games to jump into for a quick gaming session. Want to play more with pals? Then take a look at our best co-op games list for our suggestions!