One of the most ambitious roguelikes of 2024 is tackling an MMO-grade challenge: 33-player raiding

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33 Immortals lives up to its name and promises a new approach to raids

33 Immortals is an aptly named co-op roguelike promising 33-player raid-type encounters, and it's taken a unique drop-in approach to the often socially daunting task of getting a crew together.

"So what we want to propose to the player is that you open the game and you just jump into a fight right away without any wait. So let's say you're a player, you're alone, you go in alone, you just go through a portal and you're already fighting hordes of monsters and epic bosses. And you won't do it alone, you'll be with 32 other players.

"We do have friends, but do they always play the same game as you at the same time?" he adds. "No they don't. And I think on my end, I only have two or three that are playing the same thing [as me]. And this is what we wanted to avoid. It's going to be a seamless experience - you jump in, matchmaking will be done automatically, and people will just join. You can join alone, and also with other people. You'll be able to queue up with a little party of your own friends if you want."

It's important to note that 33 Immortals is not an MMO, but its combat systems and party functions do emulate the genre to some extent, albeit through a streamlined framework that better suits the roguelike gameplay loop. Regarding the classic MMO triangle of tanks, healers, and DPS, Godin says: 

"In our game, what we wanted to tackle is the fact that we're different but all the players start the same. We equip a weapon, and this weapon will define your role. We use four different roles: tank, support, ranged, and melee. We have the Bow of Hope - if you take that, you'll have a bow, you'll do damage from afar. On the other end, we have the Justice Sword, and with this one you can dish out a lot of damage, and you also have a special attack that makes you guard, so it's more of a tank role. We make sure we build the weapons so we have all the roles supported – we are now working on the support and also on the melee – and all of this together will give good gameplay combinations." 

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Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.