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.
33 Immortals is coming to PC (Epic Games Store) and Xbox Series X (with Game Pass) next year, and producer Nicola Godin discussed the game's "pick up and raid" vision during Xbox's official Gamescom 2023 stream. "Traditionally, in a raid, you have to create a big group and plan a lot of things to solve these intricate puzzles," he begins. "On our end, we want to try with 33 Immortals to change the vibe of this and do a fresh take.
"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."
Check out our Gamescom 2023 live coverage for all the big news from the event.
