Swedish indie publisher Raw Fury and Japan-based publisher Kakehashi Games have teamed up with developer Medium-Rare Games to bring Dungeon Automata to players, a new kind of dungeon crawler that the team describes as an “autologic.” Rather than directly controlling a traditional party, players will visually program their golems and determine how they behave as they attempt to conquer the labyrinth leading to the summit of the Tower of Corruption.
The game is available to check out right now through a brand-new demo on Steam, while players can also wishlist Dungeon Automata ahead of its full release.
Set in the world of Syntaxia, Dungeon Automata sees players turning to alchemy to create a party of powerful golems capable of taking on the monsters emerging alongside the Tower of Corruption. Each golem can be programmed with different behaviours, requiring players to study enemies, experiment with their blueprints and figure out how their party members can best work together.
Once a party enters the dungeon, the adventure largely plays out on its own. Players must watch their golems navigate each handcrafted level, learn from their failures and continually adjust their programming to deal with new obstacles, enemies, traps and bosses. The idea is to treat every run as another opportunity to decipher the challenges standing between the party and the tower’s summit.
Progression also allows players to further refine their creations. Catalysts can improve the physical abilities of golems, while nodes introduce new actions and targeting logic. Parts discovered throughout the dungeon can also be used to create unique golems, giving players more ways to customize their parties and experiment with different strategies.
All of this is presented through Dungeon Automata‘s expressive 8-bit pixel art, giving the fantasy world of Syntaxia a distinct visual style. The presentation is further accompanied by a soundtrack from legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro, whose work is known for its iconic Genesis-era synth sound.
Players can wishlist and download the Dungeon Automata demo on Steam today, with more details about the game set to be revealed in the future.