Today, indie studio Unison Games revealed their first title, Descent of Lunaris, a genre-bending sci-fi dungeon crawler with a haunting narrative, immersive first-person exploration, and hybrid combat system, coming soon to Steam.
Set in the year 2070, a lunar mining operation uncovers an impossible signal emanating from deep within the moon. The moment it is unearthed, the base’s machines turn violent, slaughtering most of the inhabitants. A team of operatives from across the globe is dispatched to descend into the newly uncovered world, uncover the cause, and confront truths that will change human history forever.
Explore, Survive, Descend, Repeat
Players aren’t simply fighting to survive another descent, they’re unraveling a mystery that asks difficult questions about the nature of humanity itself. Every floor deepens the uncertainty: are you discovering the truth, or being led somewhere you were always meant to go? Are you investigating, or are you the one on trial? This is a dungeon crawler for a new generation: one that remembers the past, embraces the present, and peers unflinchingly into a future that may be darker than we expect.
Modernized dungeon crawling
In Descent of Lunaris, players will navigate a sprawling network of grid-based levels hidden beneath the lunar surface, each one designed with branching paths, environmental storytelling, and dark secrets. As they descend deeper, dungeons evolve beyond industrial corridors and lunar rock into surreal landscapes shaped by an unknown source. Familiar structures and mythologies appear twisted and distorted, constantly shifting the tone of exploration from eerie discovery to psychedelic nightmare.
Exploration isn’t just about survival, as every area is filled with strange characters who could be allies, enemies, or something in between depending on player choices. Unlocking hidden passages, uncovering optional bosses, and piecing together fragments of story, turns the descent itself into a narrative arc: each area not only tests your party’s endurance and combat ability, but also reveals unsettling glimpses of humanity’s reflection in the eyes of something that should not exist.
Hybrid combat system
Descent of Lunaris pushes dungeon-crawling combat beyond a single style by fusing two classic RPG approaches into one seamless experience. At its core, the game features traditional JRPG turn-based battles, where party formation, skill usage, and resource management are key to surviving attrition across long dungeon runs. Every choice matters: when to heal, when to unleash powerful abilities, and when to conserve resources for what’s still ahead.
But the deeper players go, the rules change. Encounters shift into tactical grid-based battles, expanding the battlefield and forcing players to think in terms of positioning, movement, and area control. These encounters allow for larger groups of enemies, multi-phase boss fights, and environmental hazards that transform combat into a puzzle of survival. Players must constantly adapt by reshaping party formations, experimenting with subclasses, and tailoring strategies to the unique demands of each fight. The system rewards foresight, creativity, and bold risk-taking, creating a rhythm where every new area feels distinct and unpredictable.
Team customization
Every operative in Descent of Lunaris can be shaped and refined to match their preferred approach to exploration and combat. Abilities can be tailored and upgraded, allowing players to reinforce core strengths or experiment with hybrid builds. Unlocking subclasses transforms an operative into something entirely new: a frontline fighter who develops healing skills, or a support specialist who learns to manipulate battlefield control. A deep and complex affinity system and individual stat point customization creates a nearly infinite number of potential party builds to deal with any situation. Unique gear modifiers, leadership abilities based on what character is commanding your team, and unlockable passive traits layer together to create a vast well of replayability.
Distorted environments and surreal enemy encounters will demand team flexibility. A squad built for brute force might struggle against psychological or environmental hazards, while a carefully balanced team can adapt and endure. No two parties will be alike. Descent of Lunaris rewards players who experiment, iterate, and discover their own path through the nightmare beneath the lunar surface.
Atmospheric visuals and sound
From the first step onto the lunar base, players are immersed in a stark industrial sci-fi aesthetic: cold metal corridors, dim control rooms, and the humming of heavy machinery. This grounded foundation sets the stage for the descent into the unknown. As they explore deeper, the visuals evolve into something stranger. Sharp, evocative, and often unsettling 2D character and creature art enmesh with – and somehow still stand apart from – the modern 3D dungeon environments, creating a visual tension between the familiar and the alien. Surfaces glitch, perspectives warp, and familiar structures become distorted echoes of human civilization. The player isn’t just moving deeper into the moon, but into something very old and likely hostile.
Descent of Lunaris’ soundscape reinforces this growing instability with a creeping sense of unease. The soundtrack, curated from underground musicians and experimental producers, guides the player through tonal shifts: industrial rhythms in the early levels, sparse ambient textures filled with dread, and distorted psychedelic beats as reality begins to fracture. Each floor of the dungeon is an escalation. More surreal, more distorted, and more unnerving, pulling the player further from the safety of reality and deeper into the nightmare beneath.
What have we done?
Descent of Lunaris is Unison Games’ love letter to the dungeon RPGs that first defined the genre. It carries forward that classic grid-based exploration to merge with JRPG turn-based combat and party-building strategies that recalls experiences from titles like Wizardry, Ultima, and Shin Megami Tensei. With a haunting narrative and a mission that challenges not just survival but the very nature of humanity, this is a dungeon crawler for a new generation.
