The co-op roguelike from indie powerhouse and Don't Starve dev Klei Entertainment is even better than I'd hoped, and a must-play Steam Next Fest demo

GamesRoguelikeThe co-op roguelike from indie powerhouse and Don’t Starve dev Klei Entertainment is even better than I’d hoped, and a must-play Steam Next Fest demoWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. GamesRoguelikeThe co-op roguelike from indie powerhouse and Don’t Starve dev Klei Entertainment is even better than I’d hoped, and a must-play Steam Next Fest demoWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Klei Entertainment) Maybe it’s because I’m fresh out of Ember Knights and still mentally reside in the co-op roguelike zone, or maybe it’s because Don’t Starve dev Klei Entertainment somehow nails every single genre it tries, but I’m rapidly falling in love with Rotwood. TheSteam Next Festdemo for Klei’s latest reveals a polished dungeon-crawler that’s fun alone and ripe for multiplayer shenanigans, and after beating its first boss, I’m extra hungry for that elusive release date. The demo lives up to this promise and then some. The genre is a perfect fit for Klei, which, while also known for strategic games such as Griftlands and Invisible Inc, has its roots in action games like Shank and Mark of the Ninja – all notably standouts in their genres. To be clear, I’ve cleared one run of Rotwood using one non-upgraded weapon – a hammer with an incredible sense of weight to it – yet it’s already clear just how much depth there is to combat. Rotwood plays like a 2.5D brawler, meaning attacks have a bit of AoE on them that hit the space around you. This is the first big learning curve: depth perception, or how close you actually have to be to hit – or, importantly, dodge – something. It didn’t take me long to get my spacing calibrated, and then I could start leaning into the combos. Light attacks, heavy attacks, and my hammer’s charged AoE set up the basics and feel good to use, but the secret sauce is in the contextual hits. If I dodge-roll one way, pull the stick the other way, and launch a heavy attack, my character will do a homerun backswing. If I use a heavy attack after two light attacks, I can land a double frontflip finisher. With a heavy after three lights, I can charge a bigger AoE hit. I can also cancel the hammer’s charged attack – which, as I understand it, can be swapped later on – early if I need to dodge. And again, this is one default weapon. Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more Everything about Rotwood, from the combat to the cute character creator to that inimitable Klei art, has felt absolutely sublime from minute one. In amongst the demo’s brevity, I can see flashes of the upgrades and systems to come – boss-powered bonuses, new weapons, blacksmithing, hub enhancements, and I’m pretty sure also some light farming – and when I think about enjoying it all with friends I get downright giddy. Klei hasn’t missed yet, and so far this looks like another all-timer. Bring on the early access release. Steam got a dwarf tag just in time forthe screen-destroying, ore-collecting mining roguelike that I’m struggling to put down this Steam Next Fest. 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