revealed a surprising amount of depth for what could first appear to be a simple action-roguelike. And there’s so much more for me to see: What’s the Ascension Battle like? How hard is it to face down Lucifer?

It offers both light and heavy attacks, coupled with a call-back attack that pulls in all the arrows you have shot to deal a blast of damage to anyone in its path. Coupled with the weapon, players also have a handy dodge for either pin-point escapes from damage or simply kiting enemies.

Experience your soul’s epic journey through the afterlife rendered in beautiful hand-drawn animation. 33 Immortals is a unique take on Dante Alighieri’s literary masterpiece, the Divine Comedy.

With dozens of players on screen doing their own thing to help the anti-divine cause, the chaos is the addicting element of

While players have more than one wheel of emoticons, they’re still not enough to communicate effectively. Screenshot via Dot Esports

This multi-tiered approach to finishing your roguelike “run” is challenging, yet very fun to play with — even though I only managed to complete just three Torture Chambers before succumbing to the elements (aka ‘ripped apart by monsters’). As I would learn during repeated runs – it seems the number of completed Torture Chambers is retained should you die and reenter Inferno — the larger the group of fellow Souls I traveled with, the larger my chances of survival became – and you can imagine how much bigger those chances get with 32 other people on your side.

In the heat of combat, with swarms of demons flooding the immediate area, it’s actually tricky to get three people to stand in the proper spots, but it takes just a moment of synchrony for the special ability to activate, and it’s a palpable relief every time. And then everyone immediately gets back to hurling spells, shooting arrows, flinging daggers and reviving allies, eyes peeled for the next special ability.

The focus on cooperative play is seen everywhere. Finding a healing point and using it costs resources, but it also heals nearby allies for a smaller amount. This means it’s more economical to get together and heal as a group than simply wasting money for a solo boost.

Mass multiplayer dungeon diving being its primary strength can also be a pitfall if not enough players end up being available to sustain it in a few months’ time. 33 Immortals Gameplay Game Pass is a valuable launch platform in this regard, but not having a Steam version may hurt the game more than a little.

Nearby, Charon manages cosmetics, all currently unlockable for free using cosmetic tokens found in runs. To the north, Beatrice grants you Feats, which unlock new gameplay features, while the eight Weapon Altars around her will let you pick which one you want to defy divine judgement with.

Or like with Daggers of Greed, you generate ‘Greed’ off enemy hits; the amount of ‘Greed’ you build up determines the amount of damage you’re able to inflict with a takedown attack.

The available content isn’t a small amount, but feels just a little underwhelming when there’s promises being made for more things that are coming in a few months’ time. A small delay could have meant shipping the game with at least the missing options menu items.

Then there’s the lack of real coordination tools. With no voice or text chat, you’re left to hope your team naturally understands the plan—which they often don’t—or rely on emoticons to direct those around you. Even if the emote wheel has arrows and objective’s icons, most of the time players won’t follow them.

I was given the chance to take a crack at the game a week prior to the early access launch, giving me around six hours with the game split across multiple play sessions.