33 souls who are damned for hell have taken a defiant stand against the judgement God has placed upon them, and now seek to rally together through several stages of hell in order to defy fate and become 33 Immortals. Players will join massive ongoing raids of up to 33 players with their chosen weapons, abilities, and upgrades to loot God’s domain, grow even more powerful, and kill God itself.

, and though I initially tried to fade into the pixels and treat it as a single-player game, I quickly found myself emoting and seeking groups of warriors to join.

Sustain your numbers as best you can, for only the strongest group of survivors stand a fighting chance in brutal boss battles. Rise above the Almighty

At the moment only four weapons based on either cardinal sins or virtues are available—Sword of Justice, Daggers of Greed, Staff of Sloth, and Bow of Hope—though hints of future additions, like a halberd, appear in the game’s official artwork.

Going in alone is a death sentence and even small groups struggle, I quickly learned to wait for at least three other allies before attempting one. Outside these chambers, Bone Altars allow you to heal, buy Relic Chest Keys, or acquire Teleport Stones, which are indispensable for reaching allies or escaping danger when chaos erupts.

33 Immortals is a 33-player action roguelite game where players participate in massive 33-player raids. Said raids can be joined at any time, allowing seamless pick-up-and-play possibilities from players who don’t have to wait for full parties to commence. Choose from a variety of weapons from the hub world and hone your skills by hitting training dummies, or upgrading them through NPCs such as Dante from the Divine Comedy.

Once all of the Torture Chambers are defeated, holy fire spreads across Inferno, pushing players into one of three ascension spots designed for 11 fighters each.

The randomized progression of finidng Perks and the right Relics—though you can reroll those you find—means that some runs feel amazing, while others leave you underpowered and doomed before the final fight even begins.

describes itself as a distillation of the 33 Immortals Gameplay MMO raid experience, an action-packed roguelike where 33 players are placed together on a large world map, a land littered with charred buildings and jagged spears of stone surrounded by flames. It’s also full of monsters. Lots of monsters.

While there can be dozens of players on screen at a time, most special effects and projectiles of others are mostly hidden from your own perspective to keep the screen clear of distractions.

In the same options menu, control bindings for both keyboard and mouse, and controllers, are missing. I did not have any issues with the existing control scheme, but that doesn’t mean this shouldn’t be a launch feature, even for an early access experience.

Every time I perished in a run, I was already thinking of how I could make the next better, trying not to rely on the chance-based item drops. In the beginning, I simply wanted to rush to the boss level, so it was all about using valuable resources to report to nearby Torture Chambers and finishing them as fast as possible. Once I had my soul’s ass thoroughly beat, I slowed the pace down and made sure to get some personal upgrades in between the dungeons, which meant sticking with groups that were farming enemies and world items instead of just the dungeons.

That’s all I could gather about the lore before taking my repeated trips to Hell for all that loot and boss-slaying goodness. I suspect many players will be going the same route at launch too, as listening to NPCs and reading pages of lore are probably not what most action game fans want to do when they boot up a hardcore multiplayer experience.

Despite having an impressive world that encourages cooperation, massive wars against the afterlife’s forces, and a good God-killing hook for an exciting gameplay loop, there are some missing aspects that I can attribute solely to this being an early access release.