- Developer RE:CODE Begins Steam Open Playtest with New Gameplay Video
- Random Dungeons and PvP Invasions… A Dark Fantasy Dungeon Crawler Combining Soulslike and Roguelite
Indie developer RE:CODE has released a new gameplay trailer for the dark fantasy action roguelite ‘Lich Lords’ and started an open playtest on Steam.
This news garnered the attention of gamers after being first introduced by Alpha Beta Gamer, a world-renowned media outlet specializing in beta testing.
‘Rich Lord’ is a dark fantasy dungeon crawler that combines Soulslike combat, a roguelike growth system, randomly generated dungeons, challenging boss battles, and multiple endings.
The player becomes a being who has lost memories of their human life and awakened as a Lich, entering an endless survival competition where only the last one standing can claim the throne of the ‘Lich Lord’.
Random Dungeons and Throne Wars, Even Death is a New Beginning
The player becomes one of many liches and must explore the deepest and most dangerous dungeons to defeat rival liches and ferocious monsters.
If you survive and claim the throne, you can become the ‘Lich Lord,’ but your reign does not last long. When a new cycle begins, other challengers flock in to claim the throne, and an endless struggle for survival repeats itself.
The game combines roguelike-style random dungeon exploration with the tense combat characteristic of Soulslike games and the fast combat tempo of hack-and-slash action RPGs.
You can change campaign settings every time you play to freely adjust the number of enemy liches, attack power multipliers, dungeon themes, etc., and it is also possible to switch between top-down and third-person views in real time.
Not only can you conquer dungeons alone, but you can also recruit prisoners, ghouls, ghosts, and animals encountered during exploration as companions to fight alongside you. It also supports multiplayer elements inspired by the Soulslike genre. PvP content is available where you can join another player’s world as an ally or, conversely, invade their world to hinder their progress.
Gothic dark fantasy world and random dungeon exploration
‘Rich Road’ offers the fun of new exploration every time through various randomly generated dungeons, such as Gothic-style fortresses, ancient ruins, and cities overrun by vegetation.
In particular, set against the backdrop of an eerie otherworld, it features high-level brutality including graphic depictions of bloodshed and bodily mutilation, and completes a dark fantasy worldview that maximizes a unique sense of isolation, despair, and horror by utilizing NPCs and the surrounding environment.
In fact, it prominently features keywords such as Gothic, mythology, and survival via Steam tags, aiming to be a title where players can simultaneously enjoy a weighty dark fantasy world and high-difficulty action combat.
A new indie game from the developer of ‘The Backrooms: Survival’
RE:CODE is an indie developer that released ‘The Backrooms: Survival,’ a survival horror game incorporating roguelike elements.
Currently, ‘Rich Lord’ is in the pre-release stage, and the developer has stated that it will gather community feedback through open playtesting and early access and actively incorporate it into development. Early access is scheduled to run until the fourth quarter of 2026.
In the current version, you can freely develop your character by selecting various starting classes and professions, and experience randomly generated dungeons, multiple endings that vary depending on your choices, and various combat styles utilizing melee, ranged, and magic.
In the official version, new items, equipment, enemies, dungeon themes, endings, and multiplayer content are scheduled to be added, and the launch price is also planned to be slightly increased to match the content expansion.
Information regarding ‘Lich Lords’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Developer / Publisher | RE:CODE |
| Genre | Dark Fantasy Soulslike Dungeon Crawler / Action Roguelite |
| Release platform | PC (Steam) |
| Early Access Scheduled Period | 4th quarter of 2026 |
| Official release date | Undecided |
| Play Mode | Single-player, Online Co-op, PvP Invasion |
| Supported languages | english |
| Refer to content rating | Includes dark fantasy adult themes such as gore, mutilation, and violence. |
| Steam rating | Pre-aggregation (Playtest Phase) |
| Reference media | Alpha Beta Gamer |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
