Sunken Realms Preview: An Animator’s Six-Year Solo Dungeon Crawler Combines Outward’s Adventure, Hades’ Storytelling, and Zelda’s Exploration — September 18 Launch

The city is called Aedaria — a subterranean settlement cursed into darkness decades ago by the gods, long treated as forbidden ground on account of the rumor that it swallows whoever passes through. That reputation hasn’t stopped adventurers chasing its wealth and secrets from gathering at its edges, and it hasn’t stopped Alric, the game’s protagonist, from descending to chase down the truth about what actually happened to his father.

Brad Warren built Sunken Realms alone over roughly six years while working full-time as an animator and developer on the space MMO Star Atlas — meaning this is a solo project completed in whatever hours remained around a demanding day job, not a full-time creative sabbatical. It launches on Steam September 18, and the wishlist trajectory since the release date was announced in late August — from over 10,000 to more than 30,000, nearly tripling in about two weeks — suggests the reveal itself did real commercial work.

The Camp-and-Dungeon Structure

The core loop alternates between Alric’s underground camp and procedurally rearranged dungeon runs. Each time players enter, rooms and pathways are shuffled into a new configuration, keeping repeat exploration from settling into memorized routes. Resources gathered below get carried back to camp, where they fund weapon and armor crafting, potion brewing, and stat enhancement through the game’s “Soul Forge” system.

Stronger gear and abilities are the direct enablers for pushing further and fighting tougher enemies for better rewards, which then loop back into more camp-based crafting — the standard roguelite progression spine, executed here across a genuinely large amount of hand-built content for a one-person team: 109 individually designed rooms spread across 6 distinct zones, each room subject to procedural rearrangement on dungeon entry so the handcrafted content still produces varied runs rather than a memorizable sequence.

The Reference Points, Named Directly

Warren has been explicit about where the game’s DNA comes from. Outward is the stated original spark — specifically the sense of adventure and unknown-world exploration that the game gave him, which is what pushed him toward making his own game in the first place. He’s said Sunken Realms evolved in its own direction during development, but that he wanted Outward‘s particular adventuring spirit to survive intact in the finished product.

On top of that foundation, Warren layered Hades‘ approach to storytelling and The Legend of Zelda series’ exploration sensibility into the game’s world-building and structural design. The specific narrative device he’s highlighted — personal conversations shared between two friends around a campfire, alongside an original score — is positioned as the atmosphere-and-immersion layer carrying the emotional register between combat encounters, in the same structural spirit as Hades‘ hub-space character conversations.

The Solo Development Context

That Sunken Realms was built by one person maintaining a separate full-time animation job throughout its roughly six-year development is the detail this coverage wants to be direct about rather than treat as a footnote: 109 hand-designed rooms, a full crafting and enhancement system, procedural rearrangement logic, and an original score all represent a genuinely substantial scope for a single developer working part-time hours around other employment. The game’s content volume relative to its one-person production circumstances is, on its own terms, part of what’s generating attention ahead of launch.

Who This Is For

Strong fit for: dungeon crawler and roguelite fans who want hand-crafted room design behind the procedural shuffle rather than fully generated layouts; Outward players specifically drawn to that game’s sense of unglamorous, high-stakes adventuring; players who appreciate Hades-style hub narrative delivered through repeated character conversations; anyone following solo-developer, long-gestation passion projects; players who want to try the free demo before it ends September 21.

Cautious fit for: players who want a large team’s polish level at this price point; anyone who needs post-launch reviews before purchasing (none exist yet); players who prefer either pure roguelike randomization or pure handcrafted level design rather than the hybrid this game is attempting.

Less ideal for: players who dislike camp-and-dungeon roguelite structure; anyone seeking multiplayer options; players wanting a story delivered primarily through cutscenes rather than campfire dialogue.

The Takeaway

Sunken Realms is Brad Warren’s six-year solo answer to the specific feeling Outward gave him, filtered through Hades‘ storytelling instincts and Zelda‘s exploration sensibility, built one evening and weekend at a time around a full-time animation job. Aedaria’s cursed depths, Alric’s search for his father, 109 hand-built rooms reshuffled on every descent, and a camp-based crafting loop tying it together are the concrete shape that six years of part-time solo work produced — and the free demo, running through September 21, is the last chance to try it before the September 18 full release makes that question moot anyway.

$16.99, 10% off for the first two weeks. Free demo ends September 21. Full release September 18 on Steam.

Information regarding ‘Sunken Realms’