Steam has no shortage of brutal dungeon-crawling and/or roguelike games on its storefront, but a new one immediately stands out by feeling like a strange meeting point between Dark Souls and Berserk filtered through a forgotten 32-bit RPG. Its dark fantasy world is packed with cursed dungeons, grotesque monsters, and the kind of oppressive atmosphere that makes every new room feel like it could contain something horrible. Add in deliberately dated visuals and punishing real-time combat, and this new roguelike game is forging its own strong identity.
The Dark Souls influence is easiest to see in the way combat is built around surviving dangerous encounters, while the Berserk side comes through in the grim fantasy setting and grotesque enemies. Ghouls, goblins, werewolves, and other horrors lurk throughout the dungeon as a mysterious story slowly reveals a sinister secret tied to the protagonist’s past. In short, the result of this unique hybrid is Dungeon Lurker—a unique, upcoming retro roguelike game on Steam worth watching.
Dungeon Lurker is a Steam Roguelike Game Worth Watching
The most unique feature, however, is Dungeon Lurker’s 32-bit presentation, which makes the whole thing feel like a lost Berserk-inspired dungeon crawler game from the PlayStation era. The game uses 3D graphics and a 256-color palette to create its deliberately rough visual style, giving its characters, environments, and monsters an unmistakably old-school appearance. It does not try to hide those limitations, either (the low-resolution look is a huge part of what makes the game work).
Scratch & Peek
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
possible.
Dungeon Lurker also features more than 30 hand-crafted levels, with real-time combat, hidden secrets, unlockable paths, and collectible items all emphasizing its repeated dungeon-crawling runs. Spells and potions give players additional ways to survive, but the overall experience still carries that Dark Souls-like game feeling of having to learn through failure and repeated attempts against horrifying enemies.
There is also progression waiting outside the dungeon, with equipment, spells, and charms that can be upgraded between runs, as one would expect of a roguelike game. Dungeon Lurker keeps the repeatable structure expected from a roguelike, but the handcrafted nature and overall design of each area ensure that no two runs are the same—a must in any roguelike game on Steam.
Ultimately, Dungeon Lurker looks like Dark Souls and Berserk wandered into a forgotten 32-bit dungeon crawler game and decided to stay there. The combination of grim fantasy, brutal real-time combat, hand-crafted dungeons, and deliberately dated visuals gives it a hook that is easy to understand without making the game feel like a simple imitation of its inspirations. For Steam players who like their fantasy adventures dark, dangerous, and a little bit weird, Dungeon Lurker is an interesting one to watch.
