Co-op “raidlike” 33 Immortals has a hell of a hook, literally. You play as one of 33 damned souls fighting their way up through the layers of the afterlife. It aspires to the thrill of MMO raids, but without the hassle of finding a group or spending hundreds of hours getting the right equipment. You can also get your dirty hands on it soon, because 33 Immortals will launch in early access in just a few weeks.
Like other roguelikes, 33 Immortals ends when you die. You’ll have to start at the gates of hell again. However, the game’s co-op angle adds an interesting wrinkle. The further you get in a run, the more of your allies will drop dead. This incentivizes helping your friends; the more of you remain as you enter the upper layers of the afterlife, the better chance you’ll have to survive. With its gigantic scale, 33 Immortals has ambitions to be the one of best co-op games ever.
Developer Thunder Lotus’ last game was the critically acclaimed Spiritfarer, which might seem to be a big contrast. But 33 Immortals pulls more on the studio’s work on action games Jotun and Severed. However, like its cozier cousin, 33 Immortals is a serious engagement with death itself, taking cues from one of the most monumental treatments of the subject: Dante’s Divine Comedy. Like its literary inspirations, you’ll start in hell and ascend to heaven, meeting Vergil, Beatrice, and Charon along the way. But the game doesn’t just borrow characters and set dressing. If you paid attention in class, you may remember that each of the Divine Comedy’s three sections had 33 chapters. One of the game’s boss battles, against a gigantic three headed Lucifer, takes visual inspiration from the classic poem as well.
During today’s ID@Xbox stream, we got a fresh look at the co-op roguelike alongside confirmation of when it’ll be in players’ hands. In what is a pleasant surprise following its past delays, it’ll be arriving much sooner than anticipated.
33 Immortals will launch into early access on Tuesday March 18, 2025 on the Epic Games Store and Xbox and PC Game Pass. The timeline for a full release is still TBA.
If you can’t wait for some hair-raising permadeath action, check out our Hades 2 guides or our list of the best roguelike games.
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