Nothing compares to the thrill of an MMO raid. And in 33 Immortals, thanks to the lack of an in-game chat box, you don’t even get screamed at if you mess up a mechanic or die in a dungeon. The premise of the game is simple: you, alongside 32 other random players, must complete multiple stages, working together and cooperating by healing each other and casting co-op skills, to eventually defeat a world boss. That unique concept is enough to sell the game, but 33 Immortals goes above and beyond with its style and polish. It’s a fascinating blend of roguelite, co-op, and MMO mechanics.
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Classes
There are four weapons in 33 Immortals: Bow, Sword, Daggers, and Staff. Each has its own specific playstyle, and no matter how you play the game, you never truly feel fully underpowered or overpowered. While you definitely get stronger with the addition of Perks and weapon upgrades, gameplay is always challenging in ways that seem fair and conquerable. If you get hit by an enemy, you get hit by an enemy. Nothing will stop you from dying to an errant floating orb, or by dashing in the wrong direction.
The first time I beat Lucifer, the Cocytus world boss at the end of the first stage, Inferno, I was thrilled beyond belief. I’d managed to put together a fun Empathy-based build with the Staff of Torpor and it worked like a dream. That won’t mean much to you if you haven’t played the game, but it’s a fairly straightforward build as long as you get the right items and know how to use them. I finished as one of the top three players because I’d focused on casting as many co-op skills as possible (these are skills that take up to three players to cast), which earn you extra points.
We defeated the boss – just barely, with less than 10 players standing. There’s no chat box but players can communicate with emoticons, and seeing everyone flash up their laughing snails or happy faces brought me pure joy. It’d been a relentless grind to get there – and, as it turned out, just the beginning of the journey – but the payoff was worth it. I also got a sweet new cape. More games should have sweet capes.
Level Design
There are currently two levels in 33 Immortals: Inferno and Purgatorio. Inferno is where you start and is designed for 33 players to play at once. You start out at different locations around the map and must defeat monsters, collecting Dust to level up one of your three attributes – Attack, Health, or Empathy – and clearing out mini-dungeons called Torture Rooms. The game encourages you to play in a party, but you can also solo it as long as you stick with other players and don’t do anything stupid. You earn extra Dust if you generate co-op strikes by all attacking the same enemy, too.
I view 33 Immortals as a bit of a human experiment. There are no hard and fast rules and no way to properly communicate with your fellow players, but over time, everyone realises that you must work together to get the most optimal path through the level. During one of my first runs, I decided to take on the responsibility of team leader, using my emote wheel to throw arrows in certain directions, or the healing emote when I was going to heal. The other players followed me, no questions asked.
Purgatorio is the second level in the game, and the difficulty jump is severe. There’s a whole new host of enemies and a new boss fight at the end. I still haven’t managed to defeat Adam and Eve because by the time we get there we usually have only a handful of players left. The dungeons and mobs are punishing. We’ll get there eventually, but only on that magic run, where everyone’s in sync.
Style And Sound Design
33 Immortals looks fantastic. It’s a blend of hand-drawn stylisation and detailed enemy design, as well as unique NPCs that remind me of the characters in Hades. The game draws a lot from Supergiant’s modern classic and you can imagine it as a Hades that you play alongside 32 other players. The animations are smooth, and the game runs very well both on console and PC. I’ve experienced exactly zero technical issues since I booted the game.
And I have to shout out the music and sound design. The soundtrack is a fusion of rolling orchestral pieces and softer renaissance ditties. When you first encounter Lucifer at the end of Inferno it’s truly epic.
I can’t wait to see what the third and currently unavailable Paradiso stage is all about, as the game is still currently in early access with a roadmap out for a content rollout over the course of 2025. 33 Immortals is currently available via Game Pass or on the Epic Game Store.
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