This Indie Roguelike Combines Vampire Survivors and Enter the Gungeon
4 min read
Roguelikes have been one of the most popular genres in indie gaming for many years now. The genre can be endlessly modified, creating multitudes of new experiences and titles. However, games in the genre can oftentimes take a long time to beat. Many roguelikes take over an hour to complete a full run, meaning that playing them can be a huge time commitment. That is not the case for the recently released10 Minutes Till Dawn.
10 Minutes Till Dawn is an action roguelike wherein the player needs to survive against an endless wave of Lovecraftian eldritch enemies. The game, in its current state, is a free demo of a much larger, full experience, 20 Minutes Till Dawn, releasing later. So long as the player can survive for ten minutes, they’ll win the run. This is easier said than done though, as the waves of enemies grow over time.
Gunplay in 10 minutes Till Dawn feels very similar to Enter the Gungeon. Both games are twin-stick shooters, but unlike Enter the Gungeon, there is no way to get any additional weapons during the proceedings. The weapon picked at the beginning of a run is the only weapon that can be used until the end. Each weapon plays a little differently, with different amounts of ammo, damage, rate of fire and other attributes.
The pistol is also the only weapon available at the start and is an all-around well-balanced sidearm. A shotgun, crossbow and flame cannon can all be unlocked through play, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The full game will have an additional three more unlockable weapons for a total of seven guns. In addition to the guns, players also choose a unique character before starting.
Each character has a unique sprite, amount of health and bonus or ability. Shana has three health and can reroll upgrades. Diamond gets six health in total, with no additional bonuses. Scarlett has two health and will shoot a wave of fire every three shots. Lastly, Hina also only has two health but can summon a shadow clone to attack nearby enemies. As with the guns, only Shana is available at the start of the game, and the rest of the roster needs to be unlocked. 20 Minutes Till Dawn will have a total of six unlockable characters.
The game also includes multiple mechanics that make it similar to Vampire Survivors. When enemies are killed, they drop experience points, and after collecting enough of them the player will receive a selection of five upgrades. These upgrades provide unique bonuses and modifications to the player’s character or weapon. These upgrades include elemental effects for weapons, increased fire rate, additional health, movement speed and more. Each upgrade also has its own progression tree, with more powerful upgrades locked behind earlier ones. The full release will include even more upgrades and even some unique synergy enhancements for when specific combinations of upgrades have been chosen.
As the timer ticks down and the player gets closer to victory, more and more enemies will appear on the screen. Like Vampire Survivors, enemies can’t hurt the player except by making contact with them. The player needs to dodge and weave between the ever-growing horde of enemies to avoid damage while slowly whittling down their numbers with whatever gun they chose at the beginning of the game. Eventually, bosses will show up as well, and killing them will lead to dropped chests, lots of experience and additional upgrades.
10 Minutes Till Dawn provides a tense and exciting roguelike experience condensed down to a few minutes because of how it builds off of past successes in the genre. Vampire Survivors‘ wave management and emphasis on evading enemies would have been perfect for such a short and condensed experience. Turning the game into a twin-stick shooter also gives the player more agency, making them responsible for taking out enemies instead of relying solely on timers. 10 Minutes Till Dawn excels at what it does and judging by the free demo, there is a lot to look forward to in the full release.
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