I spent a large chunk of my time with the game on the first available map, Hell. Entering Purgatory, the second map, requires special keys that can only be obtained by progressing far enough with the final boss battle in Hell (a three-headed Lucifer). While I managed to snag some keys, not many players from the review session were available to join whenever I entered this new world and usually ended up dying almost immediately due to the much higher tier of enemies and horde numbers.

, and though I initially tried to fade into the pixels and treat it as a single-player game, I quickly found myself emoting and seeking groups of warriors to join.

Nous avons eu l’occasion do tester pendant quelques heures cet infernal mélange en avance en compagnie do confrères et des dé especialmenteveloppeurs du jeu, et voici donc nos premières impressions à son sujet. Sommaire

At the moment only four weapons based on either cardinal sins or virtues are available—Sword of Justice, Daggers of Greed, Staff of Sloth, and Bow of Hope—though hints of future additions, like a halberd, appear in the game’s official artwork.

The game begins with a 33-player map, Inferno, which is an arid wasteland of roaming demons, 12 Torture Chambers and one big ascension battle to complete. The minions running around Inferno are easy enough to dispatch for practice and extra bones (the game’s currency), or you can run right by them without punishment. Torture Chambers are miniboss rooms designed for six players to tackle at once, but you can enter them with fewer than six, even alone. However, you’re unlikely to get far solo. The minibosses are hulking skeletons and big, flopping demon worms with plenty of health, and they always have hordes of minions as backup.

I’ve seen players perish multiple times attempting to activate these when a massive attack is about to hit or a trap is set to activate. If successful though, the result is almost always worth it. While the cooldown can be high, activating them can rain down arrows, slow enemies within an area, offer shields to allies, and more, with each player having access to one co-op power depending on their chosen weapon.

Once all of the Torture Chambers are defeated, holy fire spreads across Inferno, pushing players into one of three ascension spots designed for 11 fighters each.

for the first time is like going to a party at a coworker’s friend’s house. The first few minutes are marked by curiosity, light suspicion and a constant hum of awkwardness, but as you mingle, the strangers become less intimidating and you start to feel like you’re a part of the flow of the night. You might even make some friends of your own. The main difference is that, with 33 Immortals

The good news is that all these and more features and content are a part of the studio’s roadmap for 2025. The bad news is that you aren’t getting any of it right now, essentially making the early access version a worse experience if you pick it up this soon, unless you want the title in your library before the price goes up at the 1.0 launch.

The later runs, I was also completing meta objectives that would unlock permanent upgrades in the future. Building that perfect character so I wouldn’t let my fellow immortals down has a certain nice feeling to it, even though the possibility of meeting the same random player groups can be low.

The studio is already teasing a third gate for runs that will take place in a heavenly land, but this is slated to arrive later in 2025.

Being an early access release, Thunder Lotus has a lot more planned for the title following its initial release. On the road to 1.0, the studio hopes to add more features like private sessions, more enemy and boss variety, and the third world that let players fight God.

That’s all I could gather about the lore before taking my repeated trips to Hell for all that loot and boss-slaying goodness. I suspect many players will be going the same route at launch too, as listening to NPCs and reading pages of lore are probably not 33 Immortals Gameplay what most action game fans want to do when they boot up a hardcore multiplayer experience.

You start a run by picking a weapon — justice sword, sloth staff or greed daggers — and each has a special ability that only works when three players stand together and activate it. It’s different for each weapon, but the effect is consistently grand. I stuck with the Staff of Sloth, a weapon that flings purple balls of magic and whose special ability slows enemies across a large swath of the battlefield.