As we all are painfully aware by now, there are just too many good games coming out these days. Seriously, even those of us who get the press releases can’t keep track of them all. No matter how many trailers you look at or how often you dig through the online stores, tons of great stuff still falls through the cracks somehow. Case and point today: Deadzone: Rogue, a really solid roguelite-shooter that hasn’t gotten anywhere near enough attention.

I’ll start by saying that Deadzone: Rogue is pretty much a “gameplay first” kind of experience. It’s got a story and its player character is kinda funny at times, but you’re not there for any of that. You’re there for the gameplay, and holy cow is it good! Its foundation is that of an arcade shooter very much in a similar vein as DOOM. You’ve got a room full of enemies and you’ve gotta clear them out before you can move onto the next one. Also just like DOOM, Deadzone: Rogue benefits from controls that feel very natural and a solid 60fps framerate that keeps everything feeling nice and crisp.

Where Deadzone: Rogue differs from the likes of DOOM is in its roguelite elements. Your character has a bunch of innate stats that can be upgraded as you complete runs, and, on each run, you’ve got to put together a build capable of taking out progressively more powerful enemies. Build variety is quite robust too. You can build around a weapon type, around combat range, on critical hits, on elemental effects, melee, weakpoints, hipfire and a bunch of other qualities.

And it’s all done on the fly as you gather weapons, loot drops, ability modifiers, items and favorable rolls in the shop. I’m kind of simplifying here (while making it sound overly complicated), but the point is that there’s a lot you can play with to keep every run feeling fresh and fun. There’s even a layer of strategy involved in taking on each room, as the encounter doesn’t start until you fire your first shot. And the best part of all: it’s got co-op! Crossplay co-op! With matchmaking and private lobbies!

You can take the entirety of Deadzone: Rogue on alone or with up to two others, and everything scales to how many people are on your squad. Everyone gets their own loot drops, but you can opt to share them too if you get something that you think will compliment your buddy’s build!

They can even take you on missions and difficulties you haven’t unlocked yet and fast-track your character progression. It’s basically got every feature you love to see in a co-op shooter like this, and the fact that it’s all in a game made by a small studio and never in game made by the AAA companies is just another sign that, to me, AAA’s reign as the “best” is well and truly over. Anyway, I just had to share this since I think Deadzone: Rogue is really getting slept on, bad! I mean, I would have never heard of it either if my friend hadn’t introduced it to me. It’s just $25 on Steam and PS right now, so why not give it a try if you like this sort of thing?

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Had you had a chance to play this yet? What’s another game you’ve discovered that you think deserves more attention? Tell me about it below!

Image from the Steam page