Pylorus is a 2d roguelite with fantasy medieval setting and a few peculiar twists. Enemies form a dynamic ecosystem with factions and rivalries, you'll need to learn how to exploit their behaviour if you want to succeed. It's up to you to decide when a run is over: escape as soon as possible or stay for more gold - but risk losing everything! Can you solve the mysteries hidden in the deepest tunnels?
Long-time roguelike players and newcomers alike may enjoy the challenging (yet highly customizable) gameplay and the non-linear complex lore, set in a procedural environment that encourages experimentation and emergent gameplay.
Everyone knows that the underground caves are full of gold coins, jewels and gems just scattered around for anyone to collect. But they're also home to horrible monsters, hideous and evil creatures that murder each other and anyone that dares to enter. For every ten people who get in, only one comes back: always traumatized, often wounded... sometimes filthy rich. With such low odds only a madman would willingly descend into the abyss... or perhaps someone with no other options left.
Features
- Living ecosystem
From the first few tunnels to the deepest reaches of the Abyss a great and bloody war is taking place. Monsters aren't just mindless entities solely focused on killing the player, their behaviour forms a deadly subterranean ecosystem with alliances and rivalries. You'll need to learn how to exploit these rules to your advantage if you want to survive. - Each life is valuable...
You can't "save and reload" your way out of a difficult situation: choices have consequences, accept them and learn from your mistakes. Think twice before sacrificing your characters: "at least I got a new highscore" means nothing to a newly deceased explorer. - ... and each life is worthless
This is not your war and you're not a hero. You're just a passerby trying to scavenge some gold and run away without being killed. Your presence underground is mostly inconsequential, and your demise isn't a great accomplishment to the monsters. It's a ruthless world, finding a way to make your life worth something is up to you. - Risks and rewards
At the end of each level you may decide to leave the underground: your character will return home with the gold he has found, hoping it'll be enough to secure a future for his family. You may decide instead to dive into deeper tunnels to find more gold, perhaps uncover forgotten secrets to help future explorers... But remember: all your efforts are meaningless if you die underground. - Discovery and mystery
Be mindful of your surroundings, there's more than meets the eye. The story is not directly or linearly told, you may find pieces of lore scattered all around the game. This also applies to game mechanics: the tutorial covers only the basics, it's up to you to figure out what to do. Try not to read guides, it's best if you succeed with your strength alone, learning at your own pace. Observe, make a hypothesis, test your hypothesis, improve, survive. - Find your own path
Your choices will influence the game, each option has pros and cons and sometimes you'll be making decisions without knowing it. The tools at your disposal will change: you'll need to adapt your strategies. Each level is procedurally generated to make every run unique. There are "better strategies" but there's no entirely "right" or "wrong" way to play, find your own path.
Great peril and great rewards await you, as you follow the Footsteps of Greed. My best wishes to you, Explorer. Good luck!
FAQ
> What the heck am I supposed to do?Discovery is part of the experience, set your own goal and figure out how to achieve it. More exaustive (but still spoiler-free) answer: progress is linked to an internal achievement system, if you feel stuck you may want to scroll through the missing objectives. Unlocking new items is often helpful to make progress. A "true victory" exists, but finding it may not be easy...
> The game is too hard / The game is too easy / The mechanic X is super annoying, can you change it?
Each player has fun in different ways and the default experience may not suit everyone. I encourage you to try the game in the original mode first, if you feel it's not your thing you can use the Advanced Settings to make it easier, harder, or to fine-tune everything in detail (a wide range of game-altering options is present).
> Is the game really "free"?
Yes, free means free. No content locked behind a paywall, no ingame purchases, no ads, no weird ingame currencies that you get with real-world money, no lootboxes (well, there are chests and crates with loot in the levels, but you probably get what I mean), no malicious software attached. Donations are accepted but not necessary to play.
> Can I make videos of this game? Can I stream it? Can I do X, Y or Z?
Most likely yes, the game is released under a fairly permissive license and I welcome derivative works in pretty much any form, as long as you provide proper attribution (i.e. a link to the official game page). Sidenote about music licenses, if you record/stream: it may be necessary to add the name of the author and list each track in the video description, i.e. by copying the relevant portions of the ingame credits screen.
> Why the name "Pylorus - Footsteps of Greed"?
The first part was a temporary name that I grew attached to, while the second part finds an explanation in the game lore.
> Can I change the list of predefined explorer names?
Yes, edit the file explorer_names.txt in your game save folder. The list shouldn't be shorter than 100 names (300-400 or more is ideal). You can always input a custom explorer name when starting a new run, regardless of the current name list.
> How accessible is this game?
Alas, not as much as I wanted: various accessibility features were planned but cut due to lack of time. The missing features may be added in future updates, in the meantime you should check the Advanced Settings for workarounds.
> Can you add the language X to the game?
Maybe? I don't know language X at all / enough to make a translation, and I can't hire translators. I'm more than willing to add community-made translations however.
