Shapeshifting Roguelite, Morbid Metal, Hits Early Access with a Launch Discount

This one might have crept up on some, but one glance at it screenshot and moving image form should pique your interest. Described by developer Screen Juice as a "hack-and-slash roguelite with unique shapeshifting abilities", the game began life initially as a university application but quickly grew into the vision you see before, which is one of polish and fast-paced flare.

Have a gander for yourself:

As you can see, the game is heavily inspired by all manner of hack-and-slash games from over generations, but what's seemingly unique here is you can swap in and out of characters on-the-fly while the lite procedural generation of stages keeps things fresh and unique with each run, which is our favourite kind of procedural generation.

Hordes, bosses and ever-escalating builds means things remain interestng, however, with most roguelike and lites it's the content between runs that keeps you coming back, and this game's story is a bit of a doozy.

Apparently the whole thing is happening in a simulation which may or may not be running during an apocalyptic event, and within the simulation a rogue AI is running amok, which means you come in to take it down, but are also an AI. All of this is being run by the "Operator" and things look to kind of get weird. And we love weird.

In terms of the discount mentioned in the header, to celebrate the game's Early Access launch, early adoptors can enjoy a 25% discount meaning for Aussies, this week it's just $20.21 jump in. Check out some dot points publisher Ubisoft shared with us below, and have a squiz at our screensshot carousel for more. We'll be jumping into this one immediately, so stay tuned for coverage if you're not yet convinced.

• 10+ hours to finish the main path, with infinite replayability
• Three unique playable characters with distinct playstyles:
  • Flux, great for high single-target precision
  • Ekku, who can cause heavy area devastation
  • Vekta, bringing ranged battlefield control
• Two biomes:
  • Sublime Garden, which most resembles what the Simulation was pretending to be: a beautiful utopian retreat for the privileged. A millennium of neglect has eroded the landscape; human structures were changed to create the cruel gauntlet of fights to the death of succession.
  • Steel Sanctuary, a fractured cityscape of towering steel and rusted ambition. Massive pipelines coil like serpents through neon-lit buildings, where enemies stalk the shadows and every corner hums with lethal tension.
• Ten enemy archetypes with Elite variants and two final enemy bosses:
  • Saru, an apex predator of metal and rage who embodies the brutality and precision of Morbod Metal's combat philosophy.
  • Prophet, the guard of the Steel Sanctuary.
• Meta-Progression using starting modifiers, core upgrades and persistent upgrades.
• A training room.
• Available in English, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Spanish and Simplified Chinese.
• Xbox and PlayStation controller support.
• Regular content throughout Early Access.
• And much more!   

Click here for the game's Steam page and take a look at the first batch of screens released below!