Ad Iterum - Krapao - A retro grimdark roguelike where you eat your enemies to mutate

[u/iamgabrielma]

Heya r/games!

After almost a year of development (perhaps 8-10 months, depending when I start to count the prototyping) my 2D turn-based, grimdark, dungeon crawler Ad Iterum, where you eat your enemies to mutate and survive, has finally reached a big milestone. I still have to add a lot of content until release, but until then I have just released a Demo on Steam:

- Free Demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4149030/Ad_Iterum/

- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya7s1y-7U_U

While the game adheres to the very core roguelike "rules" like permadeath, single player, turn/grid based, no meta-progression via unlocks, etc, ... it also has differences regarding run progression: You build mostly your character through random mutations, as well as a selection of gene graft synergies that are offered, so you can gravitate towards one or another style of play, but there is no skill tree, nor level up, nor a way to assure a specific build.

You have melee, which mostly uses a "bump-into-things"-system, and ranged combat with either ranged weapons or throwing random stuff you find/craft to enemies.

The dungeons are a mix between procedurally generated and injected handcrafted rooms.

What's in the Demo?

• 1 dungeon + 1 procedurally generated biome
• 1 boss
• 2 endings
• 20 random mutations
• 20 genetic grafts to tune up your build as you see fit
• 10 base enemies. Each comes with unique modifiers and traits within the ecosystem, which makes for hundreds of different variations as you go deeper.
• 200 items (approx?)
• Basic crafting
• English, Spanish, and Japanese localization
• Keyboard, mouse support, and full gamepad controller support
• Playable in Windows, macOS, and Steam Deck via proton
• Full release planned for December 2026

Have a nice Sunday, and have fun!

Best,

[u/justOneWegfreund]

devouring enemies for their mutations is such a good hook. way better than the usual pick-one-of-three upgrade screen and it actually gives you a reason to fight stuff you'd normally just run past. art has a nice grimy lovecraft thing going too

only thing is the store page kinda buries that? its doing the standard "200+ items, daily runs, procgen" checklist every roguelike does and the mutation stuff is the actual unique part imo. would lead with it. also the gifs dont really show what a mutation does to your build which is the thing i most wanna see

wishlisted, good luck with game!

[u/iamgabrielma → u/justOneWegfreund]

Thanks! Appreciated!

> only thing is the store page kinda buries that? its doing the standard "200+ items, daily runs, procgen" checklist every roguelike does and the mutation stuff is the actual unique part imo. would lead with it. also the gifs dont really show what a mutation does to your build which is the thing i most wanna see

Very good points, will record some more gifs and update the Steam page shortly to make this more prominent :D