Iratus: Lord Of The Dead

A roguelike where you play as the bad guy

- Andy Kelly

Imagine Darkest Dungeon, but instead of playing as a group of adventurers battling terrifying monsters, it’s the other way around. In this turn-based strategy game you play as Iratus, a very emo necromancer who loves killing people, stealing their body parts, and creating monsters from them.

The Darkest Dungeon influence is clear from the off, with its flat, side-on perspective, punishing difficulty, and deep tactical combat. Russian developer Unfrozen wears its influences proudly on its sleeve. But visually it has more in common with a Blizzard game—a dark fantasy world with wispy magic, chunky monsters, and an ornate, decorative interface.

Iratus, being a Dark Lord, doesn’t get his own hands dirty. Instead he sends minions to do his bidding. When you kill a human they drop body parts as a kind of disgusting loot: Limbs, organs, and other squishy bits. And from these you can conjure up foul beasts to do your bidding, including banshees, dark knights, zombies, phantoms, and vampires.