Dusky Depths

About this game

AN UNFORGIVING SCI-FI ROGUE-LITE

Dusky Depths is a rogue-lite twin stick shooter set on a mysterious and treacherous planet. Take control of your ship and defend yourself against an onslaught of ancient drones and bizarre organisms. How long can you hold out?

Your only hope of escaping your eventual demise is to restore and activate the warp gates left behind by an ancient civilization. Where will they lead you? There is only one way to find out...

KEY FEATURES

• More than 100 different items
  A vast amount of weapons, ship augmentations and other types of items will allow you to play in countless play styles.
  
• Upgrade your ship and your items!
  You can upgrade your ship as well as all items in the game. Choose wisely which upgrade to take and come out on top!
  
• Fully destructible terrain
  Modify the terrain to open up completely new paths!
  
• Procedural map generation
  The Expedition mode features maps that combine procedurally generated and hand-crafted parts for the best of both worlds. Additionally, many distinct enviroments await you.

• Auras can change everything
  Auras are powerful powerups that can turn all aspects of the gameplay upside down. Depending on your play style and the type of aura, you may even think of them as curses...
  
• Multiple game modes
  In addition to the rogue-lite Expedition game mode, you can also compete in versus game modes such as Capture The Flag and Deathmatch!
  
• 2D physics simulation
  The game includes a custom-tailored physics engine which allows you to set up all kinds of contraptions to your advantage.
  
• Singleplayer and Online Multiplayer
  The Expedition game mode can be played cooperatively with 1-4 players, while the versus game modes can be played with 1-8 players.

THE SETTING

You are a mercenary stranded on a mysterious planet inhabited by odd creatures and rundown machinery.
The expedition team that you were a part of has been annihilated after an attack by a highly sophisticated drone armed with alien weaponry.

Abandoned warp gates, autonomous defense systems and other technological marvels indicate that at least one highly advanced civilization has inhabited this planet before.

But to you, only one thing matters: to find a way to escape from this planet.

Latest news

• Announcements·11 May 2025Official

  May 2025 Status Report

  Hey everyone, sadly we don't have anything new to talk about regarding the development progress of the multiplayer playtest and early access release at the moment. Everything from the previous status report still applies. But nonetheless, we can talk about some features that we haven't revealed until now! Keep in mind that those features are still in development and may change before the next release. Expedition Loadout Customization {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/3ed14c359b8d30bb0416e352685c78daaa0f7aec.png Dusky Depths will feature customizable starting loadouts for expeditions. To customize your loadout, you will have to analyze items first by either recycling or upgrading them on an expedition. Afterwards, that item will be available for loadout customization on your next expedition! However, those items aren't free. If you don't have enough material to afford your custom loadout, you will spawn with a penalty... Enemy Elites {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/d89290ae3497a596945433d6672e0ebcb4045941.png Enemies may rarely appear as elite variants, with various special skills! In the above screenshot, you can see a drone with the Forfending trait in the rear, which grants all nearby drones a buff that increases their defense! Destroy the elite first, then deal with the rest! Expedition Directives {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/f815064f5f6862c506568333af26ed2506540f01.png Expeditions have become stale? Unlock and activate Expedition Directives to change the framework of your expeditions. Engine Dodge Types Depending on your engine item, you will gain access to different dodge technologies. Turbo - Significantly improves your ship's maneuverability stats. Boost - Applies an impulse to your ship, pushing it towards your desired direction. This was the only dodge tech available in the demo. Dash - Moves your ship at a constant high speed towards your desired direction and resets your momentum afterwards. Once again, we hope that we will be able to talk about the upcoming multipl...
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• Announcements·28 Oct 2024Official

  October Status Report

  Hey everyone, it's time for another report on the current state of Dusky Depths. Multiplayer Playtest Unfortunately, we have missed our planned launch by many months by now due to various real life circumstances unrelated to the development of Dusky Depths. We will refrain from estimating a new time frame for the launch, as it's difficult for us to predict how things will go in the future at the moment. Early Access Release Since the Multiplayer Playtest is delayed, an Early Accesss release for 2024 has also become infeasible. The Future We're really sorry about those rather frustrating delays. We want Dusky Depths to be as good as we can possibly make it. For that, it needs to be stable, perform well and be intuitive to play. But we just aren't there yet, especially with the multiplayer mode. We will make a new announcement with a launch date for the Multiplayer Playtest when we're really ready for it. Nevertheless, development of the game will continue. But in the meantime, we have prepared a few screenshots showcasing some new parts of the game. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/6a62ff863208084ca5cd1285be45031f9b27d369.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/6e4a4bb916ef5b55c99031072494a65a112a8b09.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/0dd61dc243db1e1e762c78931056cb2340b54934.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/f56edfd346986defe9a46c8828caf53f34fd67be.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/c928748f6d2220af3cdff15335b816957dc1446a.png
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• Announcements·20 May 2024Official

  May Status Report

  Hey everyone, it’s been quite some time since our last post, so we wanted to give you a little update on the current development state of Dusky Depths. Multiplayer Playtest We originally wanted to start the playtest in April, but progress has been much slower than anticipated. The multiplayer mode is a core feature of Dusky Depths, which is why we want to ensure that our netcode is rock solid. Fundamentally flawed netcode would likely be very difficult to fix once it is interwoven into the game. So if we take shortcuts, it would likely come back to bite us in the long run. We can’t say for certain when the playtest will start, but we will try to have it ready this summer. Release Date The release date depends on the outcome of the multiplayer playtest. If the results of the playtest are positive, then we could release the game into Early Access very soon afterwards. But since the playtest is delayed, we will have to push back the release date of the Early Access version as well. Consequently, our originally planned Q2 2024 release is no longer possible, and we’re really sorry about that. We underestimated the difficulty of making good netcode. We’re now aiming for a Q3 2024 release, but we can’t make any promises. For now, the only thing we’re sure of is that the game will release in 2024. Additional Progress Outside of the multiplayer part of the game, we have also been hard at work improving other aspects of the game. For example, we received a lot of feedback and suggestions regarding the HUD during the previous playtest. That’s why we’ve started experimenting on the HUD a bit further. Check it out, but keep in mind that it’s still a work-in-progress! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/ac77db75ef4fa2dfbce03de3cf23e3846e1da492.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/2caad775a7bec6739df66f67880ec41c3f6cc280.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/9a056e68871fb893c6f9aae31293faba432b1287.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44717128/4dc13c3cf4bc7720eccd7564f662e46e95c28789.png
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• Announcements·12 Feb 2024Official

  Our Plans after the Nextfest

  The Nextfest has been a great success for us. Many people have played the Dusky Depths demo and we have received a lot of additional feedback because of that. A big thank you to anyone who gave our demo a try! Regarding the demo, we have decided to not immediately withdraw it after the end of Nextfest. Instead, its availability will end on February 19th. So if you haven't played it yet, you still have some time. Multiplayer Playtest We will have another playtest soon in order to test online co-op Expeditions. More information to come soonish. Follow us on Twitter, join us on Discord or follow us on Steam (Click the "Follow" Button") to get notified when we open up sign-ups for the playtest!
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• Announcements·8 Feb 2024Official

  Dusky Depths - Watch the Developers Play (Pre-Recorded)

  Watch the developers play the demo of Dusky Depths! This footage is pre-recorded, but we will also be playing it live soon! Check out our live events: https://steamcommunity.com/games/2621270/announcements/detail/4020094168388309815
  Read full article on Community Announcements (BowEchoGames_Rob)