Shape of Dreams, probably the closest any roguelike has come to the Risk of Rain experience, is coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch 2 thanks to console ports shadowdropped during today's Xbox Tokyo Game Show showcase.
Billed as an action roguelike with combat inspired by MOBAs, Shape of Dreams launched on Steam last September and quickly became one of the biggest success stories for Neowiz, best known as the creator of Lies of P and publisher of other indie hits like DJMax Respect 5, Sanabi, and Skul: The Hero Slayer. (The Lies of P team itself has rebranded as Studio Nough, and seems to be working on a sequel called Wonders of O.)
Now one year old, Shape of Dreams is coming to consoles with full crossplay support just in time for an anniversary update packing a new playable character – the ice leviathan Cetus – as well as additional story content and new options for existing characters. All platforms will get the new content simultaneously.
Shape of Dreams has sold over 1.5 million copies, plays well with a controller, and always gave me a comfy Diablo vibe, so it seemed destined for a multiplatform release. I was smitten from its very first Steam demo release, which also ended up becoming much bigger than the creators anticipated.
The similarities between Shape of Dreams and Risk of Rain, which sits near the top of our list of best roguelikes, are no coincidence, as members of the dev team were heavily inspired by the series before and during development. But the overlap runs so deep that it almost feels like fate: like Risk of Rain, Shape of Dreams was made by two college kids who weren't expecting to stumble into a very successful career. Coincidentally, I've also interviewed both them and Risk of Rain makers Duncan Drummond and Paul Morse repeatedly.
Ahead of Tokyo Game Show, I spoke to CEO Eunseop Shim of Korean developer Lizard Smoothie about the game's runaway first year. He says the small studio, which has grown to five people, is still "very chaotic," but now they have more wind in their sails thanks to all the love and feedback from players. "I think we shifted to a generally healthier direction of concerns," he says, no longer worrying if the game will flop.
"I am not letting this game go," Shim says when I ask if he's also dreaming of Risk of Rain 2-style update and expansion support. "There are so many things that players have been asking, and so many things that we want to do. We want a whole new game mode that I probably shouldn't go into. The players are giving us love, so we should keep working on.
"Even without that, we all have a direction on the game. We have a future view, the ideal view of what Shape of Dreams should be going for. It's not yet reached it in our opinion, so we are not letting go."
With some distance from launch, Shim reflects on the hard-won knowledge that he really could've used two years ago. "If I could go back, I would tell myself and our team that you cannot prove a game is fun through internal logic and thought experiments alone," he says. "No amount of experience and confidence will do that. You have to put it in our hands, or players' hands, to know it. Much earlier than what date feels comfortable.
"Especially in the months before launch, we had to make many compromises because we simply didn't have much time to apply all the insights we’d held, and that kind of backfired in spectacular ways. We released the game without enough extensive playtesting. Players had major concerns about the progression and the way we steered our game towards perfection in balancing and a stable experience, rather than the frantic fun that is the very essence of our gameplay.
"We were frantically working overtime to put out the fire. Our intentions were misinterpreted and undermined by so many obvious mistakes we've made that could've been prevented. I still think our launch went great with so many copies sold, but I don't think it was perfect."
Neowiz, members of which joined our call, and Shim don't see an end in sight for Shape of Dreams. "Being so new in the field, it can feel like we work in wonky ways, but I think there is still a charm in that," Shim says. "We'll keep doing our best to learn and to listen to our players."
