If you've ever wanted Diablo 2 to be a bullet hell roguelike built like '90s RPGs, have I got the breakout Steam hit for you
These Halls of Torment are a hit
A survival roguelite styled as a bullet-hell 90s RPG is taking the Steam charts by storm.
That game would be Halls of Torment, which is currently sitting pretty on Steam with an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' set of user reviews after nearly 6,000 reviews. The small-time indie from developer Chasing Carrots only just launched a matter of weeks ago in late May, but it looks to already be a hit.
"This is a remarkable step up from Vampire Survivors, it's like going from NES to SNES, now you're playing with power! I'm 55 hours in?!?!? Felt like 5 hours," reads one user review after nearly 80 hours. Damn, saying something is a step up from one of the best games of the past few years is saying a lot.
And sure, it's easy to see the Vampire Survivors comparison. Halls of Torment employs the auto-attack feature that's at the core of Vampire Survivors, while also maintaining that lovely pixelated art style, complete with hordes of foes to slay. These halls certainly are out to torment you.
On the other hand, and perhaps more excitingly, this is basically Diablo 2 by way of Vampire Survivors. The bullet-hell roguelite takes elements from the classic '90s action-RPG and puts them through their paces here with various character traits and items to bolster your character in the heat of battle.
Halls of Torment has really blown up over the past week, according to SteamDB. The game's all-time concurrent player peak has been steadily bested again and again since July 6, and the highest peak of 26,061 players came just yesterday on July 11. Halls of Torment could be an indie gem everyone's still talking about at the end of the year.
Check out our upcoming indie games roundup for other small-time titles you should definitely be keeping an eye on.
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.