New Open-World Shooter on Steam Turns Every Deathloop-Like Time Reset into a Vampire Survivors-Style Build Frenzy

Interesting Steam games seemingly appear every day lately. Whether players are searching for a new soulslike, a silly friendslop game to play with their friends, or a Vampire Survivors-like experience, Valve’s storefront has them covered. And it’s that final category that is especially busy as of late, with many indie developers taking inspiration from poncle’s hit roguelike in the years since its 2022 debut. While fans wait for the proper spin-off game Vampire Crawlers to release later this year, they have plenty of unofficial successors that try to remember the tenets of Survivors: easy-to-learn gameplay, satisfying progression, and massive build freedom. These are some of the elements that will be present in a game called Erosion, but it has more to offer.

Taking heavy inspiration from just Vampire Survivors would be a surefire way to create a good game, but Erosion developer Plot Twist seems to have been inspired by Arkane Lyon’s Deathloop as well. The 2021 release shines for its titular concept, which sees likable characters like Colt trapped in a cycle where they repeat the same day endlessly. To break the loop, players have to kill eight targets in the same day, something that requires learning patterns, devising strategies to be efficient and kill multiple targets at once, and learning every detail of the world. Erosion may be taking its time manipulation in a different direction — only the main character remains the same after death, with the rest of the world thrown forward a decade — but it’s shaping up to be a defining feature of the Steam title.

Erosion Features at a Glance

• SHOOT your way through hordes of cultists, outlaws, and other enemies. Boss fights are also present, and are based off classic arcade games, from dancing titles to snake.
• RESCUE your daughter from a villainous warlord, with potential for better story endings depending on how often you die.
• MAKE decisions that can pay off down the road, like helping a shop owner who later builds an empire and owes you a favor.
• EXPLORE procedural dungeons and a handcrafted, roguelike open-world that changes drastically after every death.
• BUILD your character with dozens of weapons and over 100 skills.
• RIDE a vehicle through the wasteland and race trucks through the salt flats.
• ENJOY side activities like bounty hunting, poker, gambling, sand fishing, and duels.
• DESTROY the environment, with physics mechanics allowing players to tear up cover and demolish buildings.

How Erosion Flips Deathloop on Its Head

Deathloop’s core gimmick focused on the world around Colt staying the same while he gained knowledge and power, but in Erosion, the opposite is true. Every death throws the world forward an entire decade, which makes the game wildly unpredictable. On one hand, players may help an NPC and be rewarded for it 10 years later, with the character in a better place and remembering what the hero did to help. On the other hand, dying to trigger these rewards can be risky, as a once-peaceful town gamers regularly visited for supplies could be replaced with a hostile cult’s base. Narratively, deaths aren’t encouraged, either. Living the same day forever like in Deathloop may sound torturous, but in Erosion, dying means that the protagonist loses 10 years with their daughter — a much greater downside to failure.

This strong narrative hook should also make the open-world more interesting to explore, as players will notice significant changes in each decade. Players can “master full timeline control” and destruction mechanics to transform the map to their liking, with the open-world itself seeming impressively fleshed out. Players can drive a vehicle, “join a cult,” gamble, and fish to their heart’s content. Duels and bounties are present as well for those who are seeking more of the top-down shooting the game offers, with side quests that “grant permanent upgrades and reshape the future.” These permanent upgrades are likely weapons and skills, which is where the Vampire influence comes into play.

Erosion Sounds Like a Dream Come True For Fans of Vampire Survivors

A huge part of Vampire Survivors’ popularity comes from the staggering amount of depth the title offers. Despite a shockingly low price tag, players will keep having new experiences within the “bullet heaven” game for hours on end, with build variety always being talked about as a clear high point. Naturally, freedom to approach combat from many different angles is going to be essential to any Vampire Survivors-like projects clicking with gamers, and it seems like Erosion is well aware of that expectation. It’s promised “endless” possibilities, and while it remains to be seen if that bold claim actually proves true, there does seem to be a whole lot of content on offer.

In addition to “100+ skills and modifiers” for buildcrafters to experiment with, Erosion has “dozens of weapons” — some of which stick out like a sore thumb. Sure, there are guns like one would expect from a game with a Western setting, but there are several wackier concepts highlighted by Plot Twist. Players can use a ritual bow that is powered with their own blood, a homing smart gun, or even a launcher that shoots “bouncy eggs” called the Ebony Rooster. As for the abilities, a few standouts are mentioned, like cloning oneself, deploying an army of turrets, and commanding an army of cat combatants. Though the premise of Erosion is quite serious — it’s like a reverse of the Sloclap game Sifu, where the protagonist is avoiding death to stop a loved one from aging as opposed to himself — the game will seemingly offer plenty of humor as well. Being able to build around a chicken launcher and cat army, die, and restart 10 years later in a changed world (with an entirely different build, no less) sounds spectacular.

Erosion is a Bold Experiment That Will Hopefully Pay Off

Image via Plot Twist

Erosion is incredibly ambitious; an open-world roguelike that changes upon death and remembers player choices, while also offering side activities and deep buildcrafting, would be difficult to pull off for even a veteran AAA studio with a huge budget. It’s surely a big undertaking for Plot Twist, whose experience is limited to the moderately well-received metroidvania called The Last Case of Benedict Fox. Still, by leaning into a voxel art visual style, the focus can be kept on making sure all the mechanics planned for Erosion gel well together. While the characters hopping up and down are adorable, it seems like the world will offer plenty of danger to contrast this charm. If Erosion turns out to be as good as it looks, it could be Plot Twist’s breakout hit, putting it on the map as a developer to watch closely for years to come.