It is strange. Sometimes I get in the mood to play a new game and get started but sometimes I just swing back to some old favorites and get caught up playing that instead. Such is the case with Iratus: Lord of the Dead. I first played this game on my Steam Deck way before I ever played Darkest Dungeon and funny enough a lot of critics of Iratus call it a Darkest Dungeon clone. Because I was strangely afraid of playing Darkest Dungeon (due to its perceived difficulty) I decided to try something similar but no way near as hard. Within a couple days playing it I truly feel in love with Iratus and honestly I remember nothing but fun times when I was playing it. Fast forward a long stint with Darkest Dungeon and all it's DLCs, I got in the mood to go back to Iratus. I also felt that if my desktop PC was able to handle Darkest Dungeon it should not have a problem with Iratus too and I was able to run it without a hitch.
Within a couple hours I found myself drawn back into the world of Iratus and this time I wanted to try some new minions I did not use previously. One of the by-products from switching from the Steam Deck to my desktop was losing all my save data so I hate to start from scratch progress wise and I oddly did not mind that. So without any more fanfare, we now have our RAVE for Iratus: Lord of the Dead.
Iratus is a dungeon-crawler roguelite similar to Darkest Dungeon (DD) as I previously mentioned. You play as Iratus, a rather cocky necromancer who is trying to conquer the world. Unlike some roguelites the lost you incur are not to yourself but to the minions you control and when you lose a minion they are gone for good. That Level 15 Banshee you've been slowly levelling up with all them cool items? Gone if you have a particularly bad battle. Sometimes you can lose a whole squad and have to start all over with a brand new team. However unless you lose all your minions you can rarely be defeated which make it a bit easier compared to some roguelites.
Iratus is not the most graphically intense game but the graphics are very serviceable especially for an indie game in this genre. It is on the same scale as Darkest Dungeon with just key frames of animation being the focus and definitely better than Indies' Lies minimalist approach. It also has a gothic art style to it, similar to Darkest Dungeon but with a more Dungeons and Dragon approach compared to DD's Lovecraftian style. The sound is okay, nothing to write home about however the guy who does the voice lines for Iratus is definitely having a good time and it shows in his performance (even tho hearing the same lines over and over can get a bit grating). The sound effects are nice tho and very satisfying when you score hits or cast spells. It is however in the gameplay where Iratus shines.
As mentioned above, Iratus is a tough game too however it is not as hard as say Darkest Dungeon. Thankfully Iratus does not borrow from Darkest Dungeon's mechanic where you get a disease and afflictions even if you have a good run. The upgrade economy is much more generous too compared to DD. Also as a nice twist because you are playing the bad guys, you get to inflict the stress on your opponents instead of the other way around. Some of the cooler teams in Iratus actually do stress damage instead of physical damage and you can actually scare enemies to death or install so much fear in them that they run away or turn on their allies. Its actually one of the cooler elements that the thing you feared the most in DD is now a benefit for you in Iratus.
The minions are what sells Iratus to me. Using resources you obtain while playing you combine these resources to make minions. When ether it be a fearsome Werewolf, a sturdy reliable Skeleton to a backstabbing conniving Lost Soul. You have so many choices and making up a team of maximum 4 characters, you can make endless combinations of teams and find synergy for days. During my most recent run for example, I use a mostly stress team with some melee hitters for the stress resistant folks (which there are some) and it was a blast especially because I never tried a stress team before. This constant discover of new teams and new ways of playing kept me going for 3 back to back runs and unlike some roguelites, a full run aka beating the game is an investment especially compared to a 30-40 min run in Risk of Rain 2. On average, if you want to beat Iratus, you normally are in it for a long haul of a 3 to 4 hr campaign.
Each minion can also be built according to your preference with each having multiple abilities you can build one way or another and they also have a special attacks too which are powered by Iratus' resource called 'wrath' and these are the most spectacular attacks in their arsenals. Iratus is no back-seat driver too, he can contribute with spells at least once a round and potions (which you craft with resources) which can either buff his squad or nerf the opposition. Iratus also has something snarky to say when ether his squad scores a kill or a he hits his opponents with a nasty spell. He is like the narrator of the game much like the narrator in DD (but honestly, nowhere near as cool).
Like all roguelites, the fun comes from the random elements the game throws at you, the challenge of a particularly hard boss or when you sometimes find a broken team combination and just steam roll over your enemies. Along the way there is chances to earn cool items for you or your minions, sacrifice your minions for more resources and even random events with multiple choices (similar to Slay the Spire and Indies' Lies). Whilst the challenge is there, honestly Iratus is one of the easier roguelites and completely wipes do happen but it is not as common. If anything, if you are starting off on this type of roguelites, I would highly recommend it because it'll definitely ease you into the genre. The game even has automatic auto-saves and multiple difficulty choices to make it easier to pick up. The game has since released some DLC which added some more minions (and new area with harder enemies which unlocks the 'true' ending) and an extra character or two. I enjoyed this game so much I bought all the DLC (Wrath of the Necromancer) and even brought a 'supporter pack' (which included the OST, alternative skins and a digital strategy guide) and a couple of the alternative skin packs as well. Unfrozen, the makers of the game has recently announced they are working on a sequel and another project which is very interesting.
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| Can you believe this is Fanart?! Amazing work from Coremort. |
Iratus: Lord of the Dead is basically Darkest Dungeon but you are not a fan of how difficult DD gets or you just want to play a bad guy for once. The game has a lot of charm and very easy to pick up and play as well. You have numerous minions at your disposal and each one brings their own unique flare to the game and along the way you will slay many heroes. I honestly feel because I enjoyed Iratus, I was able to tackle Darkest Dungeon and we know how that ended *cough* 5 blogs back to back *cough*. It gets a RAVE which is the highest recommendation on this blog and on top of that, it is not that expensive to pick up. It is constantly on sale along with the DLCs and it is well worth your time and money.
C'mon. Sometimes it is good to be bad.
AV
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