This season has been massive for the roguelike/roguelite genre. What was once a very niche scene in the gaming industry has constantly been evolving in new and exciting directions. There are games like Hades II, which lean more towards a traditional roguelite with a beautiful art style and thrilling gameplay loop. On the flipside, there are more unique experiences like BALL x PIT, which blend the genre with popular gaming concepts, such as Breakout.
Million Depth, the most recent game from publisher PLAYISM, fits more into the latter category. It leans more toward a roguelike, with all of the upgrades you’ve gathered being completely reset after each death, and story progression not continuing until you beat a run. However, developer Cyber Space Biotope has injected the genre with crafting mechanics, visual novel elements, and a story that highlights multiple timelines in one sci-fi universe.
Million Depth is a fascinating game that had me captivated, emotional, and frustrated in equal measure. That said, the gameplay and story are overall quite great, despite some issues with the gameplay and progression mechanics.
A Journey to the Center of the Earth
Million Depth begins with a character named Moma reflecting on her loneliness, as she sits as the last human aboard a space station, with her only company being messages from a mysterious figure on Earth whom she calls a friend. To assuage her loneliness, she decides to venture to the last known location of her friend, which just so happens to be one million kilometers below the Earth’s surface.
Along the way, she finds remnants of human civilization that have still prospered despite a mysterious apocalypse that ravaged the planet. She also encounters robots with sentience, each with its own personality and characteristics. In theory, this would be the end of the story, but in typical roguelike fashion, the game doesn’t stop when you beat it for the first time.
Unlike other roguelikes I’ve played, Million Depth follows the format of a visual novel. After your first run, you are greeted with a view of three different timelines, each with its own story. However, they all follow Moma, albeit in different situations. In fact, while each route features the exact same cast of characters, the way each of them behaves is so drastically different that they often feel like entirely different games.
With this much variation, Moma needs to be an interesting character that makes you want to play through subsequent runs. Thankfully, she’s extremely charming across all three timelines. I found myself caring about her and her story in each route, despite the many differences in her characterization. For instance, in the third timeline, she’s far colder and more aloof, but as you progress, you see her begin to come out of her shell with the introduction of an animal companion.
The other side characters are great as well. Along your journey, you’ll briefly encounter NPCs with unique dialogue that vary depending on the choices you’ve made in a run. While some characters remain static, like Drilly, a robot who’s trying to find purpose beyond just drilling constantly, their dialogue helps to give them life and provide levity to your runs, especially if you’re struggling.
I will say, however, that the story premise sometimes feels derivative of other games. Namely, there are a lot of very obvious similarities to NieR: Automata, especially with the focus on the conflict between man and machine. Thankfully, once you get past the first route of the story, a lot of those similarities become less overt as Million Depth continues to introduce more new story elements.
Easily my biggest issue with Million Depth is how it handles story progression. It takes inspiration from the visual novel genre in that you will constantly need to revisit conversations in order to unlock new content and progress. Although, I’m someone who is not particularly familiar with the VN genre, so I found the way these mechanics were implemented into the roguelike genre extremely frustrating. I spent hours trying to figure out how to unlock new content, but the UI, which showcases the different timelines and their differences, is quite obtuse and hard to decipher.
As a result, Million Depth doesn’t really hit the same heights as other games in the genre. That said, that’s more due to the high standard set by those other titles, rather than the poor quality of this game. Despite these issues, Million Depth does a great job of making subsequent runs feel compelling due to the strength of its narrative. A good narrative doesn’t mean anything, though, unless the gameplay is fun enough to make those runs fun. Thankfully, the gameplay of Million Depth was quite fun and thrilling, no matter how many times I played it.
Fighting Through the Depths of the Earth
The gameplay of Million Depth is particularly odd and especially unique. While a lot of games in the genre fall into a very specific gameplay loop, this employs a more real-time strategy-esque style. Despite the emphasis on strategy, combat can still feel desperate and frantic, which feels fantastic to play through, especially as you get used to the overall gameplay systems and progress further and further.
When you first start your run, you will have a ring by your side. With that ring, you can craft a wide variety of different shapes that emphasize either attack or defense. At the start, you’ll have a hammer, which you can use to quickly wack enemies and deal efficient damage. As you progress further, you’ll unlock more blocks like spikes, steel blocks, and gold blocks, all of which can be assembled in various ways to enhance either your attack or defense.
As you continue, you can reconfigure your weapon into something entirely new. What starts as a hammer can quickly transition into a double-bladed sword or even a projectile launcher. Further, in the second and third timelines, you can utilize a second ring, which allows you to build a defense-based shield that you can also reconfigure.
When you encounter Drilly, you can ask him to break down the barriers in the small crafting box, which allows you to make bigger and stronger objects. While your weapons will be reset after subsequent runs, you still unlock new blocks that you can encounter. You also get access to blueprints, which you can use to make upgraded objects. For instance, you can make a sword hilt for a sword blade, which adds a higher damage multiplier.
There are other methods that Million Depth employs to make each run feel unique. For one, you can pick one of three routes as you dive deeper into the depths of the Earth. Some of these routes force you into conflict with enemies, which may be dangerous for your run, but will reward you with new blocks. You can also find shelter to recover your health and battery, two key resources for each run. Further, you will encounter storekeepers who can give you healing items, blocks, and other rare materials in exchange for some of your own items. Along the way, you can barter with them to get more for less.
Combat itself feels very satisfying, especially once you get the hang of it. Like a traditional RTS game, you can pause action by staying completely still, allowing you to assess your next move in advance. If you damage enemies without taking any damage yourself, you get a special statistic called grace, which you can use to get bonus damage with certain upgrades you can unlock on your journey. Plus, if you dodge enemy projectiles at the right time, you get a charge that goes toward the ability to completely pause time, allowing you to do extra damage to your enemies.
Each route feels completely distinct, not just narratively, but gameplay-wise as well. As you’re attempting to continue the story, you will fight three different final bosses, each of which has different variations depending on how your route has gone up until that point. The third timeline in particular is quite difficult. Thankfully, if you’re someone who is struggling with the gameplay loop or is yearning for a greater challenge, there are three different difficulty options to make things either easier, harder, or somewhere in between.
When all of the many concepts that Million Depth hits you with come together in just the right way, it makes for a game that is fun, captivating, and exciting all at the same time. While there are some major issues, they don’t take away from just how strong the overall package is.
Find Your Purpose
Compared to all of the roguelike/roguelite games I’ve played over the last few years, Million Depth stands apart as a true oddity. Instead of relying on the tried and true tropes that have made those games successful, it chooses to go in a new direction with concepts taken from RTS games and visual novels. In theory, this combination should not work whatsoever and should result in a mess of a finished project. However, when all is said and done, Million Depth is a really great time.
I really clicked with the game’s story, despite its obvious inspirations. The characters and variation in the narrative, which spans across three different timelines and multiple subsequent playthroughs, are compelling. Despite my frustrations with the way the game handles story progression, I never found myself bored or exhausted by how Moma’s arc was told, especially because of just how charming she is as a character.
It also helps that the gameplay is deeply engaging. The crafting mechanic is really fun to play around with, plus the inclusion of multiple paths to choose from, shopkeepers to barter with, and multiple upgrades, each run feels completely unique. Furthermore, thanks to how fun the combat is and the abundance of accessibility options, you’ll have a great time regardless of your skill level in the roguelike genre.
Million Depth is just another great example of just how malleable roguelike/roguelite games are. You can infuse any title with mechanics and concepts from all across the gaming medium, and you will get an experience that never fails to bring you joy and excitement. Even if Million Depth doesn’t quite reach the same heights as its predecessors, it is still a great pick for diehard fans of the genre.
Disclaimer: PLAYISM provided a PC (Steam) copy of Million Depth for review purposes.
