Gamebreaking Studios announced that its Dungeon Rampage game, a multiplayer hack-‘n-slash RPG, will debut on early access on Steam on December 5.
The multiplayer hack-’n’-slash RPG reached over two million monthly players in the 2011 in an earlier version. Brought back by Gamebreaking Studios and fan-turned-developer Angelos Mako, the game invites both longtime fans and newcomers to rediscover or discover the chaos of its dungeons.
Mako, who grew up playing the original game, spent a third of his lifetime tracking down the developers. One of them eventually found a surviving copy of the source code on an old laptop he had given to his daughter. The original was made by Rebel Entertainment.
Remarkably, Mako also secured the rights for an official revival on his own at just 17. Now part of the development team, he said, “Seeing the game work again for the first time was magical. But watching the community rally behind it has been beyond anything I imagined. It feels like we’ve brought a part of our childhood back to life, together.”
The response to the revival has been overwhelmingly positive. Its Kickstarter campaign was fully funded in under 24 hours, raising $70,463, nearly three times its $25,000 goal. The Steam demo had over 80,000 players, showing that the community’s passion for the game remains as strong as ever.
Modernized for a New Era
The Steam early access version preserves the frantic, cooperative action fans remember while addressing key concerns for the revival:
- Fair Progression, No Microtransactions: The in-game economy has been rebuilt with no pay-to-win elements, keeping the original challenge intact.
- Modern Resolution Support: While a Flash title, Dungeon Rampage now runs reliably and performs well on modern resolutions. (It’s still a Flash title, running on Adobe Air).
- Enhanced Anti-Cheat Systems: Hackers were a significant issue in the original game. New anti-cheat measures and a streamlined reporting system ensure fair, competitive dungeon runs.
Why Early Access?
Reviving a decade-old online game and updating its legacy systems has required tremendous engineering effort. Rebalancing gameplay while implementing new features will take time as well. Early access allows the team to bring the game back to players sooner and to shape its future together with the community that helped bring it back.
“Dungeon Rampage exists again because of the players who loved it,” said Taylor Hellam, CEO of Gamebreaking Studios, in a statement. “Early Access lets us build the future of the game with them, not just for them.”
What Players Can Expect
Beginning December 5, players will be able to dive into arcade-style combat, choose from four distinct heroes, and team up with others for chaotic online dungeon runs. All gameplay content (characters, maps, etc.) will be earnable through playing the game. Planned Early Access updates include controller support, four additional heroes from the original game and Ultimate Rampage, the game’s roguelite challenge mode.
To make the game accessible to players worldwide, the game will launch with regional pricing adjustments across multiple territories. Players can wishlist now and join the official community on Discord. Based in Irvine, California, GameBreaking Studios is a remote-first studio focused on making online games.
The team includes veterans from Blizzard Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Microsoft, Riot Games and more. Gamebreaking Studios has 26 employees and it is fully bootstrapped and owned by employees. It has not raised money.