The Black Pool – The co-op 3d action roguelike is set to release to 1.0 on June 19th.
June 5th, 2024 – The Black Pool is set to release out of Early Access on June 19th. The game has been in Early Access for nearly a year, evolving based on feedback from its small but passionate community.
ABOUT THE BLACK POOL
The Black Pool is a 3d action roguelike to be played solo or preferably with up to 3 of your friends. Each attempt to make it back home will take you through a gauntlet of different worlds. You will discover different elements, abilities, and upgrades. Striking visuals, an electrifying soundtrack, and high-paced skilled action will plunge you into each attempt to battle your way out.
THE JOURNEY HOME
The Black Pool has taken you to a remote and unknown galactic system. In each attempt to return home, you will traverse across a random sequence of highly diverse worlds. Throughout your journey, carefully select powers from a large pool of random possibilities, complementing existing abilities and those of your friends. Strategically upgrade these abilities to maximize your potential. This procedural sequence of worlds, offerings of abilities, and upgrades, yields a highly replayable roguelike sequence which ensures that every session is completely unique. There are millions of possibilities. Committing to decisions and improvising an effective build is core to the game. Can you become powerful enough to face what lies ahead?
IMPROVE WITH EACH ATTEMPT
With each attempt you will learn how enemies behave and what their weaknesses are. You will learn how each of these supernatural abilities work, and synergistic ways to use abilities together. In addition, you unlock permanent enhancements that persist across playthrough attempts which make you stronger, and also enable varied play styles.
BRING A FRIEND
While you can try and make it on your own, it may be more fun to bring a friend, or three. The Black Pool has been designed to maximize the cooperative multiplayer experience. Many of the abilities contain game mechanics that deliver fun and rewarding interactions between players. Redirect friendly attacks, amplify each other’s spells, coordinate stuns and buffs, and much more. In The Black Pool, co-op play is more than simply playing the game together— you are rewarded for actually working together to be successful.
WHAT’S IN THE GAME
- 10 unique worlds, consisting of over 50 unique levels which dynamically adjust based on procedural selection.
- 80 unique abilities and augments derived from 8 elements: Fire, Light, Ice, Decay, Terra, Wind, Lightning, and Void.
- 88 upgrades for abilities and augments.
- 18 upgradeable device powers which enhance player progression across playthrough attempts.
- 55 enemies, including 11 unique multi-stage boss encounters.
- Original musical score consisting of 6 dynamic tracks which seamlessly progress with the playthrough sequence, and 9 tracks for the Temple hub world.
- 4 multi-tier endgame challenge modes (3 options for each).
- Randomized event challenges that reward players with augments and other special upgrades.
- Cooperative multiplayer up to 4 players.
- Recovery for disconnected or uncompleted playthrough sessions in both single and multiplayer.
ABOUT SMUG MARMOT STUDIOS
Smug Marmot is an indie studio of two. The Black Pool is being created by two friends of 25 years who initially united over a shared passion of computers, LAN parties and gaming. They have left their industry jobs to develop this ambitious project over the last two and a half years.
The Black Pool is the second game being released by the studio. Exodus Borealis was the first game. It has been well received, with a 92% positive rating on Steam.Steam Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2189670/The_Black_Pool/
