Despot's Game is like Teamfight Tactics except it's also a roguelike dungeon crawler

Roguelikes must be the perfect genre because it really does seem like you can combine it with any other genre and get something interesting. Case in point: Despot's Game, a roguelike autobattler where you build and manage a horde of naked humans that can be equipped with everything from pretzels to fridges. You then use that army to navigate a procedurally generated dungeon filled with monsters and, occasionally, other human players. The further you make it, the more wacky items you find to give to your soldiers, but when you die you lose all your progress and start over. I like roguelikes and I like Teamfight Tactics, so Despot's Game seems like a pretty safe bet.

If you have no idea what autobattlers like TFT are about, the gist is that you build a team of soldiers who do all the fighting for you without any direct input. The strategy lies in what items you give them and how you arrange them on the battlefield, but once the bell rings and the brawl begins, you just get to sit back and watch the carnage.

If that all sounds cool, you can check out the trailer above which just debuted at the Guerrilla Collective E3 2021 showcase. You can also wishlist Despot's Game on Steam. It launches later this year.

What's up next? Here's the full E3 2021 schedule
Check out our list of every game at E3 so far

Steven Messner

With over 7 years of experience with in-depth feature reporting, Steven's mission is to chronicle the fascinating ways that games intersect our lives. Whether it's colossal in-game wars in an MMO, or long-haul truckers who turn to games to protect them from the loneliness of the open road, Steven tries to unearth PC gaming's greatest untold stories. His love of PC gaming started extremely early. Without money to spend, he spent an entire day watching the progress bar on a 25mb download of the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 demo that he then played for at least a hundred hours. It was a good demo.

Read more
A mountain block dropping into place in Drop Duchy.
Drop Duchy is an unholy fusion of city builder, roguelike deckbuilder, and Tetris, and you can try it for free right now
A spellcaster and muscular barbarian face down against an army of skeletons.
This 'overwhelmingly positive' Steam Next Fest autobattler demo feels like someone bolted a Path of Exile-style map onto Halls of Torment, and I fear for my future productivity
An angry dwarf and a sword-wielding elf with various villains in the background in Absolum.
This mash-up of side-scrolling beat-'em-up and fantasy roguelike feels like it could be the future of a classic genre
A series of large explosions in Bio Prototype.
This bizarre roguelike has a new take on the Vampire Survivors formula: letting you build your own custom weapons out of brains, eyeballs, and chimpanzee spines
Three heroes stand against a tide of skeletons
The Hand of Fate devs are back with a bullet heaven called Hordes of Fate
Ascendant on Steam.
Ascendant brings a unique spin to the bullet hell dungeon crawler with its huge item stash and extensive build crafting for new and deadly synergies
Latest in Strategy
Paths to Power DLC
Last year's best RTS gets its first piece of DLC alongside a meaty free update
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
King wielding his axe against would-be assassins in Norland.
Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a 'damn big update' that completely overhauls the game's mechanics: 'We're rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay'
Age of Empires 2
Former Age of Empires 2 dev claims Microsoft demanded its first expansion should have a Korean faction, because 'StarCraft sold 3 million copies in Korea'
Latest in News
The titular character from Princess Mononoke is depicted riding the wolf goddess Moro and carrying a spear.
Studio Ghibli AI image trend floods social media, cheered on by OpenAI and denounced by critics as an insult to Hayao Miyazaki
Marvel Rivals tier list - Wolverine
Marvel Rivals director says a future patch will reduce the shooter's insatiable hunger for RAM: 'It's a very big problem'
Hogwarts Legacy potions professor holding a potion
An unannounced Hogwarts Legacy expansion and 'definitive edition' have reportedly been cancelled
Story of Seasons - A cahacter in a purple tuxedo stands outside in a town square talking to the player
Story of Seasons is doing another Harvest Moon remake and it might be the best the series has ever looked
Assassin's Creed Shadows change seasons - An upper-body shot of Yasuke looking cheerfully up into the distance.
Assassin's Creed Shadows puts up the 'second highest day-one sales revenue in Assassin's Creed franchise history'
A witch riding a broom sails past a Fish and Chips shop.
Cozy gamers rejoice: Witchbrook finally has a release window, and yes, you can fly around on a broom with your friends