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

The autobattler’s been getting chimeric since Vampire Survivors released and plunged global productivity down the toilet. VS was a chaotic slot machine: you didn’t so much craft a build as you did keep pulling the lever and hope you could assemble something vaguely effective from what it spits out, which kept me occupied for weeks.

Then games like Halls of Torment bolted on a bit more ARPG stuff—things got slightly more measured, predictable, and I lost even more time. And now I fear I will lose many otherwise-productive days to Conquest Dark, the demo for which you can currently try out during Steam Next Fest, and which I was a bit surprised not to have heard of, given that the Steam reviews seem incredibly positive.

Due for an early access release in April, Conquest Dark feels like another step forward in the ongoing hybridisation of ARPG and autobattler, though maybe a bit of an incremental step. You roll three possible characters—naked but for their class: barbarian, thief, and so on—and off you go into the fray. You’ve done this dance before. You start off slow and with limited attacks until you butcher enough enemies to level up. On and on it cascades, before you’ve amassed enough buffs, passive abilities, and loot to manifest as an unstoppable force majeure.

It feels good. This is a good one of these, but on this level—at least in the hour or so I’ve played—it very much is ‘one of these’—most of what it has going on will feel familiar. It’s when you clean up a level and move on that the game gets more novel. In contrast to Vampire Survivor’s or Halls of Torment’s tight list of levels, Conquest Dark has a Path of Exile-style map. You’re cutting across the land as you defeat these waves of enemies. Plot is happening. Notionally.

But more importantly, not every location on that map is a combat arena. The game’s world is littered with shrines, factions, repeatable combat ‘rituals’ with their own little skilltrees you unlock as you do them over and over. It feels varied in a way I’m just not quite used to from these games, at least on this broader, strategic layer. Also I’m pals with a bunch of lads “forged from the shattered crown of a deposed barbarian king,” which can only redound to my favour.

So if you, like me, have the autobattler sickness, give Conquest Dark’s demo a look-in before Next Fest ends. Say hi to the lads for me.