Dune-inspired indie roguelike admits it kinda ran out of ideas, but releases out of early access anyway and goes 100% free: ‘Only so many things you can do that fit into the ‘lateral worm cannon’ mold’

Indie developer Emerick Gibson first released Iron Mandate on Steam early access in March 2023: a roguelike shooter loosely inspired by Dune’s sandworms, Gibson subsequently spent around a month updating the game, before seemingly abandoning the idea.

Two years later Gibson returned to fully release the game, make it free of charge, and share a post mortem “retrospective on a ‘failed’ project” (thanks, GamesRadar+). And he doesn’t sugar-coat it either: there’s “a lack of time, money and fundamental issues with the core idea, [so] I’m moving this game out of early access, leaving it free and moving on.”

Iron Mandate was never what you would call a hit, with concurrents peaking in the low dozens, but the Steam reviews are “very positive” and there’s definitely some love out there for it. And I find it hard to quibble with the game description: “Master the piloting of giant mechanical worms, lay waste to all that stand in your way and reclaim your rightful place on the throne!”

It’s the old “piloting of giant mechanical worms” that may have eventually done for it, but first Gibson explains why he’s dropping this update now. “An alert now appears on the Steam page mentioning the fact that it has not received any updates in the past 23 months,” writes Gibson. “It’s entirely fair of Steam but I don’t want to give the impression that this is some abandoned game. It is fully functional and completable as it is. This pushes me to release it but I don’t want to do so without an explanation.”

Gibson does however think Iron Mandate “fails in fundamental ways that make it hard to fix” before going right back to its origin.

“The starting point of the project will sound a bit silly: This scene in the opening of Dune (2021). I get that it’s entirely missing the point of the shot but seeing it made me think ‘I want to make a game where a scene like this happens’

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to do anything in 3D so I focused my thinking on a 2D game. I also wanted it to be a roguelike. I workshopped the idea and I landed on giant mechanical worms firing missiles from side cannons, similar to pre-modern warships.

“It’s a perfect idea, an awesome concept but I had to ruin it by actually trying to implement it.”

Gibson reckons the game’s biggest failing is the “clunky experience” of the controls and teaching players poorly: “It’s a mess. You can get through it but by that point so much goodwill was lost and a lot of players will drop out.”

Gibson’s also rather down on the game’s visual style and representation of the ground the worms burrow through, citing Pepper Grinder as a game that does a great job of the latter. He’s not wrong about Pepper Grinder, but I’ve seen plenty of worse-looking games than Iron Mandate.

In one more Herculean effort to get you to not try his free game, Gibson laments the lack of variety in Iron Mandate, which “a roguelike lives or dies on.” Gibson thought he’d be able to dream-up a tonne of weapons but “ended up with five or so weapon types with a few different levelled up versions. The end result is a roguelike that you will finish in about 2 hours and probably not come back to.”

Then my favourite line of the whole thing: “At the end of the day, there are only so many things you can do that fit into the ‘lateral worm cannon’ mold. I’ve done seeking missile, cannon, gatling, laser, grenades. What else is there that wouldn’t largely overlap with these?”

And that ties things up for Iron Mandate. “In the end, I do believe that the only hurdle to people making good art is time and room to fail,” says Gibson. “I’m infinitely grateful that I was granted both to try and make this game.”

Gibson is now moving on to their new game: The People of Sea, Sun & Salt. It looks like a super-chill city builder, and one thing’s instantly clear: this has an aesthetic that could really work.

As for Iron Mandate, Gibson says he’s “still very proud of the project” and is “so happy that tens of thousands of players have had the chance to try my game.” You can pick it up for free here.