This ‘incredibly promising’ Steam Next Fest autobattler demo feels like a Path of Exile-inspired map was fused with Halls of Torment, and I’m already worried about how much time I’ll lose to it.

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.