Ziggurat 2 brings more first-person roguelike dungeon crawling to Steam this month

See that image above? Ziggurat 2 has angry carrots. Oh, and Ziggurat 2 exists, and will hit Early Access on October 23. It's a sequel to the well-received 2014 original, a dungeon crawling roguelike with hectic first-person combat reminiscent of the ye olde Heretic and Hexen games.

Back to those angry carrots, they existed in the first game too, only this time they're more graphically detailed angry carrots. Aside from the obvious visual upgrade, Ziggurat 2 is all about honing the formula of the original: the randomly generated dungeons will now have "more verticality and variety" as well as more compact rooms. Overall, the focus seems to be on making each run shorter but more impactful.

It's an approach that should gel nicely with the game's focus on lightning quick movement and fast-paced decision making. According to Milkstone Studios the Early Access period should last between 6-9 months, and will mostly focus on gathering player feedback. When it eventually launches into 1.0 it'll have "approximately twice the equipment items" as this EA build has, as well as new characters, enemies and dungeon types. Alternate modes and a Daily Challenge are also on the cards.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.