Zorbus

About

Zorbus is a single player tactical hack and slash game with fantasy and dark fantasy themes. It was developed by Zorbus and was released on September 14, 2022. It received very positive reviews from players.

Zorbus is a fantasy-themed, graphical, turn-based, role-playing roguelike game. Your goal is to delve deep into a dungeon, find a portal to a mythical place called the Zorbus where a mere mortal can ascend to demigodhood.

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91%

Audience ScoreBased on 319 reviews

gameplay11 positive mentions

grinding7 negative mentions

Rich traditional roguelike experience with deep tactical combat and party management appealing to fans of classic dungeon crawlers.
Highly polished with excellent UI/quality-of-life features, including detailed tutorials, configurable controls, and robust companion systems.
Immersive atmosphere enhanced by detailed sound design, humorous and contextual NPC dialogue, and a living dungeon environment.

Steep difficulty curve with punishing early game and occasional frustrating RNG that may require persistence and learning.
Limited build diversity and imbalance favoring magic-based or hybrid playstyles, making some classes feel underpowered or boring.
Certain interface and gameplay quirks, such as complicated inventory management, awkward auto-exploration jumps, and sometimes cumbersome companion control.

gameplay
53 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
73%
6%
The gameplay offers a rewarding and polished traditional roguelike experience rooted in d20 mechanics without hunger or durability stresses, featuring deep combat strategy, diverse skills, and quality-of-life improvements. While some find the difficulty curve steep and progression slow, others praise its detailed mechanics, emergent gameplay, and modernized UI for classic roguelike fans. However, limited mechanical variety, occasional balance issues (favoring casters), and early-game tedium may deter some players.
- “Tons of emergent gameplay, fun interactions, and a very clever AI that frequently uses advanced strategies in combat the way a dungeon master would.”
- “Zorbus is an extremely well polished traditional roguelike, every mechanic feels like the best version of itself and it all works very smoothly.”
- “Great roguelike, very worth your time if you ever liked Nethack, ADOM, Angband etc. What impresses me the most is the level to which everything in the game is explained and documented; it's very rare to find a roguelike, or even just a game, that makes it this easy to learn the mechanics without stumbling through a wiki somewhere.”
- “Many builds are effectively not playable due to buggy or inconvenient mechanics.”
- “The main problem is that it does just enough to technically have mechanics without actually taking the time to polish them and make them fun.”
- “Quite a strange design choice, as most people will refund it in the first two hours, not able to get to actual gameplay.”
atmosphere
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
23%
15%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its immersive dungeon ambiance, enhanced by rich, layered sound effects, engaging lore, and dynamic character interactions that evoke a true roguelike experience. While some find the frequent in-game banter and abundant loot somewhat excessive, these elements overall contribute to a vivid and captivating environment that stands out within the genre.
- “Despite its simplicity, the atmosphere is surprisingly rich, thanks to a layered soundscape filled with ambient effects and subtle cues that bring the dungeon to life.”
- “A dark and very good roguelike with tons of customization, excellent sound effects, and a truly immersive atmosphere.”
- “Before I started playing, I did not realize just how much I missed the Forgotten Realms lore in my life, and Zorbus truly delivers - short snippets of text for each monster and journal entries of failed adventurers create the perfect atmosphere of delving deep into a D&D-esque dungeon.”
- “There's far too much garbage loot. Given this game uses the D&D formula of +1/+2 and beyond equipment, it's kind of useless to shower players with base weapons all the time. While it does add to the atmosphere, it's frankly annoying to wade through so much junk constantly. This isn't uncommon for the genre, but it's still worth mentioning.”
humor
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely praised for its quirky, light-hearted tone, funny dialogue, and hilarious sound effects, which enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the witty quips from allies and enemies, as well as the amusing lore and companion voices. This levity pairs well with the challenging gameplay, making the game both entertaining and engaging.
- “Once you get the hang of it, this has everything you could want, with action, strategy, exploration, monsters, lore, and light-hearted, quirky humor.”
- “The over-the-top sound effects and whacked out companion voices regularly made me laugh out loud.”
- “Fantastic game with some seriously funny dialogue, worth every penny!”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
37%
27%
The graphics feature a charming, polished art style with clear visuals, customizable UI including multiple tile sizes and an ASCII mode, offering a nostalgic yet accessible experience. The game’s maps and dungeons have a strong aesthetic and classic D&D-inspired design, enhancing immersion for fans of traditional roguelikes. Overall, the visuals effectively complement the gameplay, balancing simplicity with appeal.
- “The art style is charming, and the visual clarity is genuinely impressive.”
- “The mapgen is very well done, floors have a clear logic to them and a strong aesthetic sense, it really does feel like exploring an ancient temple, the mapping is very reminiscent of classic AD&D campaigns, think Tomb of Horrors or Temple of Elemental Evil, coupled with the D&D flavour to it all it really does hit the spot if classic, grog style dungeon crawling is what you crave.”
- “Easy to recommend both if you care more about gameplay than visuals.”
- “The visuals are simple but polished—clearly drawn tiles, readable icons, and intuitive UI elements that can be customized to suit different preferences.”
- “The interface allows multiple tile sizes and even ASCII mode for purists who want a more retro aesthetic.”
story
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The story aspect is mixed: while some players appreciate the emerging narrative through character interactions and the logical design of the dungeon, others find the lack of a strong, overarching plot or traditional RPG story mode limiting and disorienting. Overall, the story develops organically but may feel sparse for those seeking structured progression.
- “All in all, I enjoyed exploring the character progression and learning the story of Zorbus.”
- “Due to the personality NPCs have in this game, a story emerges for your PC and their recruited followers.”
- “The dungeon has logic, the rooms have logic, story, furniture; they are not just blurred out of some mindless random algorithm.”
- “The lack of a strong narrative thread or overarching story may deter those who prefer more structured progression.”
- “A story mode, or normal RPG mode with just exploration and leveling, would have been amazing for this game.”
- “I'm used to playing grand RPGs, so having no story or not understanding my goals for fighting in this dungeon was a little strange.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is often described as tedious and slow, with early stages feeling especially repetitive and challenging due to tough enemies and risky encounters. While team play and a strategic approach can ease the grind, solo play tends to be frustrating and less enjoyable, compounded by cumbersome mechanics like fleeing and micromanaging followers. Overall, the grind can feel overly drawn out and may hinder accessibility for some players.
- “I tried multiple approaches - a two-handed warrior, a sword-and-board guy, a stealthy, sneaky spearman, a bowman and so on - but all of them felt very tedious, slow and risk-prone, as you consistently meet enemies whose power rivals even the best-equipped solo adventurer.”
- “In the end, even my lone wolf warrior build ended up starting as a summoner mage and pivoting into weapons by mid-game - otherwise, the 2nd and 3rd floors felt insurmountable, tedious, and way too random.”
- “Very tedious and frankly un-fun early game (which you will repeat often).”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The music in the game is notable for its restrained audio design, featuring frequent nods to modern popular songs that enhance the atmosphere. The voice banter between characters, monsters, and equipment adds a unique and engaging layer to the adventure, making the audio experience feel fresh and thoughtfully integrated compared to typical roguelikes. Overall, the soundtrack, sound effects, and audio interactions significantly contribute to the game's immersive and distinctive ambiance.
- “The audio design works precisely because of its restraint, despite the lack of orchestral soundtrack or voice acting.”
- “This game features a great art style, music, and sound effects, enhancing the dungeon crawl experience.”
- “Constant references to real-world modern-day popular songs are found throughout the game.”
- “In the long run, the general banter might get annoying and be a tad too frequent, despite adding to the feeling of adventure.”
- “While other roguelikes just put music on their game, it feels very stale in large contrast to this game.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the suggestion for an emotion system where monsters react emotionally based on relationships and actions, leading to dynamic interactions and escalating responses. This depth could evoke stronger emotional connections, as evidenced by memorable moments like the poignant death of a character.
- “Add an emotion system, in which monsters have emotional reactions to other monsters, depending on their faction, nature, alignment, and so on.”
- “And their emotional state comes in degrees, so that a neutral wizard can finally get ticked off by you, and then attack, but not before.”
- “I still shed a tear for hippo man's dying cry to me.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's replayability is low due to a lack of build variety and cumbersome combined systems, making it unenjoyable to play through multiple times despite some interesting concepts intended to encourage replay.
- “Due to the lack of variety in builds, Zorbus has very low replay value for a roguelike.”
- “The whole demigod/god/overgod feature to encourage replayability is a neat concept, but after doing it once, I don't feel like going through the drag of the combined game's systems again.”
- “Zorbus has lots of individual ideas that sound neat on paper, but together create a slop that is not fun to play through for more than a dozen hours, which goes against the whole appeal of roguelikes being replayable.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Stability varies by build, with some affected by buggy or inconvenient mechanics that hinder playability, while others benefit from detailed settings and stable performance, including on Linux.
- “There are very detailed settings and it also runs great on Linux.”
- “Many builds are effectively not playable due to buggy or inconvenient mechanics.”