Loot River will move heaven and earth to arrive on Xbox and PC this year

You'll be able to move the land around you like so many Tetris blocks.

There is a Slovakian game development studio called straka.studio, and it got some assistance from the Slovak Arts Council to bring to life a unique vision. Now planned for release on Xbox and PC later this year from publisher Superhot Presents, that vision has taken the form of a game called Loot River.

In Loot River, players journey an otherworldly river in search of knowledge and, of course, loot. They explore procedurally-generated labyrinths in traditional action-RPG style, dealing with roguelike elements that should keep everything irresistibly difficult.

Thanks to the power of the Relic, players are able to reshape the earth, moving various ruins as if they are tiles in a puzzle. This skill will no doubt come in handy as they outsmart monsters and bosses and seek assistance from fellow travelers. Naturally, they'll grab plenty of loot along the way.

"We are deeply interested in games focused on transformation of the world, as it is a powerful mechanic rarely used in gaming," said Miro Straka, who almost has to be a very important person at straka.studio. "While my previous games, Euclidean Lands and Euclidean Skies, were centered around rotations, this one explores a more natural mechanic - movement. Loot River offers a similar theme of shaping the world, but it's a far more kinetic affair that should appeal to fans of games like Dead Cells and Rogue Legacy."

The roguelike is by now a popular genre, but the ability to move the dungeons does sound like it could definitely add a new dimension to the familiar experience. And anything that allows a PR person to write "Dark Souls meets Tetris" in a press release has to be worth something, right?

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Staff article by Jason Venter (March 26, 2021) Jason Venter has been playing games for 30 years, since discovering the Apple IIe version of Mario Bros. in his elementary school days. Now he writes about them, here at HonestGamers and also at other sites that agree to pay him for his words.