Somewhere beneath the surface lies an ancient civilization that could hold the cure to a deadly plague. To reach it, you’ll need to send a party of adventurers into unexplored underground territory and fight whatever’s taken up residence down there. Your brave little expedition could become legendary heroes, discover long-lost secrets, or end up starving several floors below ground.
Welcome to Netherguild, where preparing for an adventure is every bit as important as surviving one. Developed by solo creator David Vinokurov, Netherguild entered Steam Early Access in March 2023, combining turn-based tactical combat, dungeon crawling, and roguelite progression with an adorable voxel art style. Despite earning a Very Positive rating from 93% of its 73 Steam user reviews at the time of checking, this little underground adventure has remained largely overlooked.
For anyone who enjoys Darkest Dungeon but fancies trading its grim artwork for colorful, blocky adventurers, there’s plenty worth investigating.
Pack Your Lunch, We’re Going Underground
Your mission begins with a plague threatening the kingdom of Wesnoria. The only hope of finding a cure lies with the Gaians, an ancient underground civilization whose knowledge could save everyone above ground. Unfortunately, reaching them involves descending through dangerous, procedurally generated environments filled with hostile creatures and unusual discoveries.
You’ll assemble a party of adventurers, equip them for the journey, and venture underground to explore as far as your supplies allow. Food plays an important role in keeping everyone alive. Bonfires provide opportunities to camp, recover, and eat meals that can grant useful effects throughout an expedition.
Choosing when to rest, what supplies to consume, and how much farther to push your party becomes a constant balancing act. You could press ahead in search of valuable loot, but that extra floor might leave your exhausted adventurers in no condition to survive the next encounter. Sometimes the smartest decision a dungeon crawler can make is to turn around and go home.
No Dice Rolls to Blame This Time
Combat takes place on a tactical grid, with each adventurer using their abilities to deal with enemies, support teammates, and control the battlefield. One interesting detail is the absence of random attack rolls. Your attacks won’t suddenly miss because the game decided you rolled an imaginary one. That puts greater emphasis on positioning, ability combinations, and planning your moves before committing to an attack.
Character backgrounds also add to party building. Adventurers can belong to different classes while having backgrounds that influence their skill trees and personalities, creating different possibilities even when recruiting characters from the same class.
As you venture deeper, you’ll encounter tougher enemies that demand more careful use of your available abilities. The randomized loot system also introduces equipment with different properties, giving you opportunities to adapt your party’s strengths between expeditions.
A powerful weapon might make one adventurer considerably more dangerous, but keeping the entire team working together is usually a better plan than relying on one heavily equipped hero to solve every problem.
Your Adventurers Actually Get to Come Home
Unlike traditional roguelikes where a failed run wipes away everything you’ve achieved, Netherguild lets you keep your characters, equipment, and progression between expeditions. That persistent development is central to the experience.
Returning to the surface allows you to resupply, prepare your party, and plan another journey into the depths. Your surviving adventurers become more experienced over time, gradually giving you the confidence to tackle areas that previously seemed far beyond their capabilities.
Exploration also introduces random events known as Oddities, which present choices that can influence your expedition. These encounters add some welcome unpredictability between battles, ensuring that your next underground journey won’t necessarily unfold like the last.
There’s a satisfying sense of building an actual adventuring guild rather than endlessly replacing disposable heroes. After spending several expeditions developing a favorite character, you’ll probably think twice before risking their life for one more treasure chest.
Three Years Underground, Still Digging
Vinokurov has continued expanding Netherguild throughout Early Access, adding new areas, classes, enemies, and equipment. A major update in June 2026 introduced a jungle-themed area with fresh enemies, four additional class backgrounds, and another playable class, giving returning players more reasons to descend underground.
The game remains in Early Access, with development continuing toward its eventual full release. Its small Steam audience makes it a great Rogue Discovery candidate. With just 73 reviews showing on the store page when checked, Netherguild has attracted a fraction of the attention enjoyed by many larger tactical roguelites.