Bumping into another player or two, teaming up to fight random objectives, then going through the entire dungeon, only to get separated and somehow feel melancholy about that 20-minute unspoken bond is probably something you can only get from a video game.

, and though I am ecstatic to see it finally released to the public, my first impression of the game had left me confused. Like all players, I spawned somewhere in Inferno, immediately thrown into a chaotic battle as Beatrice, the guide, instructed me on the basics of combat—though you won’t survive that first run.

Experience your soul’s epic journey through the afterlife rendered in beautiful hand-drawn animation. 33 Immortals is a unique take on Dante Alighieri’s literary masterpiece, the Divine Comedy.

And while I really like the game’s massive scale and the forced cooperation, there are moments where it feels like pure luck whether you get a well-organized squad or a chaotic free-for-all. More ways to communicate, a tighter movement system, and tweaks to balance the power curve would go a long way in refining the experience.

While players have more than one wheel of emoticons, they’re still not enough to communicate effectively. Screenshot via Dot Esports

This is a large-scale cooperative dungeon diver roguelike, all streamlined for accessibility so that you can enjoy the best parts of a typical raid experience without much of the setup.

While the primary objective is to ascend from Hell and confront Lucifer, you need to upgrade your character with temporary powerups and perks to even stand a chance.

With so many random players on the map at any time, it’s easy to feel like your small mistakes aren’t spotted, while your successes are clear for all to see, and even participate in.

Mass multiplayer dungeon diving being its primary strength can also be a pitfall if not enough players end up being available to sustain it in a few months’ time. Game Pass is a valuable launch platform in this regard, but not having a Steam version may hurt the game more than a little.

isn’t without its flaws. The movement system feels stiff, with attacks locking you in place and dashes on a very brief, frustrating cooldown. Early on, this makes combat feel clunky and restrictive, and while later upgrades help smooth things out, it still never reaches the fluidity you’d expect from a game that throws you into such chaotic battles.

Attempting to solo almost any activity can get boring quickly. I found that even the smallest enemies can be massive bullet sponges until 33 Immortals Gameplay you build up your character with hours of upgrades. Even as a late-stage herculean character, having some backup can upgrade the amount of damage you deal exponentially. This is thanks to the title’s use of critical hits, which only begin racking up when another player is also hitting the same target.

Cosmetics in 33 Immortals are many and various, but most importantly they’re free, just find them by playing. Screenshot via Dot Esports

That’s all I could gather about the lore before taking my repeated trips to Hell for all that loot and boss-slaying goodness. I suspect many players will be going the same route at launch too, as listening to NPCs and reading pages of lore are probably not what most action game fans want to do when they boot up a hardcore multiplayer experience.

I was given the chance to take a crack at the game a week prior to the early access launch, giving me around six hours with the game split across multiple play sessions.