Potion Explosion designers return with sci-fi horror dungeon crawler Alone

Two of the creators behind Potion Explosion are back with a brand new game that couldn’t be further from the lighthearted magic-brewing hit.

Alone is a sci-fi horror dungeon crawler designed by Andrea Crespi and Lorenzo Silva that turns the usual asymmetric co-op format on its head by pitting up to three evil players against a single human hero.

The stranded protagonist is equipped with a flashlight and can only see as far as the beam illuminates, revealing only a few sections of the modular map at a time.

The evil players instead have a RPG-like screen and can see the entire layout, allowing them to spawn and move hidden monsters in the dark and place traps to try and defeat the explorer.

There’s no series of good-evil turns, with the hero acting continually by spending action points to explore and attack until the evil players interrupt them. The hero has the ability to combine items to upgrade them, repair lights, weld doors shut to defend against pursuing nasties and use an Aliens-like radar to keep track of hidden traps and monsters.

As well as their health, the hero also has to maintain a level of self-control, representing their mental state – but taking damage can be beneficial, providing a jolt of adrenaline and allowing them to overcome evil reaction cards, played after each of the hero’s actions.

Alone is planned for release in April 2018 and is currently at €35,000 (£30,000) of its €40,000 (£34,000) goal on Kickstarter, with 22 days left to run. €75 (£63) will net you the core box, with shipping to the UK charged after the campaign ends.