FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Paul, MN - October 18, 2023: Upheaval, the upcoming text-based open world fantasy adventure roguelike by solo developer Alex Leone, launches its demo on Steam today!
Upheaval turns a classic fantasy wilderness adventure into a roguelike where you must master the secrets of a changing world 30 in-game days at a time. Explore the wilds around a remote village as you track down magic treasures, aid or disrupt factions, and match wits with an enigmatic Magician who remembers all your previous adventures. Be ready: Upheaval is coming!
The demo lets the player play through the first 15 days of each adventure before cutting it short and sending you to the Magician early. Players can play the demo over and over again, each time finding new secrets and trying new strategies. Hours of exploration and adventure await anyone who wants to fully explore and make the most of the free demo experience.
"At its heart, Upheaval is about living with the consequences of your choices," says Alex Leone, Upheaval's lone developer. "It's a game where you can't die, because dying doesn't let you live with your choices. If you die in a game, you just start over and try to do better the next time. In Upheaval, because you always survive every encounter, you get to experience the effects that your choices have on you, those around you, and the world as a whole.
"While making Upheaval, I've leaned really hard into Design by Subtraction. If a mechanic didn't contribute to the core desired experience, I got rid of it. I think the result is a very lean game that can be explored in as many different ways as you have moods. That's one of my favorite things about the game: However you're feeling about the choices presented to you, or whatever opinion you have about the world, that feeling and that opinion are reflected back to you through how the game reacts to your choices."
"While making Upheaval, I've leaned really hard into Design by Subtraction. If a mechanic didn't contribute to the core desired experience, I got rid of it. I think the result is a very lean game that can be explored in as many different ways as you have moods. That's one of my favorite things about the game: However you're feeling about the choices presented to you, or whatever opinion you have about the world, that feeling and that opinion are reflected back to you through how the game reacts to your choices."
Alex Leone began prototyping Upheaval in 2018 as a simple text adventure meant to guide the player through the stages of the Hero's Journey. After five years of working in his spare time, the project grew in complexity until it because what it is today. Alex has been developing games as a hobby for the last 20 years. Upheaval is his first commercial title.
Upheaval is accessible to blind players via its Command Line version, which is compatible with screen reader programs.
Release date for the full game is still TBA. The demo is available on Steam and itch.io.
Demo Trailer: https://youtu.be/Qm5rXPbXv80
Press kit: https://upheavalgame.com/press