"The merciless survival roguelite turn-based city builder" is coming to Nintendo Switch next month after earning 95% positive reviews on Steam
Oct. 1, 2024Dotage released right about a year ago on Steam
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Dotage (stylized dotAGE), one of the biggest surprise indie hits of last year, is coming to Nintendo Switch on October 24. After nine years in development,it released last October on PC to unanimous praise.
Watching Dotage exceed the expectations of Italy-based developer Michele Pirovano has been a real joy. We chatted with the indie dev back in December, and he told ushe expected Dotage to “maybe sell some 100 copies”, and with 20,000 copies sold at the time (obviously much more today), Pirovano was elated.
“It was my dream – actually, not even my dream, because I’m quite a risk-averse guy and I have my feet on the ground,” he said of the game’s runaway launch. “So I was not thinking it would be good. So when it did that, it was very, very exhilarating. It was perfect for me – for a week. And then I realized how much work keeping up with so many players would be.”
Dotage’s upcoming Switch launch is yet another important marker of the game’s surprise success, as well as a certain boon for overall sales. It’s billed as a “merciless survival roguelite turn-based city builder,” and that’s pretty dang accurate by all accounts.
As for the roguelite element, that comes in every time your village inevitably goes under and your Elder remembers lost memories, thereby bringing “new ailments, the mysterious VIPS, new Elders,” and more into the mix. Then there are “forces that govern your world,” including disease, earthquakes, and, thank goodness, non-violent invaders like kittens, presumably just to keep the hope alive.
Here are all of theupcoming indie gamesto keep on your radar.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.
After 2.5 million sales, Manor Lords publisher says it “would almost be arrogant” to not be surprised by the city builder’s success - but “you cannot count on it to repeat”
Overthrown is a unique sandbox game “relative to most of the genre,” with an ever-changing world that separates itself from genre giants like Minecraft
Dev behind new Doki Doki Literature Club-style psychological horror says it’s not “for those with weak hearts,” but with 98% positive Steam reviews, I’m not sure I can stay away
