Escape The Mad Empire (2025)

Developer: XperimentalZ Games
Platforms: Windows
Genres: Indie, RPG, Strategy, Early Access
Rating: 4.5 of 5, 418 player ratings
Typical playtime: about 20 hours
Where to get it: Steam

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Managing a party of pixel-art heroes through lethal tactical battles, where permadeath and careful loot decisions create tense, strategic survival.

tacticalperma-deathmanagementpixel graphicsisometricdifficultrogue-litefantasy

What players say

Players praise the mix of Baldur's Gate real-time-with-pause combat and Darkest Dungeon's stress, calling it a dungeon crawler roguelite hybrid. They note the difficulty is adjustable but the game can feel repetitive, and while the 0.2 early access build is already content-rich, players warn of bugs and unfinished features.

Screenshots

More games like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.