Iratus: Lord of the Dead

Iratus: Lord of the Dead is a dark, tactical, turn-based RPG developed by Unfrozen and published by Daedalic Entertainment. Set in a grim fantasy universe, the game casts players in the role of Iratus, a resurrected necromancer who seeks vengeance and dominion over the living after centuries of imprisonment. Instead of playing a noble hero battling evil, you take on the role of evil itself, guiding legions of undead minions through labyrinthine dungeons in an attempt to reclaim power. With clear influences from titles like Darkest Dungeon, Iratus stands out due to its reverse narrative perspective, deep combat systems, and richly atmospheric world. The game revolves around assembling and managing a squad of undead creatures—zombies, skeletons, banshees, vampires, and many more—to fight your way through multiple levels of increasingly dangerous enemies. These minions are not merely summoned out of thin air; they are crafted using parts harvested from fallen foes. Each minion type has distinct abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, and the synergies between different classes are central to your success. The combat system is turn-based and heavily reliant on positioning, status effects, and psychological warfare. Some minions specialize in physical damage, others in stress-based attacks that can cause enemies to panic or even die from fear, and some use magical abilities to support or disrupt. What elevates Iratus beyond its inspirations is the intricate and punishingly tactical nature of its combat. Each battle is a test of planning and adaptation. Players must manage initiative, buffs, debuffs, stress, health, and sanity while considering the order and formation of both friendly and enemy units. Mistakes are not easily forgiven—losing a powerful minion can be devastating, especially given how much effort and rare materials go into crafting and upgrading them. To this end, the game encourages cautious play and meticulous strategy, rewarding those who take the time to understand and master its systems. It can be brutally difficult, especially on higher difficulties, but that challenge is part of what makes each victory so satisfying. The RPG progression system is equally complex. Both Iratus and his minions level up independently. Iratus has four distinct talent trees—Alchemy, Magic, Ire, and Destruction—each offering various passive and active abilities that significantly alter your approach to combat. Whether you want to bombard enemies with curses, support your minions with buffs, or use alchemical tools to reshape your army, the talent trees offer substantial flexibility. Minions, meanwhile, can be upgraded with better body parts, special items, and skill upgrades that reflect your strategic preferences. The combination of minion customization and Iratus’s abilities makes for a deep and satisfying power curve. The atmosphere and presentation of Iratus: Lord of the Dead are also worth highlighting. Visually, the game adopts a gothic, hand-painted art style that reinforces its macabre tone. The design of the dungeons, enemies, and especially your undead creations is appropriately grotesque and memorable. The animations are clean and detailed enough to convey impact without being overly flashy. The voice acting, particularly that of Iratus himself—performed with delightfully sinister flair by Stephan Weyte (best known as the voice of Caleb in Blood)—adds a layer of dark humor and villainous charisma to the game. His frequent quips and philosophical musings about death, humanity, and domination give the game an identity that sets it apart from other grimdark RPGs. The dungeon-crawling structure is organized into multiple levels, each with branching paths, elite enemies, and boss fights. Between battles, you return to your crypt—a central hub where you craft new minions, research upgrades, and manage your resources. The base management portion, while not as expansive as some might expect, adds meaningful depth to the overarching strategy. The pacing is well-balanced, and while some maps can feel lengthy, the variety of encounters, the introduction of new enemy types, and environmental effects keep things engaging throughout. Random events and hidden rooms occasionally pop up, adding risk-reward choices that can dramatically shift your run. Despite its strengths, Iratus isn’t without flaws. The difficulty, while rewarding for hardcore strategy fans, can be off-putting for casual players or those unfamiliar with unforgiving roguelike mechanics. There is some RNG in enemy behavior, critical hits, and stress effects that can lead to unexpected losses, which may feel frustrating if you’ve heavily invested in a specific build. While the writing and atmosphere are generally strong, the story itself is relatively thin beyond the overarching revenge narrative. Additionally, the game can feel a bit grindy in places, especially if you're trying to maintain a large roster of well-leveled minions. That said, these shortcomings don’t significantly diminish the overall experience. For fans of tactical RPGs, gothic horror, and methodical planning, Iratus: Lord of the Dead offers a deeply rewarding and challenging alternative to traditional hero-centric games. It’s a title that respects the intelligence of its audience and rewards experimentation, patience, and perseverance. The customization, tactical depth, and presentation combine to create a game that feels both familiar and fresh within its genre. In conclusion, Iratus: Lord of the Dead is a standout entry in the tactical RPG and roguelike scene, offering a devilishly clever twist on the genre by putting you in the shoes of the villain. With its rich combat systems, robust customization, and darkly charismatic tone, it delivers a complex and rewarding experience for players willing to embrace its strategic demands. Whether you're a fan of Darkest Dungeon or simply looking for a more cerebral and sinister take on dungeon crawling, Iratus is a game that deserves your attention—and your soul. Rating: 8/10

I really like the idea of playing the side of the villain! A whole bunch of undead creatures at your disposal, each one with different skills and perks. Mix it with trinkets, spells and potions, and you get an interesting tactical turn based combat game. The only downside, the last levels become veryyy slow, as the enemies get really tanky.

Quite a slog.

I got this game on sale for under five bucks and it's quickly become on of my new favorites. Comparisons to The Darkest Dungeon have to be made. I actually find myself liking this more than I did TDD, even though I liked that game a lot as well. The strategy involved in succeeding in Iratus is kind of subtle, at first ... until it isn't .... Level One: in the tutorial (a.k.a. 'CakeWalk' difficulty) I played the entire game through with a comedy of learning errors and bad early skill-tree picks and still got through the whole game without a death. Level Two, entitled 'More Pain' :Upped the game to this difficulty on the playback (and yes, I wanted to come back and play it!) and I found it to be noticeably tougher, but I didn't start losing any characters until some of the bosses midway through the game. Didn't really need to adjust my strategy or minion preferences at all. To Level 3 Difficulty I ventured back, to 'Good Always Wins' ... with a minion dying almost every battle .... sometimes two minions in the same battle .... and on some of the later bosses, full-on group wipes! What was I doing wrong? Why was I out of resources? WTH happened?! I found myself asking, sort of laughing and cursing at the same time. Gave the minion bestiary a Very Good Hard Look, finally. Started making some better group synergies. Scrapped my game and started a new one with a whole new attack strategy for the Graveyard build and Iratus's Skill Tree. That paid off greatly, with a run that felt very rewardingly good and an end battle that truly felt hard-earned. Savvy Veteran that I deemed myself now, I ventured down the Rabbit Hole to the Fourth and Final Difficulty, Eternal Harvest. Would you believe there are FIVE ( YES, FIVE !!!) difficulty settings to THIS? Eternal Harvest 1-5. No joke! Well, I decided to just give Eternal Harvest 1 a go .... and I'm dead. Back, and dead again .... survived one battle with ... somebody? Then dead again. Lol .... there is ... nothing to work with here ... the Graveyard is ... um ... a graveyard, lol ... And yet .... somehow .... with a level of masochism I didn't know I had in me, I returned, again and again, new minion combos, new skill tree plan ... new graveyard build targets (when I could rub two souls together to get something built). For the whole first two levels, the entire likelihood of winning felt like it could be extinguished at the drop of a hat or a dusty old bat fart. Whichever came first. But at some point, I got a foothold in there and a party that refused to wipe, or rarely even relinquished a single minion. Then hit the end level and this group that worked so well through the first 4 levels was ripped to absolute shreds by the 5th level denizens, but by then I had resources and enough brains (no, I mean literally, brains) to put together yet another group with a synergy better suited to that final level. I sent two complete groups into the final battle on Eternal Harvest difficulty and they both got their arses handed back to them. I dished out as good as I got back, but that was not enough. I took a break to come write this review ... and then I'm likely going to jump right back into it and try yet a different minion combo. It's just that darn addictive! [EDIT] I did indeed get right back at it ... 8 days later and I'm finally back for one last bit of commentary here .... ... So here I am, returning to Eternal Harvest, Setting 1 .... I'm quite amazed I got to the end game on this level earlier, as a repeat has been quite the challenge. A whole lot of dying went on, with a great deal of that being my poor minions, but eventually, I fleshed out the Mortuary and the Arena (along with everything else) and got close to 3 full groups on rotation between Advance Party, Arena Party and The Walking Wounded Party. Being able to finally stop having to zap away resources for group spot heals helped tremendously, and set me on the path to knocking on the Arch Magister's door ... Finally, there I was, back again to take the smug son-of-a-gun on .... got one brief glimpse of possible success before the entire thing fell in like a house of cards and the group wiped ... Ugh! Not again!!! ... But that was merely the first wave of units I had brought with me (though, decidedly, the group I thought had the best shot ..... gulp!). Taking a critical look at who was left, and knowing the enemy would be refreshed and ready to receive us again, I had everyone decided but my back slot minion ... wouldn't you know, that choice came down to me finally winning the game! The unit I inevitably picked was the Banshee, and this unit almost single-handedly was the reason why I won. She even got the killing blow in when it all came down to it. But the two things she could do, repeatedly, was break the boss' stances and refill Iratus' mana bar. That first ability kept the boss from completely wiping the floor with us. That 2nd ability allowed us to finally overcome the onslaught and turn the tables. I'm fairly convinced if I had picked any of the other back end minions I had been considering, I would have been looking at yet another group wipe. Wowza .... going to need to unplug for a bit now! Hope you found this review interesting and/or helpful. Happy Dungeon Delving!

经营与策略并重， 缺点是后期有点同质化了。

Даркест Данжен на минималках за нежить. С одной стороны, игра СИЛЬНО проще, особенно на легком уровне, с другой- много бессмысленных ограничений- например, тринкеты нельзя передавать между существами. Нафига? Таак, прошел на обычном часть игры и мнение РЕЗКО изменилось. Очередное российское криворуко-васянское "хальдкольное" поделие. ИМХО, разработчиков пора заставлять проходить свои "шыдевры" самостоятельно и на максимальной сложности. Качество игр несомненно бы повысилось, во всяком случае, не было б настолько тупого васянства. ДД навсегда, таки да. П.С. Понятно, что есть задротанги, которым и максимальная сложность не сложность, но тем не менее. Когда на легком уровне нет смысла вообще думать о пати, а на среднем начинаются долбаные фокусы, в которых нашу пати чуть ли не в каждом бою разбирают (теряем минимум одного)- это что-то нездоровое. Ну и да, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ гаргульи и скачущие по рядам берсерки фактически делают бессмысленными механики щитов на пати. И очень, очень навевают членовредительские мысли в отношении разработчиков криворукого поделия этого.

Это, наверное, лучший заменитель ДД на рынке и даже самый близкий к нему по образу. Разработчики действительно порадовали дизайном монстриков, врагов, уровней, боевой системой. Музыка прикольная и очень сочетается со стилистикой, хотя хотелось бы чуть больше. Общий стиль игры немного веет какими-то браузерными играми конца нулевых, реклама которых всплывала на каждом сайте, но этим даже вызывает какую-то теплую ностальгию. Не хватает только анимации на фонах сражений и более насыщенной связи между дохляками и весьма прикольным гг. Как-то не оч приятно всю игру биться пустым мясом, хотя там и дампиры вроде есть, которые хотя бы говорить должны уметь, разве нет?