For ages, the 12 Chinese Zodiac signs have safeguarded humanity, preserving peace, balance, and harmony. However, as traditions evolved, their powers began to wane. To protect their fading influence, they restored the ancient Zodiac Trials, seeking a new champion to embody their virtues. 13Z is a roguelike action game where you the player will take on the Zodiac Trials to earn the title of the 13th Zodiac.
At the time of playing, I was able to play the first character, Lyra, a fox-like creature. 2 other characters will be playable in the future including a human and a panda. You have to prove your worth by going through the trials and defeating the monsters in the trials and later on the other Zodiacs to obtain the title.
This game is a fast-paced action combat system with awesome roguelike mechanics. So as Lyra, I started going through the first tutorial and learned the basic gameplay. However, the game never really started until my first death. I am swept off to a village where I take a few quests and learn about unlocking skills and such with Green Stones. These can be used to increase your Damage and Health, as well as buying books. Books are important because they can be used to unlock skills you find in the trials. These skills will allow you up to 3 different special moves to use with your attacks to increase your damage.
Each trial also gives you awards to become stronger. First, you earn gold, and this gold can be used to buy things that are permanent to your character. You realize when you die you start your trial all over again, but any skills you obtain and any special abilities you acquire, continue with you on your next try. So I was lucky enough to get a new skill on my first run. This skill allowed me to launch an Area of Effect attack under me when I leaped to the ground from the air. And I was able to equip it in my next run.
Also, each run allows you to pick up magical attributes such as fire, water, and lightning. And each one of these attributes gives different abilities. There is a fire ability that causes your weapon to do fire damage, there is a fire ability that when you do a special attack it does an explosion, there is an ice ability that when you hit it has a chance to freeze your target.
I will say this though, you need to make sure you dodge, because while running a trial, replenishing life is not an easy task. I got hit once and lost 50% of my life when I didn’t dodge in time. And because of this, I was at 50% for the next stage of the trial and when I got hit again, it was over. I did find there are healthy hearts but they are rarely found. You may be lucky to get an airship to show up to sell you some life but, I only got it to happen 3 times in all my runs.
While the gameplay may appear repetitive, the constant introduction of new skills and well-designed stages keeps things fresh. Each stage is distinct, and the diverse mobs have unique designs and attack patterns, adding layers of strategy to the combat.
There is no official release date for 13Z yet, but it is confirmed to be coming to PC via Steam and the Steam Deck.
This preview was written based on a PC preview code for 13Z provided by Mixed Realms.
