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GameBrief · General

Reviewing
Dark Scrolls
Dark Scrolls is doinksoft's biggest swing yet, and it lands June 22, 2026. The Portland studio behind Gato Roboto and Gunbrella is trading metroidvanias for a co-op hack-and-slash roguelike, with Devolver Digital publishing, and the pitch fits the studio's track record: chunky retro pixel art, tight controls, and a refusal to take its own fantasy quest seriously.
The structure is classic roguelike: pick a hero, fight through procedurally generated runs assembled from hand-crafted rooms and levels, dodge enemies and deadly traps, die, and go again. Each hero carries unique attacks and abilities, so the roster is the build variety, and doinksoft is upfront that sharp reflexes and split-second decisions are what keep a run alive.
The tone is the other half of the pitch. The official description sends you on a quest to "[INSERT GOAL HERE]", which tells you exactly how seriously this fantasy world takes itself. That is the same energy that made Gato Roboto (a metroidvania about a cat in a mech) and Demon Throttle work.
Runs end in bullet-spraying boss fights. The chunky retro art carries doinksoft's signature look into a co-op roguelike.
Two reasons to care. First, co-op done properly at launch: Dark Scrolls ships with solo, local co-op, and online co-op on day one, which is rarer than it should be in the pixel roguelike space. Couch co-op especially tends to arrive in patches, if at all.
Second, the pedigree. doinksoft has shipped three sharp, compact games in a row, and this is its first release as a full Devolver studio since the 2023 acquisition. A bigger publisher push behind a studio with this hit rate makes Dark Scrolls one of the safer bets in June's launch calendar.
The genre neighborhood is busy right now. Our Tears of Metal preview covers another co-op hack-and-slash roguelike fresh from Next Fest, the Lost Castle 2 weapons tier list covers the genre's current co-op beat-em-up standard, and the Cursemark launch preview covers June's other build-heavy roguelite. If your group leans chaos over combat, Frog Sqwad launched June 11 with 8-player tongue-physics co-op.
Price and roster size are the two unknowns: neither was on the Steam page at the time of writing. The bigger question is run variety, the thing that decides whether a reflex roguelike lasts twenty hours or two. doinksoft's games have historically been short and dense rather than endless, so it will be worth seeing how the procedural structure stretches that instinct. We will follow up once the game is in players' hands.
When does Dark Scrolls release? June 22, 2026 on Steam, published by Devolver Digital.
What kind of game is it? A hack-and-slash roguelike: hero roster with unique kits, procedurally generated runs of hand-crafted rooms, reflex-heavy combat.
Is it co-op? Yes, solo or co-op, both local and online, at launch.
Who makes it? doinksoft (Gato Roboto, Gunbrella, Demon Throttle), a Devolver Digital studio since 2023.
How much does it cost? Not published pre-launch; check the Steam page on June 22.
About the author

News Reporter
Games journalist and news hound with 7 years covering industry moves, studio announcements, and patch notes. Chilean. Writes tight, edits tighter.
Disclaimer
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