Morbid Metal Brings Devil May Cry Combat to a Roguelite and Ubisoft Is Publishing It

You are mid-combo with a sword when the enemy winds up a heavy attack. Instead of dodging, you shapeshift into a polearm fighter, tank the hit, then swap back to your sword for the finisher. A letter grade flashes on screen: S rank. That is the core loop of Morbid Metal, a hack-and-slash roguelite that just hit Steam Early Access today at $13.49 (25% launch discount, normally $17.99).

The headline here is not just the combat. It is who is publishing it. Ubisoft does not typically back indie games. The fact that they signed a publishing deal with a small German studio called SCREEN JUICE says something about how good this game felt in previews.

From University Project to Ubisoft Deal

The story behind Morbid Metal is worth knowing. Developer Felix Schade built the first playable prototype in 2017 as a university project in Germany. That prototype went viral in roguelite communities, catching the attention of developers at Ubisoft. Schade kept iterating, eventually founding SCREEN JUICE as a studio in Cologne, and landed the Ubisoft publishing deal.

Nine years of development later, the game is finally playable. That is a long road for any indie project, but the demo reception suggests it paid off. The Steam demo sits at Very Positive reviews with a 90% approval rate from over 1,100 players.

How the Combat Works

Morbid Metal gives you three playable characters that you swap between in real time during fights. Flux is your fast sword fighter, built for single-target damage. Ekku wields a polearm for crowd control and can absorb more punishment. Vekta handles ranged combat. The trick is chaining combos across all three, swapping mid-attack to keep the pressure going.

A style ranking system grades your performance based on combo variety and creativity. Higher ranks earn you more currency, so playing stylishly is not just satisfying. It is rewarded mechanically. If you have played Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, you know the feeling. The difference is that Morbid Metal wraps it in a roguelite structure instead of a linear campaign.

Each run takes you through procedurally generated combat rooms across two biomes: the Sublime Garden and the Steel Sanctuary. Between rooms, you pick up Routines and Eden’s Blessings for temporary power boosts. Between runs, you invest in permanent upgrades through the Neural Nexus, Protocols, and Corpora systems. There are also Devil’s Bargains, which are high-risk, high-reward buffs that can carry or doom a run.

What You Get in Early Access

The current build includes over 10 hours of content: two biomes, two bosses (Saru and Prophet), 10 enemy archetypes with elite variants, and the three playable characters. A fourth character is planned for the Year One roadmap, along with additional biomes and bosses.

The full Early Access roadmap will be revealed on April 17 during the Find Your Next Game Showcase. All Early Access buyers get the full 1.0 release and every update along the way at no additional cost.

The game runs on Windows only for now and is compatible with Steam Deck, though performance may dip in later areas. Controller support covers both Xbox and PlayStation pads.

Should You Jump In?

If you enjoy games like Hades or Dead Cells but wish the combat felt more like a spectacle fighter, Morbid Metal is filling a gap that not many roguelites have tried to fill. The “swap characters mid-combo” mechanic gives fights a rhythm and depth that standard hack-and-slash roguelites do not offer.

Early Access caveats apply. Some players note that build variety feels thin at launch, and the narrative is still incomplete. But the combat foundation is strong, the demo reception is encouraging, and having Ubisoft’s resources behind the polish phase is a meaningful advantage.

The 25% launch discount runs until April 20, bringing the price down to $13.49. If the style-ranking combat loop sounds like your thing, this is the cheapest it will be for a while.

For more roguelite recommendations, check out our best roguelike indie games list.

Morbid Metal is available now in Early Access on Steam for $13.49 (25% launch discount).