It's fair to look at Iratus: Lord of the Dead and be reminded of Darkest Dungeon, and developer Unfrozen isn't afraid to make the comparison itself. But where Darkest Dungeon has a troop of adventurers battling through all manner of monsters, Iratus puts you in the shoes of an evil necromancer. Your troop is comprised of wraiths, specters, death knights, vampires, and other assorted beasts. The more enemy soldiers (or are they the good guys?), you slaughter, the more body parts you collect to build your own undead army.
That's easier said than done, however, as enemy soldiers have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. One enemy type ignites a bomb that kills neighboring characters at the end of a round, while another whips his own teammates to buff their stats. For your part, you can deal damage to an opponent's health or sanity, and if you totally deplete the latter, you have a chance to one-shot them with a terrifying heart attack.
We got hands on with the game at PAX East 2019, and you can some of those tough battles in the video above. Iratus: Lord of the Dead is headed to early access on Steam sometime in May.