Überläufer is an upcoming roguelike dungeon crawler for PC VR that’s inspired by the original Castle Wolfenstein (1981), the first in the series which put a heavy emphasis on stealthily evading capture as you escape the game’s maze-like prison.
Created by indie studio Think Tank Decoy Software, Überläufer (‘defector’ in German) puts you in the jack boots of a 1940s Wehrmacht solider who is imprisoned by the SS for opposing the Nazi regime. With the help of the resistance, you gather the items you need escape as you fight, persuade, and sneak your way out of the procedurally-generated dungeon.
To escape, you’ll have to contend with collecting randomly-generated objectives, like taking photographs of specific objects using a 1938 Leica camera. Along the way, you’ll also run across things like letters between a former prisoner and his wife, and real leaflets and dossiers published by the German & Austrian resistance.
In the game’s infectiously retro user manual, the studio says the player will earn experience points throughout their runs which can be used to unlock things like perks, weapons, boobytraps, and enemy uniforms which let you temporarily bypass unnoticed.
You’ll only be able to hit the store once before each run though, Think Tank Decoy says, so you have to spend your points wisely as you’re given a new avatar, and have to search for new objectives in the randomly-generated rooms.
Überläufer is slated to arrive on PC VR headsets via Steam Early Access sometime in Fall 2021, supporting Valve Index, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive headsets. You can wishlist it on Steam here.
