DZR 2 Clarification: Sequel Timing, Free Demo, and Why Not DLC

Hi all! We want to clear up some potential confusion:

We’re announcing that a sneak peek demo is coming soon for Deadzone Rogue 2, not a full game release. Early access will not be until much later. Similar to DZR 1, we want to bring in players early on for feedback and to help us craft a better game.

Next, we wanted to address the most common question so far: why make a sequel instead of paid DLC?

TLDR:

• Paid DLC limits how much we can experiment to create a great experience, especially with nearly a million players already owning and enjoying DZR 1.
• A sequel gives more room to explore bigger ideas that take advantage of the new environments, new story, new mechanics, and updated meta progression.
• The demo → Early Access → 1.0 process lets us test ideas, gather feedback, and iterate much earlier to create a better game experience for players.
• Launching an early sneak peek demo allows all players to try the experience for free and give feedback, versus a limited set of players needing to pay for new DLC.
• We think this development approach gives us the best shot to build on what we have, and bring fresh ideas to players.

More Context

Why not paid DLC? TLDR: can be very limiting
One major challenge with paid DLC is that it limits how much we can change or experiment with new content to create a great player experience. With nearly a million players having bought Deadzone Rogue, we want to be very thoughtful before making any major changes to the game at this point.

Deadzone Rogue has already gone through a full 1.0 launch across all platforms, and released a free content expansion (Zone 4), so we feel there’s limited room to make large new changes within the existing game. We’ll continue to support Deadzone Rogue 1 as needed for fixes, and have another patch coming soon.

Sequel unlocks large scope and fun experimentation
There’s a lot of new ideas we want to explore that fit much better in a sequel, where the scope can be larger, including features like:

• more integrated story for each mission
• a larger cast of characters
• new mechanics like abilities beyond the grenade
• more varied battle spaces
• new meta progression that changes build crafting
• and more, based on player feedback

Trying to fit all of that into paid DLC would be a major challenge, and limit the experience to less than what it can be. The new Deadzone Rogue 2 Steam page shows some of what we’re building, along with the Announcement post.

Co-op and DLC often don't mix well
Paid DLCs in co-op games like ours can fracture the player base, and create complications if one player has access to new or changed systems and loot while the others don’t. It forces the designs to work within those restrictions as well. That’s one of the reasons we wanted the Apophis DLC to be free for everyone, and prefer a sequel that allows all players to start fresh.

Free Demos are more accessible and often make games better
Starting development with a demo lets us experiment earlier and faster to create the best game experience, since a demo is free for players and expectations are less locked in compared to paid DLC. Our development for DZR 2 will go from Demo -> Early Access -> 1.0, which gives more chances to get feedback, iterate, and create what’s most fun for players.

We tend to go at a fast pace in general, and are following a similar process to before
We generally operate on very fast timelines, which may make the sequel announcement feel faster than usual. For Deadzone Rogue 1, it was around a year from announcement to 1.0 launch. That rapid pace worked very well for us and players, and we're essentially following that same process again.

It’s a more iterative approach: we try to “find the fun” by getting the game in front of players as early as possible, quickly learning from feedback, and making sure we’re building the right thing. And, kind of like a roguelite, we’re ready to do all of that over again, since it was a lot of fun and worked :)

We're excited to keep building Deadzone Rogue 2 together, thank you
We hope this helps explain the sequel demo announcement timing and overall development approach, and will keep an eye out for more questions and feedback. We really appreciate the support, and are excited to build Deadzone Rogue together!

All the best!
Prophecy Team