Thunder Lotus Games’ 33 Immortals is getting its second update since the game was released in Early Access on March 18.

33 Immortals is a roguelike action game played in groups of 33, an interesting twist on the well-trod genre. Community is especially important in a game like this—one that requires people to engage together. And because 33 Immortals is in Early Access, players have a unique look into the game's ongoing development. Alison Auzias, Community Manager at Thunder Lotus, said that the team has an overall plan for features it intends to add to 33 Immortals before the 1.0 release, but that player feedback is essential. 

After all, it takes the whole development team—and more—to fill a test session of 33 Immortals, said Médéric Bélair, another Community Manager at Thunder Lotus. Players are crucial for feedback, as they will likely spot things the team doesn’t.

“Early Access makes feedback much more impactful for the betterment of the game,” Bélair said. “Whether it is coming from throwaway comments in a Discord thread to well-constructed feedback in a survey, opinions from both players and my colleagues have genuine tangible impacts on the game’s direction. Compared to a fully released experience, an Early Access launch is not the end, but the real start of the marathon.”

33 Immortals’ next big update is a mixture of adjustments, tweaks, and additions: new emotes for the emote wheel to better serve players’ in-game communication, new accessibility options, a new ability called Descend, tweaked combat controls, a new dash combo move, a series of buffs to previously nerfed weapons, more easily accessible weapon upgrades, and an improved perk system. 

Here’s a list of what to expect, straight from Thunder Lotus:

• Descend: Descend is a new ability the player can unlock to go back in the fight after Ascending to help fellow rebel souls on other Ascension Points.
• New Combat Controls: Revamped combat controls!
• Dash Combo: Players can now combo dash with attack and ability for bonus damage.
• Perks: We're improving our perks with many new effects and balance changes to have a more interesting perk roster and expand players' build options.
• Weapon Buffs: Some of the nerfs in the last update proved too severe and impacted a lot of the fun aspects of the game. Weapons are now back to their original luster and feel much more satisfying to use.
• Weapon Upgrades: The Weapon Upgrades menu is now accessible from the start of the game, letting players discover this feature early on. Weapon Upgrades' discovery now unlocks earlier at feat level 5 (was 6). The weapon trait now focuses on improving co-op powers and can now be upgraded from the start!
• Emote wheel: We worked with our community to improve our emote wheel and player communication in-game. We added new emotes and a wheel setting option

One of the bigger adjustments, according to Bélair, is the overhauled perk system, which “will drastically impact player expression and the overall gameplay experience.”

Perks in 33 Immortals are items that are found and equipped during a run. They add all sorts of different stat boosts to help players survive longer, do more damage, or hit harder. There are a bunch of them, and part of the game-inside-the-game is determining which perks best fit your playstyle. Bélair said that there were some perks that players weren’t drawn to or using much, so Thunder Lotus decided to overhaul the perk system to rebalance perks and add new bonuses from equipping them.

“Whether it’s by increasing the values of certain perks, adding more secondary effects, or altering their effects completely, these perk changes aim to give more fun options to play with from run to run and make some perks feel like more than just a stat stick,” Bélair said. One of the perks Bélair specifically called out helps with hunting down 33 Immortals’ loot lizards, Lucidos. That’s important, because the studio has added “larger, faster, and tankier” versions of Lucidos that drop much more loot.

Another piece of the update, and “one of the most frequently requested accessibility features,” according to Auzias, is hold-to-attack. It’s part of the combat control revamp that spans each of 33 Immortals’ four weapons. “Light attacks can now be triggered by holding the input, while heavy attacks have been remapped to a separate key,” Auzias said.

“This change directly addresses player feedback around input fatigue, particularly from the repetitive button mashing required for light attacks,” Auzias said. “Many players shared that this was causing discomfort over extended play sessions, and we knew we needed to implement a solution that made the game more comfortable and accessible for everyone. Slaying monsters should never come at the cost of sore hands.”

Auzias stressed that the 33 Immortals team is looking to the community for feedback on accessibility features in the game. The 33 Immortals roadmap is a “living document,” she said. The studio is primed to shift priorities and change the roadmap timing in response to feedback. 

“Sometimes, player suggestions align with concepts already on our radar, which provides reassuring validation,” Auzias said. “At other times, the community introduces fresh perspectives that spark internal discussions. We then analyze those ideas to determine what’s realistic and where it might fit within our evolving development roadmap.”

“Since launch, our goal has been to develop 33 Immortals in close collaboration with our community," she continued. "These weekly reports are a critical part of that commitment, helping us ensure that player voices are meaningfully reflected in the game’s road to 1.0 release.”

33 Immortals is available in Early Access on the Epic Games Store.