Dinghai: The Ocean Pillar

Dinghai: The Ocean Pillar is an action RPG roguelike from Justdan, set in the world of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the ancient Chinese book of myths. You become the Abyssal Dragon, a general who served Emperor Yan before he was exiled and killed. Centuries later a sliver of his soul seizes the body of Yi, godson of the flood-taming hero Yu, and walks the world again while Yu himself has vanished.

How it plays

Combat is built on two weapon types that you switch between freely in a fight, building synergies as you go. Each run unlocks new abilities and combinations, and every death adds strength for the next attempt. The latest demo adds the Heyang stage, the boss Xingtian, a hidden boss called Zouwu, the Aquasunder dual blades, new spirit beast skills, mid-stage saving and custom key bindings.

The good side

The setting is rarely used in games and gives it gods and beasts you have not fought a hundred times. The developer listens: the demo update came from player feedback, and demo saves now carry over to the full release. It has full controller support and a modest minimum PC.

The watch-outs

There is no release date. Saves from demo version 0.0.0.76 or earlier no longer work. The Steam page asks for Windows 11, and a gamepad is recommended.

For players around the world

It is a PC game on Steam with a free demo open in every region during Steam Next Fest. It has English, Japanese, Korean and both forms of Chinese, with full audio in Chinese.

NEXTARCA's take

Dinghai is one of the most interesting myth settings in this Next Fest, and carrying demo saves into the full game makes the demo worth real time. If the dual weapon switch feels as fluid as the trailer suggests, this is a roguelike to follow closely.