Master Maze Building in "Rogue Maze", Tower Defense Like You've Never Seen, Demo Out May 28th
Bionic Wombat Games is excited to announce their debut tower defense roguelike, Rogue Maze. Design purposefully chaotic winding pathways filled with boxing rings and slip-and-slides to confuse and exhaust your underlings. A demo of the game is coming to Steam on May 28th.
Don’t Let Them Escape!
Dive into labyrinth-building chaos as you manage the Rogues, an odd assortment of characters desperate to escape. This unique take on tower defense flips the script. Instead of a siege assault, defend your maze by building twisting aisles to exhaust Rogues before they can reach the exit. Choose from multiple personas like reptilian manager Julian Mazeborg, infantile lord Octavius Jr., or bumbling casino boss Burt Cash, each defining your starting tile deck, gadgets, tools, and even your maze’s visual style.
Prepare for each wave by carefully placing your provided corner pieces and straight pieces. Plan ahead and maximize synergies because space is limited! Levels feature 20-200 buildable spaces with adjustable entrances and exits. Rogues will always take the shortest path forward, and some will even target tiles blocking their path in an effort to fight back! Success means turning that path into a sprawling, stamina-draining maze.
Maze Your Way
Start with a basic tile deck and transform open layouts into deliberately inefficient paths. Special Tiles let you push your maze further, adding status effects and damage multipliers through smart positioning. Obstacles like stinky bathrooms, security lasers, and slip-and-slides (some assembly required) can dramatically boost your results when placed with care. Special Tiles placed on specific spaces can earn you all sorts of special bonuses, morphing into intense Power Tiles.
A win from each level rewards you with new options. You’ll choose from different Special Tiles, from simple “slows” to more intense reverse-poison tiles that cause the enemy to gain a "smelly" status, which instead damages Rogues around them, or full-on wrestling rings that pit Rogues against each other in chaotic office brawls. You'll also pick an Engineering Tools, granting passive bonuses for the rest of your run, whether that’s powering up gadgets, enhancing tiles, or transforming simple tools into something far more destructive. Zoom out to take in the bigger picture with “Map View”! Strategize your path forward to tool and gadget upgrades, food, and shops by carefully selecting your next level. As you win, progress further down your own chosen path.
Gadgets For Added Control
Gadgets are your go-to tools for handling both your maze and the Rogues inside it. Found throughout each level, these 6 contraptions can be used during gameplay or spent between stages, and fall into three types: hand manipulation (skips, shuffles, tile copies), board control (clearing mistakes or upgrading tiles), and enemy disruption. From flashbangs and food distractions to the springboard that can launch Rogues back to the start, gadgets give you direct ways to reassert control when things get messy. Confiscate standard gadgets from enemies and turn them against them! Gadgets reset to 1 after every level, incentivizing you to play ‘em while you got ‘em.
A Demo Coming Soon!
Choose between two different playable characters, and jump into 40 uniquely hand-animated levels. Explore the full “Rogue Maze” tutorial to maximize your comprehension and skill, as you utilize 15 tiles, 12 exciting gadgets, all while exhausting 10 different escaping underling types. Expect around 30 minutes of total play-time, or more, based on unique player styles.
Gameplay Features:
Maze-as-a-Mechanic – Build labyrinths from tiles that act as both pathways and towers, amplifying the classic mazing thrill of tower defense.
Hostile Architecture – Shape spaces that confuse, tempt, or just mildly inconvenience. March Rogues through sticky movie theaters, pelt them with tomatoes, and use the nearby 5G antennas to amplify the damage.
Strategic Gadgets – Use items like snacks, springboards, shovels, and shuffles to manipulate Rogues, rearrange your labyrinth, and straighten up your hand. An effective manager uses every confiscated gadget in their toolkit.
Unusual Characters – Encounter unruly Rogues like endless Russian Nesting Dolls, hot-headed Headless Hooligans, and the corner-challenged Monoceros. Show some grit, and you might even get to enjoy Showtime!
Replay Value – Expand and refine your tile deck each run, experimenting with new combinations and effects with each self-contained run.
Custom Workspace – Make things work for you, with a slew of quality of life and accessibility features: remappable controls, color-blind friendly options, visual overlays, and more.
Music to Match - A brand new original soundtrack by indie music star Joanna Wang, with Andrew Page and Baron Jan.