June 19, 2023 – The Black Pool starts its one week open beta today. The Open Beta is being done in collaboration with Steam’s NextFest. The beta can be accessed through Steam, simply download the demo from the Download The Black Pool Demo section. The public beta will end the morning of June 26th, when NextFest comes to a close.
The Black Pool is a 3d action roguelike to be played solo or preferably with up to 3 of your friends. Each attempt to make it back home will take you through a gauntlet of different worlds. You will discover different elements, abilities, and upgrades. Striking visuals, an electrifying soundtrack, and high pace / skilled action will plunge you into each attempt to battle your way out.
More about the Game
The Black Pool has taken you to a remote and unknown galactic system. Make your way across a number of diverse and randomized worlds to try and make it back home.
Throughout your journey, you will learn to master supernatural elemental abilities. Carefully select powers from a pool of dozens, complimenting existing abilities and those of your friends. Strategically upgrade these abilities to maximize your potential. There are thousands of possibilities, can you become powerful enough to face what lies ahead?
THE JOURNEY HOME
In each attempt to return home, you will traverse across a random sequence of highly diverse worlds. Throughout the journey you will unlock supernatural abilities from randomly selected sets of elements. Upgrade these selected abilities from a set of randomly offered options. This procedural sequence of worlds, offering of abilities, and offering of upgrades yields a highly replayable roguelike sequence. Importantly, while there is a lot of randomness for a high degree of variation, choices are always being offered, allowing you to improvise and guide how your build matures.
IMPROVE WITH EACH ATTEMPT
With each attempt you will learn how enemies behave and what their weaknesses are. You will learn how each of these supernatural abilities work and synergistic ways to use abilities together. In addition, you unlock enhancements that are permanent and persist across playthrough attempts.
BRING A FRIEND
While you can try and make it on your own, it may be more fun to bring a friend or three. The Black Pool has been designed to maximize the cooperative multiplayer experience. Many of the abilities contain game mechanics that deliver fun and rewarding interactions between players. Redirect friendly attacks, amplify team spells, coordinate stuns and team buffs, create barriers, and much more. In The Black Pool, co-op play can be much more than simply playing the same game together— you are rewarded for actually working together to be successful.
About Smug Marmot Studios
Smug Marmot is an indie studio of two. The Black Pool is being created by friends who meet in highschool over twenty years ago. They have left their industry jobs develop this ambitious project over the last year and a half. Skow, who comes from a systems design and programming background, is well complimented by Vord, who is a professional artist.
The Black Pool is the second game being released by the studio. Exodus Borealis was the first game. It has been well received, with a 93% positive rating on Steam.
Steam Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2189670/The_Black_Pool/
Media Contact: mike@SmugMartmot.com