Every death strips you down to nothing and throws you back into a cell. A different cell each time, in a rotting medieval castle that has no interest in letting you leave.
That’s the pitch for Decrepit, an upcoming soulslike action RPG from Jämmerdal Games. If you’ve spent any time with Dungeon Crawler Carl or FromSoftware’s Dark Souls, you’ll recognize the appeal right away. And you don’t have to wait for launch to find out whether it lands, because a limited-time playtest is open on Steam right now.
Two kinds of misery, one castle
Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl has turned into a global phenomenon in modern fantasy and LitRPG, one of the genre’s biggest success stories. Carl’s run is built on brutal encounters, RPG-style systems and progression, tough bosses and the constant threat that one bad call means certain doom.
Dark Souls gets to dungeon crawling from the same brutal direction, just with the lights turned way down. FromSoftware drops you into oppressive medieval spaces full of hidden corridors, labyrinthine layouts, lethal enemies and monstrous bosses, with combat that pays you back for patience and for failing over and over.
Both series make survival itself the fun part. Every win in those hostile worlds feels earned. Decrepit takes that shared idea and builds a whole game around it.
Your map is your memory
Here’s how the loop works. You’re trapped inside a decaying castle, and each failed escape sends you back into its depths. The Steam description said it plainly: “Every death strips your gear and drags you back to the dungeons.” Your next attempt starts from a different prison cell.
So your real progress lives in your head. You learn how the castle’s interconnected layout fits together, open persistent elevators and permanent pathway unlocks, find shortcuts and figure out where each threat tends to show up. The game promises “variable enemy encounters in a persistent world.”
There are no maps. No quest markers either. You master the place by exploring it again and again and experimenting until something works (which, if you’ve played a Souls game, is a sentence that should feel like home).
Three slots, four gear sets, zero hand-holding
Combat is first-person and stamina-based. The soulslike rhythm is all there: study enemy attack patterns, wait for a carefully timed opening, then commit to a melee strike or a spell.
Builds run through a stripped-down setup of three equipment slots: a weapon, a staff and armor. Mage, Warrior, Rogue and Shaman gear sets hand out bonuses and special abilities, so what you pick up shapes how you play.
Each level also has its own unique, challenging boss standing between you and the next floor. Decrepit supports both controller and mouse and keyboard.
It already has a crowd waiting
Decrepit got its world premiere at The Game Awards in 2025. The announcement trailer laid out the mix of first-person soulslike combat and old-school dungeon crawling, with Hexen and Eye of the Beholder among its inspirations.
People noticed. Just a week later, Jämmerdal Games announced the game had passed 150,000 Steam wishlists and confirmed its first batch of playtest invitations would start going out on December 19.
Testing carried on into 2026. A March developer update specifically referenced feedback collected during those first playtest rounds.
How to get in
Decrepit is scheduled to launch on PC sometime in 2026, though Jämmerdal Games hasn’t announced a more specific release date yet. For now, you can register for the Decrepit Playtest directly through Steam.
Hit “Request Access” and you’re added to the pool of potential testers. Steam will notify you when the developer is ready to let more people in. Or you can wishlist it ahead of its planned release later this year.
Either way, the castle will be waiting, along with a fresh cell and none of the gear you died holding.
