Hello from Monothetic! We’re a small, young, independent games development team currently working on our first commercial project. That project is Beacon, a sci-fi action roguelike game currently targeting Windows, Mac, and Xbox One – and we’d like to introduce you to it today.

In Beacon, you take control of Freja, a recently-deceased pilot-for-hire whose ship has just crashed into the side of an unknown planet. Luckily for Freja – thanks to her ship’s automated clone bay – being dead isn’t quite the permanent problem that it once was.

Played as a top-down shooter, Beacon tasks you with fighting your way through a procedurally generated hostile world. All the while, you’re trying to find the materials required to build a distress beacon and escape the planet that you presently find yourself stuck on.

While you’re making your way through these areas, you’ll find weapons and items to help you, and you’ll also be collecting DNA from the enemies that you defeat. Then, when you inevitably die, you’re given the opportunity to combine the DNA you’ve collected with your own, granting you different stats (and potential gameplay-altering physical mutations) for your next run.

We’re huge fans of roguelikes, and Beacon is our attempt at creating a bridge between fast, frenetic action and longer-term strategy, where your actions can be felt and built upon hours down the line.

We’re excited to be able to share Beacon with you today, and we’ll have plenty more to show you in the coming weeks at on our official website and Twitter account.