Claustrophobia: The Downward Struggle
Early access since Sep 2014
Grab your weapon of choice, polish your Rogue senses, and get ready to be thrown into the dark and oppressing dungeons of Claustrophobia! Experience deep character development, fast-paced tactical combat, and mountains of epic loot. Here begins a roguelike quest for glory, slaughter, and anything shiny!
42% positive · 202 reviews
Not yet
In early access, content planned but development status unclear
Low confidence
Content Planned
Development Uncertain
Not yet
In early access, content planned but development status unclear
Low confidence
Content Planned
Development Uncertain
Where to buy
Steam $4.99
Can't confirm — worth a look
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Evaluation
Claustrophobia: The Downward Struggle launched on Steam Early Access on September 9, 2014. In the months following launch, the developer (Dan, of The Indie Forge) shipped a series of feature patches and one major content update — Alpha 1.1.0 on January 9, 2015 — which added a new dungeon (The Crypts of Creepy Chaos), new enemies, new item types, and visual improvements. A minor balance patch followed on January 10, 2015.
The store page continues to list a substantial set of features under "Coming Soon," including multiple new dungeons, a full story mode, bosses, traps and puzzles, and additional character development options. These remain undelivered.
In December 2014, the developer posted an update explaining he had taken a hiatus due to university coursework but was returning to development and had brought on an artist. He outlined the next patch's contents — which did ship as Alpha 1.1.0 in January 2015. However, after that January 10, 2015 patch, all developer communication stopped entirely. There have been no updates, posts, or announcements from the developer since January 10, 2015 — more than 11 years ago as of today.
The game remains purchasable on Steam and is still flagged as Early Access. With extensive promised content undelivered and over a decade of complete silence from the developer, there is significant uncertainty about whether development is ongoing or has been abandoned without any formal announcement.
Evidence
Alpha 1.1.0 shipped a major content update: a new dungeon (The Crypts of Creepy Chaos), new item types, new enemies, and visual tier equipment.
Store page lists numerous 'Features Coming Soon' including multiple dungeons, story mode, bosses, traps and puzzles, and more character development options — none of which have been delivered.
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
The Indie Forge
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Not rated
Players
Single-player
About this game
Grab your weapon of choice, polish your Rogue senses, and get ready to be thrown into the dark and oppressing dungeons of Claustrophobia! Experience deep character development, fast-paced tactical combat, and mountains of epic loot. Here begins a roguelike quest for glory, slaughter, and anything shiny!
Claustrophobia: The Downward Struggle is a Tactical RPG Roguelike, most heavily inspired by the combination of procedural gear and enemy generation found in games such as Diablo and Torchlight, with traditional Roguelike features found in games such as NetHack and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Gameplay revolves around a classless, stat and gear-based progression system, procedural dungeon exploration, and unforgiving tactical combat.
Claustrophobia: The Downward Struggle is a Tactical RPG Roguelike, most heavily inspired by the combination of procedural gear and enemy generation found in games such as Diablo and Torchlight, with traditional Roguelike features found in games such as NetHack and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Gameplay revolves around a classless, stat and gear-based progression system, procedural dungeon exploration, and unforgiving tactical combat.
Current Features
- Unending Procedurally Generated content: Procedurally generated gear, enemies, and terrain makes for infinite progression and adventure.
- Classless Character Development: Build the character you wish to play, and develop them through in-depth stat and ability customization.
- Tons of Loot: Collect vast amounts of weapons, armour, and active items, whose powerful abilities, stats, and passive bonuses enhance your gameplay.
- Fast-paced, Tactical Turn-Based Combat: Use positioning, clever skill use, and observation to best your enemies.
- Face Hoards of Challenging Enemies: From simple critters to deadly Elite Units, face off against a variety of monsters, each with their own set of abilities. Enemy Modifiers such as Teleportation, Invisibility, Lifesteal, and more, ensure that there’s always a new type of enemy to slaughter.
- Traditional Roguelike Features: Permadeath, a little luck, and unforgiving gameplay means your hero’s life is firmly in your hands.
- Scoring & Leaderboards: To remember all those poor souls who didn’t make it.
- Simple, easy to use Interface: All the details and functionality you need, without the clutter.
Features Coming Soon
- Multiple Dungeons: Featuring all new dungeon designs, enemies, rooms, loot, and more.
- Story mode: Dungeons will chain together for longer, more varied gameplay, and progression towards a final, endgame goal.
- More Character Development Options: More Class Roles, more Abilities, more talents.
- Further Item & Enemy Development: A much greater range of Item Abilities and Enemy Modifiers.
- Traps & Puzzles: More special room types will offer greater variation to exploration.
- Bosses: Extremely powerful monsters who reside on the final floor of each dungeon, who must be defeated before you can progress.
- Gear Crafting: Collect materials and salvage old gear to craft powerful new items.
- Achievements & Unlockables: New content unlocked for courageous feats of strength!
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Jun 28, 2026
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