The Black Pool

The Black Pool

Released Jun 2024

In the forest outside of town, four friends discover a mysterious black pool that transports them to an unknown world. To fight their way home, they must unlock and master supernatural abilities. Play cooperative or solo in this high-paced action game of skill that varies each session.

85% positive · 129 reviews
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
Medium confidence
Active Development
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
Medium confidence
Active Development

Where to buy

Steam $19.99
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Evaluation

The Black Pool launched out of Early Access on June 19, 2024, following roughly two and a half years of development. Since then, Smug Marmot Studios has maintained a strong post-launch content cadence with five major updates: Patch 1.1 (July 19, 2024) added a new Chaos element with six abilities; Patch 1.2 (October 23, 2024) introduced an entirely new Arena Survivors game mode with four arenas; Patch 1.3 (November 29, 2024) overhauled movement and performance; Patch 1.4 (February 4, 2025) added a new enemy type and additional events; and Patch 1.5 (October 4, 2025) added a fifth arena and a major visual fidelity overhaul. These updates have arrived at intervals of roughly 3–8 months. As of October 1, 2026, it has been approximately 12 months since Patch 1.5 — longer than any prior gap, but the developer has not announced the conclusion of development. Throughout multiple patch posts, the developer has consistently invited community feedback to shape future decisions, and no statement of completion or end-of-support has been made. The situation warrants attention given the extended silence relative to the historical pattern, but does not yet cross into uncertain territory given no outstanding commitments have been broken.
Evidence
Patch 1.5 - Sharper Horizons shipped a new arena (Jagged Peaks), major visual fidelity improvements, and soundtrack updates. Last major content release to date.
news post · Oct 4, 2025 source content shipped
high
Patch 1.4 - The Slasher added a new enemy type and additional flux events, continuing the post-launch content cadence.
news post · Feb 4, 2025 source content shipped
high

Media

Details

Publisher
Smug Marmot Studios
Achievements
42
Platform
Windows
Controller
full support
Steam Deck
Playable
Players
Single-player · Multiplayer · Co-op

About this game

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-paced skilled action will plunge you into each attempt to battle your way out.

THE JOURNEY HOME

The Black Pool has taken you to a remote and unknown galactic system. In each attempt to return home, you will traverse across a random sequence of highly diverse worlds. Throughout your journey, carefully select powers from a large pool of random possibilities, complementing existing abilities and those of your friends. Strategically upgrade these abilities to maximize your potential. This procedural sequence of worlds, offerings of abilities, and upgrades, yields a highly replayable roguelike sequence which ensures that every session is completely unique. There are millions of possibilities. Committing to decisions and improvising an effective build is core to the game. Can you become powerful enough to face what lies ahead?

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 permanent enhancements that persist across playthrough attempts which make you stronger, and also enable varied play styles.

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 each other's spells, coordinate stuns and buffs, and much more. In The Black Pool, co-op play is more than simply playing the game together— you are rewarded for actually working together to be successful.

ARENA SURVIVORS GAME MODE

The Black Pool patch 1.2 introduces an entirely new game mode: Arena Survivors— a fast and intense battle arena featuring rapid progression and randomized waves of increasingly more difficult enemies. It delivers a fun and highly replayable “survivors-like” spin on The Black Pool gameplay and also provides a quick way to experiment with abilities and builds without the time commitment of a full playthrough. A successful Arena Survivors attempt will take around 30 minutes, compared to 90 minutes for the full game mode. Four unique arenas have been developed for Arena Survivors, each presenting varied and evolving layouts, hazards, and challenges.

WHAT’S IN THE GAME

  • 10 unique worlds, consisting of over 50 unique levels which dynamically adjust based on procedural selection.

  • 90 unique abilities and augments derived from 9 elements: Fire, Light, Ice, Decay, Terra, Wind, Lightning, Void, and Chaos.

  • 99 upgrades for abilities and augments.

  • 18 upgradeable device powers which enhance player progression across playthrough attempts.

  • 55 enemies, including 11 unique multi-stage boss encounters.

  • Original musical score consisting of 7 dynamic tracks which seamlessly progress with the playthrough sequence, and 10 tracks for the Temple hub world.

  • 4 multi-tier endgame challenge modes (3 options for each).

  • Randomized event challenges that reward players with augments and other special upgrades.

  • Cooperative multiplayer up to 4 players.

  • Recovery for disconnected or uncompleted playthrough sessions in both single and multiplayer.

Last evaluated Oct 1, 2026
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