No two runs will feel identical because the bullets you find are always different.
Halfbrick, the Australian studio that once taught millions to slice fruit on their phones, has quietly crossed into new territory — releasing a free PC demo for Guncrypt, a roguelike dungeon crawler that asks players to think as much as they shoot. Available through June 22 on Steam, the game marks a deliberate pivot from casual mobile audiences toward the more demanding world of PC gaming. In the tradition of studios that outgrow their origins, Halfbrick is testing whether the instincts that made them beloved on small screens can translate into something deeper and stranger.
- A studio synonymous with casual mobile gaming is staking its PC credibility on a single free demo with a six-day window to make an impression.
- The bullet-stacking mechanic — arranging magical ammo in sequence to trigger chained effects like poison, lightning, and dragon summons — disrupts the muscle memory of traditional shooter combat.
- Every run reshuffles the available ammunition pools, meaning no strategy survives contact with the next attempt, keeping players perpetually off-balance and recalculating.
- A shareable run-link system transforms solo deaths into social artifacts, letting players broadcast their builds and decisions to friends as a kind of tactical postmortem.
- The demo's two floors and town hub offer just enough structure to signal the full game's ambition without revealing its ceiling, landing as a confident but carefully rationed invitation.
Halfbrick — the Australian studio behind Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride — has spent years owning the mobile market. Now it's attempting something different: a PC roguelike called Guncrypt, with a free demo live on Steam through June 22 as part of Steam Next Fest.
The setting is a haunted Western frontier town. You play a newly deputized stranger sent underground to rescue missing townspeople, recover treasure, and break a curse laid by a wizard named Skulldarkula. It's pulpy and strange, and it suits the game's central mechanic — a bullet-stacking system that replaces conventional gunplay with something closer to puzzle-solving under pressure. You collect magical ammunition, arrange it in your magazine, and fire it in sequence. Poison spreads. Lightning chains. Ricochet rounds punish clustered enemies. A well-timed combination can summon a dragon. Finding multiple bullets from the same thematic pool is where the strategy deepens, and since every run deals you a different hand, no two attempts play out the same way.
Death returns you to a town hub where NPCs offer quests and upgrades that carry forward — the familiar roguelike loop, but grounded in a world with personality. The demo covers two floors and the hub itself; the full release will expand to four floors with additional secrets threaded throughout.
Perhaps the most distinctive feature is social: at the game over screen, players can copy a link to their run and share it. Friends can then review the exact build, watch it unfold in real time, and trace the decisions that led to triumph or collapse. It turns a private run into a conversation.
For a studio built on frictionless mobile hits, Guncrypt is a calculated reach toward a more demanding audience. The demo is the opening argument.
Halfbrick, the Australian studio behind mobile gaming landmarks like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, is stepping onto unfamiliar ground. After years of dominating the phone gaming market, the company has built a roguelike for PC called Guncrypt, and as of this week, anyone curious can download a free demo on Steam.
The demo is live through June 22 as part of Steam Next Fest, Valve's seasonal showcase for upcoming games. It's a limited window, but enough time to get a feel for what Halfbrick is attempting: a dungeon crawler set in a haunted Western frontier town where you play a newly appointed deputy sent underground to rescue missing townspeople, recover treasure, and break a curse placed by a wizard named Skulldarkula.
The real innovation here is the bullet-stacking system. Instead of traditional gunplay, you collect magical ammunition with different properties and arrange them in your gun's magazine in whatever order you choose. Fire them off, and they activate in sequence, creating combinations and effects that shift based on your arrangement. One bullet might spread poison. Another pierces armor. A third ricochets between enemies or summons a dragon. The system creates what Halfbrick calls themed pools: Lightning rounds that chain and shock, Poison bullets that deal creeping damage over time, Vulnerable ammo that shreds armor and makes everything hit harder, Root bullets for crowd control, and Ricochet rounds that punish enemies for standing too close together. Finding multiple bullets from the same pool is where the real strategic depth emerges. No two runs will feel identical because the bullets you find and how you arrange them are always different.
When you die—and you will die, it's a roguelike—you return to a town hub where you can talk to NPCs, take on quests, and unlock upgrades that carry forward into your next attempt. The demo includes two playable floors called The Crypt and The Haunted Mines, plus access to the hub itself. The full game will expand to four floors. Halfbrick has also hinted that players should watch for secrets and unique challenges hidden throughout.
One feature stands out for its social angle: you can save and share your runs with friends. At the game over screen, you copy a link and send it to someone else. They can then see your exact build, watch how it played out in real time, review your damage curve, and understand the decisions you made. It's a way to turn a single run into a conversation piece, to show off a clever combination or a lucky streak.
For a studio built on the back of casual mobile hits, Guncrypt represents a calculated bet on a different audience and a different platform. The demo is the invitation to see if that bet makes sense.
Citas Notables
A rogue-like dungeon crawler set in a haunted Western frontier town where you play as the newly appointed deputy tasked with venturing into the ghoulish underworld beneath Guncrypt to rescue missing townsfolk and break a wizard's curse.— Halfbrick's description of Guncrypt
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does a mobile gaming giant suddenly care about Steam and roguelikes?
Halfbrick built its empire on games that worked in your pocket—quick, satisfying, endlessly replayable. Roguelikes have the same DNA. The move to PC isn't abandonment; it's expansion into a space where those same instincts can breathe.
The bullet-stacking thing—is that just a gimmick, or does it actually change how you play?
It's structural. You're not reacting to what the game throws at you; you're building your weapon before you enter the fight. Every run, you're solving a puzzle with different pieces. That's the opposite of mobile's reflexive gameplay.
So the demo is basically a proof of concept.
Exactly. Two floors, the hub, enough to understand the system. If the bullet combinations feel good and the runs feel different, people will want the full four floors.
What's the town hub for? Why not just jump straight into dungeons?
It's the breathing room. You die, you come back, you talk to people, you unlock things. It gives your progress weight. You're not just chasing a high score; you're building something.
And the shareable runs—that's clever.
It turns a single playthrough into a story you can show someone. Here's the build I found, here's how it performed. It's the opposite of a leaderboard. It's about the journey, not the rank.