As the summer season heats up, we’ve packed in a few gaming sessions to play the latest and greatest. We fought a brutal fight in a demo of Dieseldome: Oil and Blood. Listened to some rocking tunes and got our space metal adventures in Slaughter Void. Battled for the American colonies in Holdfast: American Revolution. And finally, used our lunch time to get in a card game of Lunchbreak Tactics. Check out everything we played this month below in the latest Gamebox 2.0.
Slaughter Void (Zach): Developed by Dread Night and published by HYPERSTRANGE, Slaughter Void is a new, brutally fast, heavy metal-driven action game. You play as a warrior entering the mysterious realm known as The Void. An evil cult is trying to bring back their demonic god by awakening your goddess from her eternal slumber, which would destroy your world. You have to fight your way through various realms and slaughter hordes of cultists to keep them from completing their dark rituals. If you’re a fan of Hotline Miami, Slaughter Void plays very similarly: you play from a top-down perspective, and the action is extremely fast-paced and brutal. You can die in one hit, as do almost all the enemies, so you have to make sure you hit them first. You have a main melee weapon along with a kick, and you can pick up a limited number of ranged weapons. You also have a special ability that can clear out a group of enemies that charges back up with each kill you make. If you can string together enough kills, you can gain a shield that will keep you alive slightly longer than normal.
The goal of each stage is to kill all the enemies, and the quicker you can achieve that, the more skulls you can earn at the end of the stage. The skulls are your currency, which you can use back at the haven known as the Astarium, where there’s a cast of odd characters that you can talk to to get a bit more of the lore and story, as well as buy upgrades, new weapons, and items to switch up your loadout. The game isn’t a roguelite, as the stages are not randomized but handcrafted by the developers and remain the same each time you play. You are trying to complete the stages and progress to the next area, not trying to go as far as you can in a randomized run, and there are no perks or upgrades that get added as you are playing the stages.
The game absolutely crushes it in the presentation with a ’70s and ’80s fantasy-inspired aesthetic that calls to mind things like Conan and Frank Franzetta art, combined with some truly awesome heavy metal pounding in each level that really gets you into the adrenaline-fueled bloodlust that you need to complete each stage quickly. Along with the Hotline Miami-style gameplay, the game also seems inspired by classics like Gauntlet, with its stage layouts and enemy swarms. There’s a good variety of enemies, ranging from hordes of smaller enemies to bigger bruisers who take multiple hits to take down. As you progress, you learn to prioritize certain enemies, like wizards who can strike you from across the map.
Slaughter Void is a fast and brutal action game that features some fantastic heavy metal aesthetics and a nice change of pace from all the roguelites and survivor-like games out there, with its handcrafted levels that don’t change and let you replay them to really learn them and improve your clear times. With it also being under $10, it’s pretty much a no-brainer if you are a fan of this type of game. It’s out now on Steam, and you can check out the demo before you decide to buy.
Holdfast: Nations at War (Chris): With a focus on large-scale battles and historical weaponry, Holdfast: Nations at War made its mark as an FPS with slower combat that rewarded team coordination over fast aim. Anvil Games has followed up with a new expansion, Holdfast: American Revolution, which brings the familiar gentlemanly warfare formula to the American Revolutionary War. Holdfast core gameplay revolves around massive battles where positioning and teamwork are key, but where things can fall apart in an instant the moment someone breaks formation. Weapons are limited to 18th-century arsenals; rifles are single-shot and have long reload speeds, hand-to-hand combat is limited, and a cannonball is the only air support you can get. But with so many allies and enemies scattered on a battlefield, there is glory to be gained at any moment.
Holdfast: American Revolution offers players multiple soldier classes to choose from; Line infantry are common foot soldiers designed for volley fire and holding ground in formation. Skirmishers and riflemen trade that staying power for mobility and range, picking off targets from the flanks or harassing a line. Officers and support roles lean defensive by nature, rallying troops, managing morale, and keeping a position from crumbling under pressure, whereas cavalry and shock troops are purely offensive tools, meant to break formations and punish anyone who strays too far from their squad. One role is never the perfect answer for the entire battle. A defensive line that’s holding strong might suddenly need someone to push forward and seize a captured position, while an aggressive charge that’s stalled out often needs to fall back into a defensive crouch to regroup. Smart players read those shifts and switch roles accordingly.
The big fun factor is taking part in a huge match against other players. Dozens of players charging the battlefield at once mix a blend of serious tactical warfare and absurd, memorable chaos. You’ll watch a perfectly executed flanking maneuver fall apart because three guys decided to have a bayonet duel instead, or find yourself bonding with a stranger over a shared moment of dumb luck in the middle of a firefight. Maybe stop and listen to some musicians play your favorite tunes on a drum set. Or a lively conversation between players who take their roles to heart (Also a mute button in case it’s a little too lively). It takes a handful of matches before you get adjusted to the weapons, classes, and roles. Even once it does, skill alone won’t save you from getting cut down by a stray musket ball or sword swing in the middle of a skirmish. Survival will be tense and frustrating in the moment, but it’s also part of what keeps the game fresh, since no two battles play out quite the same way.
Where the game rewards real effort is in squad play. Players who actually use squad sizes, issue commands, and coordinate as a unit can punch well above their weight and turn the tide of battles that would otherwise be unwinnable. Going it alone is absolutely an option, and there’s a certain thrill to rushing a line solo, but the odds are heavily stacked against any lone wolf. You may catch two or more enemies off guard, but the person with a bullet in the chamber is going to win most fights. For fans of similar games like Hell Let Loose, where one-shot kills demand a slower, more deliberate approach. American Revolution feels very arcadey, and the tactics lean more improvisational than chess-like, which won’t be for everyone but suits the game’s chaotic charm. Holdfast seems to encourage experimentation, whether that means a full-on bayonet charge or just throwing punches because you didn’t pick up enough ammo. It rarely punishes you for trying something bold so much as for trying something careless. For FPS players looking for something with real staying power to entertain, Holdfast: American Revolution delivers plenty of replayability, especially once you factor in the variety offered by other expansions in the series. At the end of the day, this is a game best enjoyed with people, and for now, the servers are stocked with a crowd to share in the madness. Holdfast: American Revolution was released on June 11th and is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Dieseldome: Oil & Blood – Demo (Zach): Ancient Rome gets a high-octane twist in the upcoming roguelite shooter Dieseldome: Oil & Blood. Developed by GHST Studios, you are a gladiator in Ancient Rome, fighting in the Dieseldome arena against hordes of enemies for the entertainment of the Emperor and the people of Rome. Unlike real life, however, you are armed with gas-powered machine guns, flamethrowers, or crossbows instead of the traditional gladiator weapons. The game feels like it’s inspired by both modern shooters, like Doom (2016), with its movement options and constant push to engage, along with classics like Serious Sam, where there are just tons of enemies zeroing in on you, and even some explosive enemies who are screaming at you as they close in. Luckily, you can move extremely quickly, and you have options like a double jump. Each character (3 in this demo version) has a special ability, like Spartacus has a shoulder charge that can both take out enemies and also get you quickly out of a situation and across a big chunk of the level. You can also use parkour skills, like running on walls, to quickly navigate around the arena.
In this demo version of the game, you can play either a survival mode, where you need to try and last 10 minutes without dying, or a Tournament mode, where you try to complete a series of objectives, like killing a specific number of enemies or surviving a certain amount of time. In each mode, you can earn perks in a Survivor-style way, which can upgrade things like your weapons’ rate of fire and damage, or give you allies like a tank or eagle to help take out the enemies. Each perk usually has some negative quality to balance things out, so you may increase your weapon’s damage but become slower in trade, so you need to look and figure out which perk matches your playstyle or what penalty you can live with to get a certain perk. You build up experience regardless of whether you live or die, which levels up your character and opens up more options to unlock before the next run. You can also activate “bets” before a run, which will add some twist to the run, like low gravity, but give you a big boost if you can complete the run or challenge with that extra twist activated. The game has an old-school “boomer shooter” style, and the demo only features one arena, but it offers lots of interesting verticality and features like an oil chute that can launch you across the map. Like Slaughter Void, it’s also driven by a hard-rocking, heavy-metal soundtrack that adds to the fast-paced, brutal combat and complements the Mad Max meets Ancient Rome aesthetic.
Since this is just a demo, the game isn’t even in Early Access yet. You’ll probably run into some rough spots and bugs while checking it out, but the core idea is solid, as is the gameplay, and there seems to be a lot of room to grow, improve, and add new elements. You can check out the demo on Steam now, and it will enter Early Access soon. The release date for the full game is currently TBD.
Lunchbreak Tactics (Chris): Trading Card Games have been widely popular over the last several years, but for some gamers, the appeal of collecting cards, building decks, and finding players to improve their skills can be daunting. Especially so if you have limited time. Borealys Games and Vsoos Games have made things easier to get all the thrills of playing a TCG without any of the hassle of those limitations in Lunchbreak Tactics. Set in a workplace dying of boredom, a group of employees crafted a new card game to pass the time during their breaks. But this once simple distraction has spun into a craze across the store, and whenever there is downtime, there’s a chance for a quick battle. This quirky TCG simulator mixes all the fun of deck-building and tactical thinking, and fast-tracks progress so players of all skill levels can play simply by assembling cards in their hands.
Lunchbreak Tactics isn’t quite a tactical card game in which players build up a hand and exchange attacks. The battle system is automated, so the actual turn-based fighting will play on its own. The gameplay mashes traditional card battling with roguelite design into a card game that focuses solely on management. The presentation of the game has the same charms as an anime, with colorful characters and sugary dialogue, delivering all the inspirational lines and cheesy taunts. Planning is the core loop of the gameplay, since the battling mechanics are automated. Going purely off the stats of the card and the turn-based combat rules, a victor is already calculated before the match is won. Who knew that statistical analysis was secretly the driving force behind battles? (A lot of people actually. Based on math).
Like traditional card games, the player will draw cards to place in their hands, then find the best strategic positions to place them into a battlefield. Every player starts off with a limited “card budget” that allows them to place cards into play. This budget cannot be banked and is reset to the max limit every round. Cards that are not selected for play will be discarded, but you can freeze a few cards in your hand to use them again the next round. Tactical planning is key to maximizing the budget and card options. There are two main types of cards: Creature cards, which feature cute monster designs. Item cards, which have to be equipped by the creatures or instantly consumed to permanently give perks. The type of creatures and perks all relate to the different decks to play from. As of now, there are 6 different decks, with 24 creature types and 8 unique item cards. You play with two decks of different types to best assemble your cards and form a battle plan.
Every battle is a 12-round match-up, where the player will challenge 12 different players in a brisk, automated 1v1 battle. The battle system is designed around the cards getting progressively stronger as you tackle the 12 rounds. The cards that are dealt to the player’s hand will either improve through leveling up and upgrades or be discarded for stronger cards later on. The first and last match will have different cards and play style based on how well the cards are managed. Lunchbreak Tactics simplifies many of the nuances of card games; it does a great job of capturing the experience of strategic planning and adaptability in card management. Plans evolve as the matches progress, opening up different combinations of cards and new approaches to power up your deck. For gamers who want to dip into card games without the commitment of opening card packs, or those looking for a casual challenge without any gacha systems, Lunchbreak Tactics is the perfect game for your work break and more. Lunchbreak Tactics was released on Apr 28, 2026, for PC.
