Co-Op Sci-Fi Shooter, Deadzone: Rogue Landing, Grows Stronger in Early Access
Prophecy Games, a Georgia-based development team that’s part of Hi-Rez Studios (SMITE, Palladins), is releasing its latest game, Deadzone: Rogue Landing, into Early Access on PC on 29 April, 2025. The first two chapters will be available, with a third on the way.
Deadzone: Rogue Landing is a cooperative FPS set aboard a spaceship, the ISS-X, overrun by biomechanical creatures. Players can play solo or team up with up to two other players, and work to uncover what happened on the ISS-X. Each death also lets players start again with unlocked, permanent upgrades to change the tide of battle.
“Blast through hordes of enemies with devastating weapons. Define your combat style with powerful augments and upgrades” said the developers in a press release. “Grow stronger with each death, solo or in co-op. Fight. Die. Revive. Repeat.”
Amnesia? Why Not!
Deadzone: Rogue Landing uses the old standby of an amnesiac player character, so half the fun is finding out why they’re on the ISS-X in the first place, nevermind what caused everything to go to hell. Enemies come in a variety of flavors, from hulking bosses to hunter-drones, robo-spiders to mindless skull-faced spacemen.
Sci-fi FPS games are a dime a dozen, so Deadzone: Rogue Landing has its work cut out for it to give gamers something different. One way it does this is by giving players a headstart on each level through stealth: they start cloaked and can recon an area before deciding when to start a firefight.
It also adds a layer of roguelike gameplay, in that when players die it’s not game over, but a chance to restart with new upgrades and abilities. There are also over 30 weapons to find and use, including ones with powerful elemental attacks, including fire, ice and lightning.
Rated Over 90%
Early player reviews have already started coming in and the general consensus is that it looks and plays very well already. Examples from the game’s official site include:
“Borderlands / Destiny lite with a sprinkle of System Shock Remake visual style. Game is phenomenal, and I hope it’s going to get only better.”
“Great game to turn off your brain and just shoot stuff.”
“Gun play and movement feels smooth, there is a solid sense of meta progression between runs and enough variety that you’ll be entertained for a while.”
Deadzone: Rogue Landing is technically Prophecy Game’s third title since it was founded in 2019, but in reality is closer to a reboot of a previous game by the studio, Starsiege: Deadzone, which is no longer available. This game had the same overall set-up as Rogue Landing, except that the spaceship is procedurally generated and falling apart, so players have a set time to escape before everything explodes.
Prophecy Games’ parent company, Hi-Rez, has come under fire from players before for abandoning previous games, most notably its flagship MOBA, SMITE. In February 2025, Hi-Rez laid off a good chunk of its staff and ceased development on SMITE, Paladins, and Rogue Company.
