Movie Games S.A., and My Next Games announced that the rogue-lite dungeon-crawler, Soulblight, will launch on Steam starting March 15th next week. The upcoming game will feature top-down, real-time action-oriented gameplay, and a story where your main character treads a fine line of blurred morals.

This isn’t just another rogue-lite RPG, though. Soulblight has a really fascinating leveling system centered around “Tainting Mechanics”. Instead of grinding out XP on low-level mobs and dungeon runs, you gain XP based on doing the things that acclimate to your given profession. For instance, if you have a strong affinity for gold, the more gold you collect the stronger you’ll become. If you have an affinity for alcohol, the more you drink the more you’ll be rewarded.

Essentially, doing what your profession warrants is how you get stronger in the game. It actually makes a lot of sense and is pretty much how real life works.

You can see how the mechanics are put into play with the gameplay trailer below.

I know not everyone is keen on top-down games, but you have to admit that Soulblight has a slick setup and fantastic sound design.

The trailer actually took me by surprise because I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be so ominous.

The thing is, it’s a trial-and-error kind of game, where you’ll need to learn how to fight, recognize patterns and focus on getting good in order to crawl the dungeons effectively.

Before entering into the Sanctuary grounds, you’ll be able to select from a cache of Taints, each one giving you an advantage and a vice all at once. For instance, the Hoarder Taint will increase your passive power the more you horde different items and stack your inventory. This means you’ll become quite powerful so long as you don’t die and keep collecting items during your run.

If you’re interested in Soulblight and would like to learn more about the Taint mechanic, you can do so by visiting the Steam store page. The game is due for release on March 15th.