Sulfur is the unexpected Pathways Into Darkness and Tarkov combo nobody saw coming

Comparing games with one another is tricky business, but upon logging into Sulfur‘s new demo I was immediately flabbergasted with how oddly similar it felt to Bungie’s ancient Pathways Into Darkness and – yes – Escape From Tarkov. Indeed, I am talking about the funny-looking roguelite FPS where you shoot goblins.

First things first, I highly recommend you give Sulfur a fair shot via the game’s delightfully comprehensive demo, available on Steam. This wacky-looking shooter somehow manages to encapsulate Tarkov‘s weapon modification and inventory systems in its initial cave-bound sequence, albeit in an obviously simplified and streamlined state. The vibe, though, is the main draw here, because the game feels ominous (yet inviting) in a very strange way that’s bound to be familiar if you ever spent any time playing Bungie’s oldest games.

Sulfur Demo is available now

The demo of Sulfur should give you more than enough gameplay to see whether the game tickles your fancy. It took me just over three hours to wrap up my first successful run through the caves, and I definitely see myself coming back to it, even though the cave section does end up repeating a fair bit in the demo.

Sulfur‘s guns feel chunky and satisfying, and its oddly macabre take on cutesy mobile game graphics is a sight to behold. The movement and jumping are admittedly somewhat rough and slippery for the time being, but this too can be tuned if you’re lucky enough to find the right type of shoes. Broadly, the gameplay is surprisingly satisfying and if the full game’s Steam screenshots are anything to go by, the demo’s caves are only just scratching the surface of what else is coming as part of the whole package.

We do not have an actual release date for Sulfur just yet, mind: the developer Perfect Random aims to have the game out sometime in 2024, but that’s all we know for the time being.