Skull Horde doesn’t waste time trying to be serious. You’re a floating skull. You spawn skeletons. You divebomb cultists. That’s the game, it works great.
Released as a free demo during Steam’s strategy and tactics event, Skull Horde is an autobattler roguelike with real energy. You control a hovering skull necromancer, summoning different skeleton units, collecting loot, and throwing yourself into battle alongside your undead army. The mix of hands-off team fights and high-risk player movement gives the combat a rhythm that feels more active than most games in the genre.
Each run starts simple: a few bones, a few skeletons. But it ramps up fast. Units gain traits. Synergies stack. You start to build weird combos: archers with knockback, berserkers with AOE death triggers, tanks that explode when they’re re-summoned. All while you’re dashing around the map, trying not to get destroyed mid-round.
The style leans into it. Big sprites, chunky effects, and a world filled with rats, demons, and rival necromancers. It’s funny in the right way, silly, but smart enough to know what it’s doing. Skeletons joke between rounds. Bosses taunt you with cheap magic. And sometimes the best solution is to just throw your skull and hope it hits something important.
The demo is available now on Steam, with the full release planned for later this year. If you liked Despot’s Game but wanted more player control and personality, this might be the one to keep an eye on.
