"Ampersat" is now available for Xbox consoles

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Press release:
The Santa Monica-based (CA, the US) indie games publisher GrabTheGames and Australia-based indie games developer Gaterooze, Ink , are today very happy and thrilled to announce that their retro ARPG/shooter “Ampersat“, is now available for Xbox consoles via the Microsoft store for 9.99 USD.

“Ampersat” is a shooty, slashy, RPG-y game mixing old-school/retro and modern sensibilities. A blend of influences from Gauntlet and Smash TV to Zelda and a dash of Angband, this is a handcrafted adventure with much appeal to fans of Roguelites.

A labor of love from a solo developer, Ampersat distills some favorite childhood gaming experiences into a fresh, fun hybrid that sees you killing a lot of monsters, finding a lot of loot, freeing captured letters (um, what?) and growing from a world-weary warrior mage into a powerful smashing/blasting machine!

@ Main Features @

– More than 50 handcrafted levels, many with exploration and light puzzles –

– Optional endless procedural area –

– Original gameplay elements based around freeing and capturing letters –

– Flexible character progression with extensive skill tree –

– Hundreds of unique pieces of loot find, buy, sell and augment –

– Upgradeable town hub –

– Tackle stages in the order you choose –

– 50 unique creature types with individual AI, 10 fiendish bosses –

– Drop-in local async co-op (and online using Steam Remote Play Together), suitable for young players to team up with their parents –

You may notice the main character and enemies are ASCII letters – yes, this is an aesthetic throwback to the original Rogue games, and the blending of these with colorful 3D top-down environments was the idea that first spawned Ampersat. Likewise, Commodore 64 SID chip sound effects are used alongside real-world music for a distinctive experience. But just what is an “ampersat?” It’s the leading contender for the official name of the @ symbol, of course!

Gentlheim has been invaded by Lord Z, who has surrounded the village with 5 extraplanar towers and the dungeons beneath, filled with evil creatures. Even worse, he has stolen language itself from the townspeople! As the warrior mage Ampersat, you must venture deep into the dungeons and high above the land in the treacherous towers, defeat countless minions and restore language to Gentlheim so the townsfolk can communicate properly and help you defeat Lord Z himself.

Gentlheim has shops to buy and sell goods; an Inn to heal up, level up, and stash gold to retrieve after death; and a deep Well leading to randomly generated procedural levels. There are various structures you can pay to upgrade and, as language returns to the village, townsfolk who may need something… Gentlheim hides a few surprises for the inquisitive gamer and provides a hub area to approach different stages in any order you like, or revisit levels you’ve already beaten.

The Well is where the “roguish” aesthetics are turned up to 11, providing short, sharp, loot-gathering deep delves once you repair it. There’s an old rumor that something very special is buried at the bottom of the well… but no one has ever reached those depths.

Ampersat’s async co-op is true drop-in, drop-out at any time. The second player controls a fairy that hovers around Ampersat and also launches attacks. Will you trust them with your best spell? No? They might steal it anyway… While the fairy’s shots aren’t as powerful and contribute to overheating, it has the huge advantage of being invulnerable. The perfect partner… if you can get along.

About GrabTheGames:
Grab The Games started with two gamers who were tired of buying video games at their full retail prices.

We have discovered that there are a lot of great deals on console games for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4 and PC out there. Why pay full price when you can get huge discounts by shopping around online?

We are proud to share Deals Tracker (our automated price-checker tool) to do just that! Now, with Deals Tracker, you can instantly compare prices on lots of stores and consoles and personalize your search with filters.

Now, you don’t have to miss any of the deals, no matter where they are coming from. When Grab The Games started out in 2012, we really had no idea what we were building, or how things would turn out. Over the years, we’ve come to realize that this is a never-ending, forever-evolving journey.

We will continue to develop better tools, and push to provide the best resource possible for finding all of the hottest video games deals that are available.