Indie roguelike beats AAA publishers to the punch with a whole game that’s literally just a slot machine, but it’s actually a cool-looking RPG with no microtransactions

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear “slot machine game”? You’d be forgiven if it wasn’t “really neat roguelike RPG,” but indie studio Turtle Cream is making exactly that, with a unique adventure that’ll see a cutesy protagonist’s fate hinge on the outcome of the slots. 

RP7 is described as a “slot-managing roguelike,” which I can’t say is a genre I’ve ever encountered before, and one I likely would have assumed was totally microtransaction-fuelled if I hadn’t seen the trailer for this indie first. Players are tasked with spinning seven different slots on their screen while their protagonist constantly moves forward on a quest to find their lost pet frog, with the slots deciding the enemies they fight, items they pick up, and more. 

It’s a really interesting concept, especially as the game is controlled by just a few buttons on your keyboard, and it’s set to launch with five semi-random stages, over 10 bosses, more than 40 enemies, and three unique playable characters, seemingly including a knight, ninja, and archer.

As your protagonist progresses through their journey, they’ll encounter chests filled with various items to help them, as well as different NPCs inhabiting taverns, alchemists, witches’ houses and more, who might give out some quests of their own. The art style is adorable, and this is highlighted by the characters themselves, who all look like little toy board game pieces. 

It’s clearly got prospective players interested, anyway, as it’s already hit its Kickstarter target after launching its campaign at the end of last month, with £4,001 (around $5,107.06) raised by 55 people at the time of writing – you can take a look at its page here. With that, it won’t be too long at all until RP7 is expected to release into early access, with Turtle Cream aiming to do so by “late summer,” but if you’re keen to give it a go now, there’s a free demo available on Steam. 

If you’re looking for more games to dive into right now, be sure to check out our roundup of the 25 best roguelike games.