Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride developer leaves mobile megahits behind with his new, Spelunky-inspired “lovecraftian roguelike”

One veteran mobile game designer is delving into the dangerous waters of solo development with a new PC roguelike that’s riffing on one of the genre’s greatest: Spelunky. 

You’ve probably played Fruit Ninja, right? If not, you’ve almost definitely seen ads for the game where you swipe the screen to cut watermelons and apples in half. What about Jetpack Joyride, the side-scrolling endless runner that also became a mobile mega hit? Well, both were designed by Luke Muscat during his tenure at Halfbrick Games, but the developer is now working on a new adventure all on his lonesome.

Feed The Deep is his new game, described as a lovecraftian roguelike where you scuba dive into the pitch black ocean depths and procedurally generated undersea caves to collect gold, upgrade your equipment, and try not to be the meat sack that literally feeds the deep, if you know what I mean.

The Steam description cites genre heavyweight Spelunky and roguelike survival hit Dome Keeper as inspirations, which makes sense since Feed The Deep is also playing around with very survival-y management bits like an oxygen meter. I can already see some of the tense, risk and reward type of decisions that we’ll be making here. Should I drag round a many bits and bobs as possible, potentially hindering my mobility or getting me stuck on tight corners, or cower away with a single resource at a time? I’m just excited get spooked by these eldritch beasties regardless when Feed The Deep comes to PC sometime this year.

For now, check out all the upcoming indie games of 2024 and beyond to see what else is up next.