Ben Was Assimilated

Ben Was Assimilated is a deeply engaging turn-based hack and slash adventure where time and motion are tied entirely to your actions. Developed by EAtkin, this unique title blends role-playing elements, strategy, and puzzle platformer style thinking within a structured roguelike framework. The core experience of Ben Was Assimilated revolves around navigating through a distinct world where you can run around, defeat bad guys, and ultimately face the overarching theme of getting assimilated. Offering roughly half an hour of concentrated base gameplay, it packs a surprisingly dense experience filled with a wide variety of enemies, ranging from typical terrifying monsters to completely innocent farm animals. As you explore the map, you will discover a wide variety of weapons and equipment to find, all while interacting with charming dialogue that features Derbyshire dialect prominently throughout the entire game. The developer drew deep inspiration from real-life acquaintances and dedicated dialect reference pages to craft this distinct, localized regional voice that adds massive personality to the adventure. Created using GameMaker Studio 2, with the full open-source code generously available on GitHub for non-commercial use, the game is accompanied by an extensive array of bonus content. Players can access the actual GMS2 project file, a beautifully detailed world map, and a massive 34-page booklet. This comprehensive booklet serves as a detailed strategy guide, offers fascinating developer commentary, and provides an in-depth guide to all enemies, weapons, and equipment. The visual aesthetics rely heavily on vibrant asset graphics from Kenney.nl, while the authentic retro audio atmosphere was meticulously produced using Bleeper for the crunchy sound effects and Pata Tracker for the nostalgic chiptune soundtrack, with additional music and moral support from Richard Kerry and concept design help from Ben Fearn.

Time Only Moves

The fundamental mechanic that defines the entire structure of the game is the brilliant system where things only move when you do. This turn-based approach transforms a traditional action game into a thoughtful, strategic puzzle platformer and roguelike hybrid. Every single time you press the Directional keys, the world reacts in tandem. If you choose to stand perfectly still, the enemies stand perfectly still, giving you the necessary, unlimited time to plan your next strike, analyze enemy positioning, or plan a tactical retreat. You can start hacking and slashing right away, but the overall pacing is entirely dictated by your physical inputs on the keyboard. It forces players to consider their positioning carefully before committing to an action, as moving towards a monster means the monster also gets a turn to move or attack you simultaneously. This deliberate, methodical pacing heavily contrasts with frantic real-time combat, rewarding tactical thinking, patience, and careful observation of the diverse enemy movement patterns across the map.

Instant Respawn

Death is an inevitable part of the journey when facing hordes of monsters, but the game heavily respects the player's time by featuring a forgiving instant respawn if you die. Rather than forcing you through frustratingly long loading screens or tedious menu navigation, falling in combat immediately places you back into the action without delay. This mechanic encourages constant experimentation and risk-taking during combat. Recent devlog updates have even added helpful checkpoints near the beginning to smooth out the initial difficulty curve for newcomers. Furthermore, the developer meticulously patched various critical issues related to respawning. For example, they ensured that active weaponry no longer improperly despawns upon death, a bug which previously made recovery almost impossible. They also fixed a bug where the player's projectiles would deactivate when far enough away. An on-screen guiding indicator also appears immediately after the first assimilation to ensure you always know exactly where to go upon your rapid return to life.

No Level Grinding

In a genre often characterized by tedious progression systems, this game proudly features absolutely no level grinding whatsoever. The estimated half an hour of gameplay is highly concentrated and focused entirely on raw player skill, proper equipment usage, and smart tactical movement rather than artificially inflating your character's stats through repetitive, mindless tasks. Your core strength comes solely from the wide variety of weapons and equipment you find scattered throughout the world, along with your deep understanding of the unique turn-based combat system. A dedicated in-game weapon shop provides clear, concise information about the gear available, allowing you to make highly informed decisions about your combat loadout. Because there are no numerical levels to grind, every single enemy encounter must be approached as a dangerous strategic puzzle rather than a simple test of numerical superiority.

Equipment Randomiser

For players seeking endless replayability and highly unpredictable challenges, the game officially includes a robust randomiser which randomises all weapon and equipment locations across the entire map.

• Directional keys manage your movement and simultaneously advance the in-game time.
• Action commands allow you to start hacking and slashing right away.
• The randomiser shuffles every piece of gear, forcing constant combat adaptation.
• Options are available in the menu to flip controls entirely.
• Full support is included for players using AZERTY keyboards.

Activating the randomiser fundamentally alters how you approach the adventure. Instead of relying on a perfectly memorized path to the optimal gear, you must survive using whatever unpredictable tools the randomiser provides you. This specific mechanic breathes significant new life into all subsequent playthroughs, ensuring that the half-hour campaign remains fresh, surprising, and consistently challenging every single time you boot up the game.

Permadeath Option

While the standard gameplay mode is quite forgiving with its rapid respawns, hardcore fans of the genre are heavily catered to as the game purposefully includes a permadeath option just in case you enjoy playing games over from the start. A true roguelike experience traditionally requires massive high stakes, and combining this brutal permadeath option with the unpredictable weapon randomiser gets you extremely close to that traditional, punishing gameplay loop. When the permadeath option is fully enabled, the instant respawn safety net is completely removed from the code. Every single movement made with the Directional keys becomes a highly critical life-or-death decision. One wrong step against the Derbyshire-speaking foes, a miscalculation against an innocent farm animal, or encountering the rare bug where a tile created over an enemy hard locks the game, could immediately erase all your hard-earned progress. This optional mechanic successfully transforms a relatively short, accessible adventure into a deeply tense, high-stakes tactical trial where mastering the turn-based system is the only possible path to ultimate victory.