When was the last time you saw ASCII art outside of a retro forum signature or an old-school text adventure? Solo developer Andrei Fomin decided that keyboard characters deserved better than nostalgia, so he spent years building Effulgence RPG, a party-based sci-fi RPG where everything from enemies to environments is constructed entirely from text symbols arranged in 3D space. The game is launching November 20, 2025, and after playing the demo, it’s clear this isn’t just a visual gimmick.
What makes Effulgence special isn’t just that it looks like nothing else on Steam. It’s that the ASCII aesthetic is baked into the gameplay itself. When you defeat enemies, they literally break apart into individual characters and symbols that become your crafting materials. You’re not collecting generic loot, you’re harvesting the very particles that enemies were made from.
Breaking Enemies Into Raw Materials
The core mechanic revolves around combat, deconstruction, and creation. Your party battles creatures made of text symbols in turn-based combat. Once defeated, these enemies dissolve into particles, individual characters that you can collect. These particles aren’t just cosmetic, they’re the only way to gather crafting resources in the entire game.
You take these harvested particles to a matter printer, a special device that lets you forge weapons, armor, and equipment. The game features over 100 different blueprints you can print, each requiring specific combinations of particles. It’s a satisfying loop that makes every enemy encounter meaningful beyond just gaining experience points.
The Visual Style That Started It All
Andrei Fomin didn’t choose ASCII art as a shortcut. He wanted to create something that felt like a pure artistic expression, and the style delivers exactly that. Unlike flat, monochrome ASCII art from the early internet days, Effulgence uses multicolored characters positioned in actual 3D space with dynamic lighting effects. The result is simultaneously retro and futuristic, familiar yet completely alien.
Everything in the game, from your party members to UI elements to massive boss creatures, is rendered as shimmering text characters. There’s no sprite scaling or rotation tricks here. These are actual keyboard symbols creating depth, movement, and atmosphere. According to PC Gamer’s coverage, they put the game on their watch list specifically because the ASCII implementation is so striking and well-executed.
A Sci-Fi Mystery Worth Exploring
The game’s premise is genuinely intriguing. The story revolves around signals arriving from a galaxy a million light-years away. When these transmissions reach Earth, they can only be decoded as fragments of text symbols that form animations made from ASCII characters. You’re essentially exploring a world that may no longer exist, as the signal has been traveling for a million years. Or maybe it still exists and something dangerous is coming.
This narrative framing cleverly justifies the ASCII aesthetic while creating an atmosphere of mystery and potential danger. As you explore dozens of unique locations, you’ll piece together what happened in this distant world and whether its fate has any connection to ours.
Made in Unity by One Developer
Andrei Fomin developed Effulgence RPG solo from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He built the entire thing in Unity using C#, which makes the technical achievement even more impressive. The game runs smoothly on Linux systems and Steam Deck through Proton compatibility, with the developer specifically confirming it performs great on Valve’s handheld with controller-first UI.
The game participated in Steam Next Fest in October 2025, where it caught the attention of Linux gaming communities and ASCII art enthusiasts alike. Gaming on Linux specifically highlighted how well it runs on desktop Linux systems like Ubuntu and Arch, praising the slick animated 3D ASCII implementation.
What You Can Expect
Effulgence RPG offers a complete role-playing experience beyond its unique visuals. The game features an advanced character upgrade system, letting you develop your party members with various skills and abilities. Exploration matters too, with dozens of locations to discover, each offering different challenges and resources to harvest.
The crafting system is deep, with a wide variety of particle types you can collect and hundreds of item combinations to print. The game balances accessibility with depth, making it approachable for newcomers while offering complexity for RPG veterans who want to optimize their builds and strategies.
Try Before You Buy
The free demo is available right now on Steam and Itch.io, giving you a solid taste of what the full game offers. Based on community feedback from multiple playtests, Fomin has been actively updating and improving the experience, showing the kind of developer responsiveness that indie game fans appreciate.
For those worried about motion sickness or readability concerns with ASCII graphics, the demo is your chance to test how the visuals work for you. Multiple players have confirmed that despite the unconventional art style, the game is readable and easy on the eyes, with the 3D text characters creating surprising clarity rather than confusion.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Effulgence RPG release?
Effulgence RPG is scheduled to launch on November 20, 2025, exclusively on PC via Steam.
How much will Effulgence RPG cost?
The developer hasn’t announced pricing yet, but you can wishlist the game on Steam to get notified when pricing information and the exact launch details are available.
Can I play Effulgence RPG on Steam Deck or Linux?
Yes! The developer has confirmed that Effulgence RPG runs great on Steam Deck via Proton, with controller-first UI design and readable ASCII rendering on the handheld display. It also works perfectly on Linux desktop systems.
Is the ASCII art hard to read or understand?
Despite initial concerns some players might have, multiple reviews confirm the 3D ASCII art is surprisingly readable. The multicolored characters, dynamic lighting, and 3D positioning create clear visual distinctions between objects, enemies, and environments.
What makes Effulgence different from other ASCII games?
Most ASCII games use flat, console-style character grids. Effulgence positions actual text characters freely in 3D space with lighting, depth, and animation. It’s not mimicking retro text adventures, it’s creating a unique modern aesthetic using text as 3D building blocks.
Is there a story or just combat and crafting?
Yes, there’s a full narrative. The game revolves around signals from a galaxy a million light-years away that can only be decoded as ASCII animations. You’re exploring a possibly extinct world while uncovering what happened and whether it poses a threat.
Who developed Effulgence RPG?
Andrei Fomin, a solo indie developer based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, created the entire game using Unity and C#. It’s his passion project that started as a tech experiment and evolved into a full RPG.
Final Thoughts
Effulgence RPG succeeds because it understands that a unique art style only matters if the game underneath is solid. The turn-based combat feels strategic, the crafting system creates meaningful progression, and the exploration rewards curiosity. The ASCII aesthetic isn’t covering up shallow gameplay, it’s enhancing an already interesting RPG foundation.
For anyone tired of the same visual styles dominating Steam releases, Effulgence offers something genuinely different without sacrificing playability. The fact that one developer created this entire experience makes it even more impressive. The sci-fi narrative hook, combined with the particle crafting system, gives you reasons to keep playing beyond just appreciating the visuals.
With the November 20 release date approaching fast, now’s the perfect time to try the free demo and see if this text-based sci-fi world clicks with you. Whether you’re an ASCII art enthusiast, a crafting RPG fan, or just someone who appreciates indie developers taking creative risks, Effulgence RPG deserves a spot on your radar.