Malignus is a 2D dungeon colony sim and emergent story generator from Mossbomb. You play the Boss monster at the center of a dungeon, command six races of minions, tame or hunt the creatures in the caves, and raid the settlements above for treasure. Then you defend the hoard from the adventurers who come to take it back.
The developer describes it as inspired by Dungeon Keeper and RimWorld. That is a useful starting point, but not a complete description: Malignus is built as a colony sim first, with individual minion personalities, needs, relationships and work priorities layered under the dungeon management and trap building.
The game in one minute
Confirmed
- 2D dungeon colony sim and emergent story generator.
- Developer and publisher: Mossbomb, a three-person studio.
- Windows PC via Steam. Built in Godot 4.
- Single-player and 2–4 player online or LAN co-op on one shared dungeon.
- Early Access on November 13, 2026 at $19.99 USD.
- Six minion races, four Boss monsters, 30+ creatures, nine lair types, four magic schools, six adventurer races and ten adventurer classes.
Not announced
- A final 1.0 release date. Mossbomb plans about one year of Early Access.
- Console, Mac or Linux versions. None has been announced.
- PvP, a campaign mode or a fixed mission structure. None is described in the public material.
Facts from Mossbomb's official site, press kit and Steam pages. Read the full source log for links.
The core loop: dig, manage, trap, raid, defend
The official pitch is compact: “Build the dungeon. Rule the horde. Keep the treasure.” The play loop underneath it has five visible stages.
Carve the dungeon
Mark rock for mining, shape rooms and fill them with workshops, beds, thrones, altars and traps. The build menu is split into Infrastructure, Storage, Production, Furnishings, Traps, Power and Dominion categories in the official UI.
Run the colony
Minions dig, haul, cook, craft, guard, torture and pray. Each has six stats, traits, a buddy, a nemesis, a favorite haunt and a running life story. They also complain.
Make the halls lethal
Ten trap mechanisms were visible in the official build menu, wired to pressure plates, tripwires, sensors, levers and timers.
Raid the overworld
Scry a hex map, send minions to farmsteads or monster packs, command the raid in real time and carry the treasure home.
Hold the hoard
Treasure raises your Boss's level and attracts larger adventurer invasions. Capture survivors, interrogate them and keep the dungeon running.
The loop is not a straight line. A raid brings treasure home, treasure raises the Boss's level, a stronger Boss makes the next invasion survivable, and surviving adventurers become prisoners, secrets and grist for the dungeon's morale system. The official boss-select screen states that a Boss reaches level 2 at 5 treasure and level 5 at 30 treasure, with two upgrade points per level.
The systems that matter
Bosses
Four selectable monsters: Cinder Demon, Dread Lich, Baleful Eye and Sunken Horror. Each has different stat highlights, abilities and upgrade identities. The Cinder Demon and Sunken Horror have far less published detail than the other two.
Open database →Minions
Goblins, kobolds, orcs, gnolls, bugbears and ogres. The six stats are Battle, Hunt, Labor, Craft, Occult and Cruelty. The duties table turns those stats into work priorities.
Open database →Traps and wiring
Damage, control, summon and utility mechanisms, connected by wires to five trigger families. The public build shows the wiring system in action but not the numbers behind it.
Open database →Dark arts
Pyromancy, Electromancy, Necromancy and Shadowmancy, each with tiers. Lore is produced through bookshelves; rites and crafts sit in a separate progression track.
Open database →Adventurers
Six ancestries and ten classes, with more than 40 traits. Invasions escalate. Survivors can be chained in a Cell Block and interrogated.
Open database →Overworld
A hex map of farmsteads and monster packs around the dungeon gate. Raids are commanded in real time, and the world remembers what you did.
Open database →
What makes it distinct
The obvious comparison is Dungeon Keeper, but the published systems point more strongly at a colony sim wearing dungeon armor. Minions have needs, relationships and a complaints log. Work is assigned through a stat-driven duties table. The Boss is not an abstract avatar; it has levels, wounds and a throne-room presence that can itself become a morale event.
How it relates to Dungeon Keeper and RimWorld
Mossbomb names both games as inspirations. That does not make Malignus a remake, a total conversion or a clone. The table below separates the general lineage from the features Mossbomb has actually confirmed.
| Element | Malignus | Why the comparison is useful |
|---|---|---|
| Dungeon management | Dig rooms, place workshops, traps, altars and thrones; defend a hoard. | The Dungeon Keeper lineage is explicit in the official description. |
| Colony simulation | Individual minion stats, traits, buddies, nemeses, grumbles and behavior settings. | The RimWorld lineage shows up in the personality and work-priority systems. |
| Player role | The Boss monster, not an invisible hand. | The Boss has a body, a throne, levels and a wound state. |
| Multiplayer | 2–4 players share one dungeon, online or on LAN. | This is a Malignus-specific feature, not a inherited genre assumption. |
| Combat direction | Invasions are adventurer parties; raids are commanded in real time on a hex map. | The game alternates between base defense and offensive expedition. |
Release and development status
Malignus is not a finished 1.0 release. It enters Steam Early Access on November 13, 2026 at $19.99 USD. Mossbomb plans roughly one year of monthly updates, with Steam Workshop support arriving during Early Access. The full 1.0 release is planned at $29.99, and the developer says Early Access buyers will keep the game and every update at no extra cost.
The free demo has been available since October 19, 2026. Mossbomb describes it as the beta test and says it contains everything in the current game, with nothing locked because it is a demo. The demo is expected to stay up until Early Access begins; a save-transfer path into Early Access has not been announced.
| Question | Confirmed answer | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Release date | November 13, 2026 (official site and press kit). Steam displays November 12 in some regions. | Official |
| Platform | Windows PC via Steam. | Official |
| Price | $19.99 USD during Early Access; $29.99 planned at 1.0. | Official plan |
| Co-op | 2–4 players, online and LAN, one shared dungeon. | Official |
| Workshop | During Early Access, not at launch. | Official plan |
| Exact unlock time | Not announced. | Unknown |
Dates are not the same as unlock times
The official date is November 13. Steam's storefront can display November 12 in some regions, but that does not confirm an unlock at midnight UTC or at any other hour. Our release date page explains the discrepancy and links a calendar file for the date only.
Who it is for — and who should wait
The game is aimed at players who enjoy colony logistics, dungeon fantasy and stories that fall out of systems rather than scripts. The confirmed feature set rewards planning: food and beds, work priorities, storage filters, trap wiring, prisoner handling and raid timing. Co-op is a genuine design pillar, not a bolt-on: 2–4 players build and manage one shared dungeon.
It is probably not the right purchase if you want a finished, balance-stable 1.0 at launch, a purely creative builder with no raids, or a game with no reading. Early Access means bugs and balance changes; the demo is the honest way to test the current build before paying.
Content note
Mossbomb describes the game as containing frequent fantasy violence and gore, general mature content, and the capture and interrogation of prisoners. It is not aimed at all ages. The Steam page carries the developer's mature-content description.
Try first
Play the free demo
The current build, free on Steam, with the same major systems. No save transfer has been announced.
Buy informed
Early Access explained
Price, update cadence, Workshop timing and what the developer has actually promised.
A note on the screenshots
The screenshots on this page are from Mossbomb's official press kit, captured from an in-development build. UI labels, boss stats and room names can change before or during Early Access. We treat them as evidence of the current build, not as permanent balance data.
Sources
Sources for this page
- 01Mossbomb — the studio making Malignus — Mossbomb
Developer site. Confirms the November 13, 2026 Early Access date, $19.99 Early Access price, $29.99 planned 1.0 price, monthly updates, demo status, platforms, co-op and headline features.
- 02Malignus press kit and fact sheet — Mossbomb
Fact sheet, development history, feature list, character and creature art, screenshot captions, and permission for press and content creators to use the kit's media in coverage of Malignus.
- 03Malignus on Steam — Valve / Mossbomb
Store description, Early Access Q&A, tags, supported languages, features, system requirements and the storefront's November 12, 2026 date display.
- 04Malignus Demo on Steam — Valve / Mossbomb
Separate demo app. Confirms the October 19, 2026 demo release, the demo's 'everything in the current game' scope, co-op support and demo system requirements.
- 05Official Malignus interface screenshots — Mossbomb
The press kit's 'Screenshots with the interface' set documents the New Dungeon flow, boss select, minion stats, duties, grumbles, behavior settings, trap build menu, wiring, Dark Arts, boss upgrades, prisoners, altar and overworld map. Used for observations that are not spelled out in the store copy.
Accessed 1 November 2026. Full source log and verification notes: Malignus Wiki sources.