Our Darker Purpose
Avidly Wild Games · 2014 · Indie, Action Roguelike, Roguelike, Action, RPG
PC
Very Positive82% · 552
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About Our Darker Purpose
Journey to the dark heart of the Edgewood Home for Lost Children in this fiendishly difficult action RPG!
When her teacher stepped out of the classroom a month ago, Cordy never imagined he would be gone for good. Now her fellow students have turned on each other as the school descends into chaos. Cordy must battle feral classmates and dangerous creatures as she ascends to the cruel Administrators’ offices atop the Edgewood Home for Lost Children.
Our Darker Purpose is a top-down, rogue-like action RPG that combines the ingenuity of genre-defining classics with the expansiveness and accessibility of modern day action adventure games. The gameplay is steeped in a variety of influences ranging from A Link to the Past to The Binding of Isaac to Diablo. We love games with great mechanics and awesome, bizarre storylines, and that’s what we’re creating with Our Darker Purpose.
Each playthrough features a unique set of procedurally generated levels. Death is permanent, but your accomplishments earn you resources to buy lesson and upgrades in the afterlife... and your education lasts forever. Every game teaches you more about the Edgewood Home for Lost Children, the disappearance of the adults, and the darker purpose of the Administrators.
Fast-Paced, Combat-Oriented Gameplay: Face unique boss encounters and challenging enemy mechanics! The Edgewood Home is a merciless environment. Dodge between fireballs and flying desks while your former classmates try to pummel you into the walls, and that’s just the lower levels…
Character Variety and Customization: Assemble selections of randomized perks and upgrades to reflect your play-style – tanky bruiser, glass cannon, fleet-footed assassin, or anything else. Assemble your skills into devastating combinations… or pick style perks with no benefit at all, at your peril.
Oh Yeah, and It Takes Place in a Sinister Orphanage: Prepare for a an unflinching look at what happens when an already terrifying boarding school/orphanage goes all Lord of the Flies, and try not to get eaten by any of the possessed furniture. Only the psychologically strongest gamers will be able to withstand the insightful taunts of the Administrators themselves…
Allocate precious skills
Uncovering Edgewood’s dark secrets will yield valuable experience for Cordy. Each time she levels up, you’ll be able to select from one of two new abilities that she can acquire, depending on your play style and the situation at hand. You will never be as strong as you need to be, so prepare for some nail-biting choices…
Choose your own ghastly fate
The house is different every game, and every level is uniquely generated. But fear not, there’s more than one way to ascend through a dystopic Victorian manor! Pick your route – would you rather battle a feral horde than risk an encounter with the dangerous Capulets? The choice is yours! Of course, each floor offers unique credit tokens to buy new upgrades, so choose wisely…
Acquire eternal powers
Adorable, creepy, stylized Edgewood Home students don’t give up when they fail --- they go to class. Each time you lead Cordy to a fiery (or chalky, or spikey, or venomy, or monstery) demise, you get some time to strategize with your kindly scarecrow guidance counselor. He is happy to offer his one-of-a-kind insight in many academic disciplines…
When her teacher stepped out of the classroom a month ago, Cordy never imagined he would be gone for good. Now her fellow students have turned on each other as the school descends into chaos. Cordy must battle feral classmates and dangerous creatures as she ascends to the cruel Administrators’ offices atop the Edgewood Home for Lost Children.
Our Darker Purpose is a top-down, rogue-like action RPG that combines the ingenuity of genre-defining classics with the expansiveness and accessibility of modern day action adventure games. The gameplay is steeped in a variety of influences ranging from A Link to the Past to The Binding of Isaac to Diablo. We love games with great mechanics and awesome, bizarre storylines, and that’s what we’re creating with Our Darker Purpose.
Each playthrough features a unique set of procedurally generated levels. Death is permanent, but your accomplishments earn you resources to buy lesson and upgrades in the afterlife... and your education lasts forever. Every game teaches you more about the Edgewood Home for Lost Children, the disappearance of the adults, and the darker purpose of the Administrators.
Key Features
Fast-Paced, Combat-Oriented Gameplay: Face unique boss encounters and challenging enemy mechanics! The Edgewood Home is a merciless environment. Dodge between fireballs and flying desks while your former classmates try to pummel you into the walls, and that’s just the lower levels…
Character Variety and Customization: Assemble selections of randomized perks and upgrades to reflect your play-style – tanky bruiser, glass cannon, fleet-footed assassin, or anything else. Assemble your skills into devastating combinations… or pick style perks with no benefit at all, at your peril.
Oh Yeah, and It Takes Place in a Sinister Orphanage: Prepare for a an unflinching look at what happens when an already terrifying boarding school/orphanage goes all Lord of the Flies, and try not to get eaten by any of the possessed furniture. Only the psychologically strongest gamers will be able to withstand the insightful taunts of the Administrators themselves…
Gameplay
Allocate precious skills
Uncovering Edgewood’s dark secrets will yield valuable experience for Cordy. Each time she levels up, you’ll be able to select from one of two new abilities that she can acquire, depending on your play style and the situation at hand. You will never be as strong as you need to be, so prepare for some nail-biting choices…
Choose your own ghastly fate
The house is different every game, and every level is uniquely generated. But fear not, there’s more than one way to ascend through a dystopic Victorian manor! Pick your route – would you rather battle a feral horde than risk an encounter with the dangerous Capulets? The choice is yours! Of course, each floor offers unique credit tokens to buy new upgrades, so choose wisely…
Acquire eternal powers
Adorable, creepy, stylized Edgewood Home students don’t give up when they fail --- they go to class. Each time you lead Cordy to a fiery (or chalky, or spikey, or venomy, or monstery) demise, you get some time to strategize with your kindly scarecrow guidance counselor. He is happy to offer his one-of-a-kind insight in many academic disciplines…
DLC & expansions
🎁 Complete the collection
Base game + 1 of 1 DLC at today's best prices.
$11.61
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What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
really cool game that unfortunately did not get the attention it deserves. It's not as smooth as Binding of Isaac but in return there's not poop noises and wet meat sounds every second. It's got its own charm and appeal that I really liked.1 found this helpful
Full review: https://thegamehoard.com/2026/05/08/picking-up-steam-our-darker-purpose-pc/ Our Darker Purpose has a stylish dark look and a soundtrack that suits its twisted school setting, but the rogue-like action isn’t quite fleshed out enough to make the required repeat runs that interesting. At its heart is a simple fighting system that involves smart movement and learning enemy patterns to survive, but the upgrade system, even when in your hands when it comes to leveling up, is mostly about straightforward improvement which means it’s rewarding to get what you can but also makes runs mostly differentiated by your power level rather than new approaches to the action. Effective boss design and the feeling you can always be working towards useful upgrades through combat and exploration make it work even though the climbs through Edgewood become a bit tedious, the game stretching its pool of content a bit thin with the enforced repetition.
It's not bad for what it is. It's kind of janky, buy it on a discount.
I wish this game came back in a big way. It had the old Binding of Isaac feel with added mechanics that made it really niche. The entire aesthetic is wonderful. It's challenging in a good way, maybe a bit grindy in terms of unlocks, but overall worth purchasing.
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People will say this game didn't do well because of another similar game, which of course isn't true. There's always room for similar games, everyone knows that. If a game doesn't do well, it's not the fault of a different game. The Binding of Isaac IS a much better game, and that has nothing to do with how this one did. If this were a better game, it would have done better.
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