20 Minutes Till Dawn is a roguelike game made by an independent developer named flanne. In the game, players control a character who fights against waves of monsters that keep coming one after another. The goal is to survive until dawn. During each round, players collect gems, which they can use to unlock new characters, weapons, and runes for future games. The gameplay is similar to the game Vampire Survivors, but the main difference is that characters in 20 Minutes Till Dawn do not attack or reload their weapons automatically.
The game was released in early access on Steam on June 8, 2022. It was later made available for Android and iOS devices by Erabit Studios on September 9, 2022. The game left early access on Steam with version 1.0 on June 8, 2023. A version for the Nintendo Switch was released on December 21, 2023.
Gameplay
The player chooses one of several characters, each with unique abilities and bonuses, along with a starting weapon, stage, and difficulty level. The goal is to survive waves of monsters for 20 minutes. At the beginning of each round, vision is limited, and only the eyes of the monsters are visible as they move toward the player in the dark. Once monsters enter the player’s view, they become fully visible. When monsters are defeated, they drop gems, which can be used as money and to gain experience. The player also faces stronger boss monsters, which drop treasure chests containing special upgrades when defeated. During the round, gems allow the player to level up, and at each level, the player can choose one of four randomly generated upgrades or new abilities. After each session, the total number of collected gems can be used in the main menu to unlock new characters, weapons, or runes. The gameplay of 20 Minutes Till Dawn is inspired by Vampire Survivors, but it differs by allowing the player to control not only character movement but also aiming and combat.
The game includes three modes: Standard (20-minute rounds), Quickplay (10-minute rounds), and Endless (no time limit). In Standard and Quickplay, players can select a difficulty level called "Darkness." Each increase in Darkness makes the monsters stronger or reduces the player’s effectiveness, up to 15 times. Some features and achievements are only available if the player completes the game on Darkness 15.
The game’s graphics use a complementary color scheme.
Development
The game was created and sold by flanne for two months. He wanted to make his own version of Vampire Survivors but did not like the automatic combat system. So, he designed a version where players had to take more active control.
The game’s theme and character designs were made to help with marketing. The first level of the game takes place in a graveyard filled with strange and scary monsters. This helped flanne label the game as "horror" on itch.io, which attracted many players when the game was first released. Later, the game gained more attention when it was also labeled as "roguelike."
Before the full game was released in early access, flanne shared a free demo called 10 Minutes Till Dawn. This version had fewer characters and weapons, and each game session lasted only 10 minutes instead of 20. Flanne said players found the name confusing. During research, he learned that most players who tried free games on Steam were from China. To appeal to this group, he designed characters in a style similar to anime, and all characters were female. Nearly half of the players who tried the demo were from China.
In June 2022, flanne gave Erabit Studios the rights to publish the game’s mobile version. The game was first expected to be released on the App Store in December 2022 but was instead launched on Android and iOS in September 2022.
On June 8, 2023, version 1.0 of the game was released on Steam, ending its early access period.
Reception
The game 20 Minutes Till Dawn was very successful in selling. It made more than half a million dollars during the first week it was available for purchase on Steam. The game is similar to Vampire Survivors because they both have similar types of play. People who tried the game early said they liked the different characters, types of weapons, and ways to improve the characters.
Jonathan Bolding from PC Gamer said he liked trying different ways to play. He thought the characters in the early version didn't play very differently, but choosing different weapons could make each character unique.
Eric Van Allen from Destructoid said that having many different ways to play might become a problem later in the game. Players start with many choices, but these choices often lead to similar options later, making the game feel repetitive for many weapons. He also said he really liked the game's simple color style, but some players might find it hard to read the text.
Alice O'Connor from Rock Paper Shotgun also liked the game's appearance and had a lot of fun trying different ways to play.
Ana Valens from The Mary Sue said it was her favorite game of 2022, especially because the character designs were very nice.