Stay awhile and play this free Diablo-inspired indie as the mayor of Tristram

Mayors in RPG games are rarely given the spotlight. They're mostly just there to give you an early quest involving goat banditry or windmill rats or some such other domestic drudgery. Or, in the case of Tristram’s mayor in Diablo, to fret behind the scenes about how to properly fit considerable cathedral repairs into this month’s budget. Well, no more must this valuable civil servant hide behind balance sheets, occasionally popping out to cut a big ribbon in celebration of a nearby mausoleum being turned into a Wetherspoons. Tristam is a 72 hour Ludum Dare project where you play as said town’s mayor. And this time: It’s ceremonial!

Tristram is made by a team including René ‘Bippinbits’ Habermann, and described on its Itch page thusly:

“Enter the catacombs beneath Tristram Cathedral by summoning brave heroes to face the dangers that lurk in the depths. Assemble your own party of heroes and fight to defeat evil and recover valuable treasures. Rebuild your once destroyed city with the gold from your adventures and upgrade buildings for ever more powerful equipment.”

To this, I’d add that the production values are bloody nice for a 72 hour project, including a very much Tristram-theme inspired soundtrack, vibrant pixel art, and surprisingly nifty management mechanics.

“Diablo 4 is a beautiful, frictionless grey toybox that puts nothing in the way of you playing it for hours and wondering what you've done with your life,” wrote Alice Bee in our review. Not mentioned was the conspicuous lack of mayors, but we’ve been banging that drum for so long it’s just become one of those things you figure will never get fixed. Well, we finally got our wish - and mayor wishes be granted too, readers pleasedon’tfiremeforthatone.