Mycopunk is an upbeat love letter to extraction shooters

The extraction-shooter style is getting a little bit extra crowded and much more trendy with the announcement of Mycopunk, a four-player, first-person romp from indie studio Pigeons at Play and writer Devolver Digital. Mycopunk is coming to Steam in early entry this yr.

Mycopunk stars 4 eccentric robots who’ve been employed by an intergalactic megacorporation to exterminate an invasive, violent fungus that’s taken root on a precious planet. Every robotic has a selected class and moveset, however gamers can use any weapon or loadout with any character — and that’s an enormous profit, as a result of there are a ton of wacky weapons, upgrades and ammo choices on this recreation. For instance, there are bouncing shotgun pellets, bullets that hover in place after which dive down if you press the set off once more, and a rocket launcher transfer that additionally makes you fly. Customization is a giant a part of the Mycopunk expertise, and there are about 40 upgrades for each weapon, plus distinctive talent enhancements for every robotic. A spatial improve system enables you to activate talents by putting their molecular strands on a honeycomb grid, combining results in highly effective and foolish methods.

The primary loop in Mycopunk includes gathering your crew, setting mission modifiers, after which dropping onto a planet to kill hordes of huge, tentacled fungus monsters. With every run, it’s important to accomplish your corporate-directed aim, accumulate assets for future upgrades and usually survive the onslaught. Missions are fast-paced and the motion shifts all through, dropping new enemies, minibosses and environmental risks till your remaining escape.

The hub world, the place you hang around between missions, is surprisingly huge and full of surreal touches, like a large TV display that solely exhibits a sitcom about roaches. All talents are unlocked within the hub so you may freely check out your character, plus there are automobiles to drive round, a sparring space, a recreation sphere, snack machines, and secret passageways to discover. It additionally has Roachard, your mission management contact who occurs to be a giant roach.

Devolver Digital

Visually, Pigeons at Play took inspiration out of your coolest pal’s favourite comedian guide artist, Moebius, which lends the sport a gritty, hand-drawn vibe. Mycopunk seems to be like a residing graphic novel, mixing retrofuturism with slick mechanics to create a wealthy, tactile expertise. It particularly jogs my memory of Rollerdrome, a gorgeous game that I’ll never stop talking about.

Mycopunk began out as a senior thesis mission for the Pigeons at Play crew, but it surely’s reworked into one thing a lot bigger (type of like a well-fed fungus). Mycopunk is charming and surprisingly deep, with dozens of cute touches that come straight from the builders’ historical past of enjoying co-op shooters collectively. For example, to revive a teammate it’s important to actually discover and reconnect two halves of their damaged robotic physique, as a substitute of simply urgent X over their corpse in the midst of a busy battlefield. Every character additionally has their very own dance strikes, and one of many accessible upgrades enables you to transfer a swarm of bullets via the air like a murderous orchestra conductor.

A demo for Mycopunk went dwell on Steam today and the sport is about to enter early entry later in 2025.

This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/laptop/mycopunk-is-an-upbeat-love-letter-to-extraction-shooters-192337609.html?src=rss

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