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The wiki database includes over 200 columns for info! View toggles: compact, pin, fun. Bigger Big Normal Small Smaller [-] [+] font size. Site & minireviews by xoxomonstergirl. Click a row to expand!

Genre/Control

Specific tags for the title's features

Ranking

Similarity & Review

Review

Multiple Sources

Similarity

Compared to VS. Not a review!

Similarity Scale

Percentage of possible points earned scored -1 to 1 in tenths in 60 categories

Genre Controls Modes Progress Builds Stages Content Aesthetic Vibe
[edit]

Vampire Survivors

DLC Released

The game that sparked the debate! Not the first, but the most influential. Detailed review notes are available for each ranked title!

The numbers in the similarity column measure similarity to Vampire Survivors, not a review. You can also see review scores! A couple extremely different games are included to test the ranking scale - as more games get fully ranked, these will stay near the bottom. Help us improve the wiki by hitting the edit button and filling out or correcting info. You can also submit info via the dev/player surveys linked in the header.

Auto-Shooter Bullet Heaven Content Rich Enemy Hell Horde Survival Mowing Game Roguelite Single Stick Shooter Survivors-like Top Down or Isometric Wave Survival
9.9 Combined Ranking Score
1/72 Ranking Position
1595/1600 Total Points
9.8 Final Review
98% Steam
9.7 Scale
10.0 Vibes
205178 Steam Reviews
395/400 Review Points
10.0 Similarity Score
100% Diagnosis:
Similar
1200/1200 Comparison Points
100% Genre 8/8 genre
100% Simple Controls 7/7 move
100% Survival Modes 4/4 modes
100% Power Progression 4/4 level
100% Buildcrafting Depth 5/5 build
100% Stage Features 7/7 stage
100% Content Breadth 9/9 stuff
100% Aesthetics 6/6 style
100% Gameplay Vibe Check 10/10 vibe vibe

Vampire Survivors Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 92.8

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/23/2023

concetta-from_vampire-survivors.webpThe standard to which all other games on this list are held! We recognize that it's not just the basics of gameplay but also the depth of content and collectables that makes it addictive.

It's a simple casual game about moving towards some things and away from other things. And it's a complex hardcore build crafting systems game about over the top screen wiping action. It's a very influential game with an auto-fire design that isn't just replicating how weapons work without it, where as one dev on another game put it "every weapon makes you move in a different way." Many followers don't fully understand what it attempted to deconstruct and many attempt to do their own thing.

poe-from_vampire-survivors.webpAlso I just found out a full symphony orchestra was used for the DLC soundtrack - what the fuck!

We're not considering some more recently added features in our main scale, mainly just because they came out after the game had moved to DLC. The multiplayer is free, but the boom happened before it happened so we're just kind of leaving it in metadata for now. The new adventure mode is also linked to DLC.

It's totally possible, just annoying, to add more categories to the scale, but for now we're going on 'vanilla' Vampire Survivors circa 2023. It's easy to see which categories we are comparing, anyway, on the scale heatmap!

red-death-from_vampire-survivors.webpThere isn't as in depth review notes here, but if you check out the explainer much of it is about breaking down what made Vampire Survivors so successful and seperated it from other similar games that came before. The scoring guide also will walk through how Vampire Survivors works for every category on the scale.

Note on other games: "Many of these games have campaign or dungeon crawling mode, but we're not really scoring that for or against them directly, just if they include the wave survival modes."

Longer reviews are sometimes for worse games: "I just write more when there are issues to note. Some are just more complicated. Just don't think a short review means it's bad, often it means there's little to complain about. Enjoy the scale!" - xoxomonstergirl

Vampire Survivors Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

10.0 Similarity Score
100% Diagnosis:
1200/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle 1/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 1/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 1/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) 1/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) 1/1
Move Only 1/1
No Dash 1/1
No Trigger 1/1
No Special Move 1/1
No Aiming 1/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty 1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 1/1
Endless Mode 1/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 1/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 1/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event 1/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 1/1
1/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 1/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 1/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 1/1
Explorable Map 1/1
BIG Maps 1/1
XP on Ground 1/1
Health on Ground 1/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 1/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 1/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 1/1
Enemy Variety 1/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 1/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 1/1
Difficulty Modifiers 1/1
Bestiary / Lore 1/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 1/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 1/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 1/1
Subtle Humor 1/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 1/1
Over the Top 1/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 1/1
Fun Ramp 1/1
Low Price 1/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS 1/1

Vampire Survivors Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.8 Final Review
98% Positive Steam Reviews
205178 Steam Reviews
10.0 Pure Vibes
9.7 Review Scale
395/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 1/1
Not Janky 0.9/1
Good UI 0.8/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 1/1
Good Theme 1/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 1/1
Unique Twists 1/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Metacritic Scores

- +

This title has metacritic data! The "fuck the man" score is adjusted so each person's review is equally weighted, regardless of critic or fan status.

Critic

8.7 Converted 10 Point Score
29 Number of Critic Reviews

User

8.3 User Review Average
332 Number of User Reviews

Average

8.5 Direct Average
8.3 "Fuck The Man" Combined Mean

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: Co-Op
  • Online: No
  • Player Count: 4
  • Leaderboards: No

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: 190
  • Steam Leaderboards: No
  • Steam Workshop: No
  • Steam Trading Cards: Yes

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: Yes itch.io
  • DLC Available: Yes
  • Soundtrack Available: Steam SoundCloud YouTube

Critic Review Excerpt

- +

Here's another perspective to evaluate the game.

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"Mow down thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn! Vampire Survivors is a gothic horror casual game with rogue-lite elements, where your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you."

"Vampire Survivors is a time survival game with minimalistic gameplay and roguelite elements.
Hell is empty, the devils are here, and there's no place to run or hide. All you can do is survive as long as you can until death inevitably puts an end to your struggles. Gather gold in each run to buy upgrades and help the next survivor.
"

"The supernatural indie phenomenon that lets you be the bullet hell!"

Control Style Notes

- +

Single Stick Shooter: Vampire Survivors has a movement only control scheme, except for selecting upgrades and naivating the menu with one button.

Auto-Shooter: Attacks happen on a cool down timer with no player button or trigger available. They also auto-aim in various ways depending on the weapon.

Mowing Game: Movement is the primary mechanic, you're always charting a path away from some things and towards others. Automated attacks have distinct shapes so "every weapon forces you to move in a different way" as drowsyau, design lead of Sea of Survivors puts it. This is a distinct feature of the subsubgenre of mowing games.

Enemies from maze like patterns.

Automated Features

Auto-Aim
Auto-Fire

Default, no option for manual aim or trigger.

Supported Controls

  • Controller: Full
  • Controller Move Only: Yes
  • Controller One Handed: Yes
  • Mouse Only: Yes
  • Keyboard Only: Yes
  • Keyboard One Handed: Yes

Accessibility & Tutorial

- +

Accessibility Notes

Seizure warning.

Game is highly accessible control-wise out of the box due to the large array of support and simple single stick controls.

Menu FX Toggles: Flashing VFX and screen shake toggle

Legibility/Visibility Toggles: Border Opacity, Pixel Font, Co-Op Outlines, Disable Damage Numbers

Option to disable blood.

Tutorial Notes

Vampire Survivors has no tutorial. On first launch it quickly opens to a menu where you have few options but to simply start a run. Inside a run, you are presented with no prompts, control diagrams or instructions.

It works fine, because there is only one control during play: Joystick, mouse click or touch screen press to move.

Game Modes

- +

Timed Survival
Endless Survival

Campaign / Story
(Adventure DLC)

Difficulty Modes
(Hyper, Hurry, Inverse, Endless)

Difficulty Modifiers
(Via Meta Unlocks)

Multiplayer Co-Op

Game Mode Notes

Starts with 30m survival and opens up other game modes and difficulty options as you progress. Each difficulty mode has a variety of changes and increased rewards, including:

Hyper Mode: Character and enemies move faster, difficulty is increased in a few ways.
Hurry Mode: In Hurry mode, there's 2x Clock Speed and increased XP.
Inverse Mode: In Inverse mode, the map is flipped upside down (literally) and much difficulty is increased
Endless mode: Instead of an unkillable boss spawn at 30m, the enemy waves repeat with increased difficulty

Some meta unlocks also increase or modify difficulty and eventually you can banish some upgrade options pre-run for a "deck construction" style gameplay aspect. Quick streamlined menu directs you into the next run with minimal effort.

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

The initial run time is about 30 minutes, later stages are 15 minutes. "Hyper Mode" allows standard stages to take 15m run time.

Run is ended by a near impossible to kill boss. Unlockable endless modes and difficulty modifiers.

Speed Settings

2x
Unlockable
"Hyper Mode"

Hurry mode increases player and enemy speed, but not clock speed.

Player Power Progression

- +

Detailed notes on progression systems.

In Run Progression

During the run the player defeats enemies and gathers xp drops to level up. Level dialog pops up automatically on xp gain event. Leveling is done by selecting random options for ability enhancing items or attacking weapons (kind of like cards, but presented horizontally), eventually with the option of rerolling or banishing options. Items can also be collected off the ground when found around a map.

They can also gather temporary powerups dropped by enemies and open elite enemy treasure chests for items and weapons. In addition, a later game system of "arcana" drops further allows for modification of the run. Weapons and items can combine when fully leveled for "evolved" forms.

When you "run out" of levels in an endless run you can pick gold or health and even set it to auto. The player can hold 6 weapons, but pick up over the limit

Meta Progression

As the game progresses players unlock more stage and difficulty options by accomplishing timed survival goals and find based goals on each stage. They also unlock the option to purchase characters or purchase upgrades, as well as new weapons/items to find in future runs.

Players earn a currency through runs (gold) that can be spent on the in run vendor (eventually unlocked) or saved to get character or upgrades in the menu. Upgrades can be refunded, allowing for some buildcrafting.

Content By The Numbers

- +

58 Characters (16 secret, 16 DLC)

48 Base Weapons (+7 Counterparts)
38 Evolved Weapons and Unions
10 Special / Temporary Weapons
17 Passive Effect Items
(Almost all with upgrade levels)
16 Weapon Stats

19 Pickups
(XP, Gold, Food, Powerups)
22 feature unlocking relics to find
22 Run Modifying Arcana Cards
22 Meta Upgrade Powerups
198 Unique Enemies (58 Bosses)
19 Stages
5 Stage Modes
2 DLC available

In Game Lore & Extras

Collection
- Browse weapons, items,
relics, arcana

Bestiary
- Browse Enemies

Music
- On stage select,
can listen jukebox-style

UI Walkthrough: Main Menus

- +

Any other accessibility or menu options not mentioned already in the game modes. Instead of deciding what to list here, I'm going to just list it all. This should make for a pretty interesting UI study, actually, but probably won't be needed by most players. These are all likely missing late game unlock options! Please comment in corrections! From top left, back or close buttons are assumed. Spoiler Warning! Menu unlocks often happen later in play. See also meta unlock menu walkthrough.

Main Menu

Quit
Options
- "Favorites", Display, Sound, Gameplay,
Co-Op, Account
Start
-> Character Select
--> Enter Co-Op
-- Max Weapons, Eggs, Meta Stat Sidebar,
Map Completion Sidebar
--> Stage Select
--- Stage Stat Sidebar, Music Selection
--- Difficulty Modes (Hyper, Hurry, Arcanas,
Limit Break, Inverse, Endless)
---> Start
Quick Start
Collection (Seal Item)
Power Up (Purchase and refund with gold)
Unlocks (Option to hide completed)
Bestiary
Credits
Secrets (Checklist, Enter Cheat Code "Cast Spell")

Display & Sound

Both under "Options" in main menu.

Display
- Resolution Dropdown
- Vsync
- Border Transparency Dropdown
- Checkboxes: Flashing VFX, Disable Blood,
Weapons ScreenShake, Pixel Font,
Show Defanged Enemies

Sound
- Sounds Slider
- Music Slider
- Option for "Classic" or
"Blast Processed" sound effects

Track / speed options for music available at level select.

Gameplay / Input / Other Options

Under "options" in the main menu.

Gameplay
- Checkboxes: Damage Numbers, Show stage
progression, Visually Invert
Stages, Touch Screen Control Stick
- Option for Legacy or Default Joystick Type

Co-Op
- Player Colour Dropdowns
- Checkboxes: Show Co-OP Indicators,
Co-Op Vibration, Tint UI Selection,
Sequential Chest Mode

Account
- Language Selection (Many Options)
- Twitch Channel Connect
- Data Recovery

UI Walkthrough: Player HUD & Pause

- +

From top left of the screen, persistent UI during play (aka Heads Up Display) and other menus during your run.

Player HUD / Gameplay UI

XP Bar across full screen width, level number in top left corner.

Weapon/Item Slots in top left corner. Timer in middle. Enemy and gold count in top right corner.

Mouse pause button in top right corner, low opacity.

Player health bar below avatar. Optional touch screen joystick on screen, damage numbers, and arrows on edge of screen for pickups and treasure drops.

Pause Menus

Stats Sidebar, Map

- Options
-- Sounds, Music, Touch Screen
Control Stick, Flashing VFX,
Weapons ScreenShake, Damage Numbers
--| Quit
--> Resume
- Hide Pickups / Show Pickups
- Hide Guide / Show Guides
- Open Grimoire
- Resume

UI Walkthrough: Leveling & Progression

- +

Listing UI display as well. "In run" applies to "round end" UI in games with rounds. May use in game terms for complicated concepts. See also metaprogression system notes in the game mode notes.

Level / Power Up / Treasure: In Run and End Menus

XP drops as gems. Gold, powerups and health drop from enemies and breakables. Items sit on map. Enemies drop chests.

On XP Gain Event
- Equipment and Stat Sidebar
- 3-4 Level Options in vertical bordered list
- Reroll, Skip, Banish

If Arcana is Enabled in late game, starts with "Randomazzo" and more can be dropped
- pick from 22 tarot style "cards' with major effects.

Merchant
- when found purchase from unlocked options with gold.
Treasure Pickup Event
- Display gacha style drop and confirm, no options.

End Run Displays Results
-> Done

Meta Unlock Menus

Characters can be purchased from character select, under "Start".

Upgrades, called "powerups" are purchased in a simple UI with checkboxes after the option to purchase them has been unlocked through goals.

Upgrade Options / Unlocks: Might, Armor, Max Health, Recovery, Cooldown Area, Speed, Duration, Amount, Move Speed, Magnet, Luck, Growth, Greed, Curse, Revival, Omni, Defang, Reroll, Skip, Banish, Seal

Meta PowerUps can be Refunded, characters cannot. Meta PowerUps can be individually toggled off after purchase.

[edit]

Halls of Torment

EA Free Available

An action RPG inspired survivors-like commonly recommended if you like things a little more slower and challenging or just isometric with a Diablo 1 vibe. Feels more like VS when you enable Auto-Aim and Auto-Attack, but you might enjoy more control. The quick toggle option is appreciated. Crazy amount going on for Early Access. Darker vibe may appeal to you. This is one of the most popular and highly regarded titles on the list and I agree with that prestige.

Auto-Shooter Bullet Heaven Content Rich Dungeon Crawler Enemy Hell Hack and Slash Horde Survival Mowing Game Roguelite Single Stick Shooter Survivors-like Top Down or Isometric Twin Stick Shooter Wave Shooter Wave Survival
9.3 Combined Ranking Score
2/72 Ranking Position
1526/1600 Total Points
9.6 Final Review
96% Steam
9.8 Scale
9.3 Vibes
16395 Steam Reviews
387/400 Review Points
9.0 Similarity Score
95% Diagnosis:
Similar
1139/1200 Comparison Points
98% Genre 7.7/8 genre
94% Simple Controls 6.2/7 move
88% Survival Modes 3/4 modes
100% Power Progression 4/4 level
90% Buildcrafting Depth 4/5 build
93% Stage Features 6/7 stage
94% Content Breadth 8/9 stuff
94% Aesthetics 5.3/6 style
99% Gameplay Vibe Check 9.7/10 vibe vibe

Halls of Torment Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 11.3

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/23/2023

imp-from_halls-of-torment.gifAn excellent choice to scratch your Vampire Survivors itch. This one is very inspired by oldschool Diablo 1 feel from graphics to enemy types and attacks. Great enemy patterns/AI, kind of beautiful sometimes to watch them move. Has options for Auto Aim and Auto Attack. Quick Toggle available at all times means it still gets high scores in those columns.

archer-from_halls-of-torment.gifThere is a prelude so you can try it out and see if you like the more downtempo vibe. I can see how some people complain about the graphics, but it's pure nostalgia for me! It's a great game, but I'm personally often looking for something a little more over the top and upbeat in this genre, which explains my lower playtime vs. some others.

skeleton-from_halls-of-torment.gifI should write more on this at some point, it's one of the better games on the list, but I imagine it being up so far and already popular most people already know that. Like a few other games the detail of notes suffers because I played most of my time in it before I was making notes and they are already on my list to play a lot more of. That's generally a good sign, but I intend to revise the notes later.

Halls of Torment Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

9.0 Similarity Score
95% Diagnosis:
1139/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle 0.9/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 1/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 0.8/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) 1/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) 0.8/1
Move Only 0.8/1
No Dash 1/1
No Trigger 0.8/1
No Special Move 1/1
No Aiming 0.8/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty 1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 1/1
Endless Mode 0/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 1/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 1/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event 1/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 1/1
1/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 0/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 1/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 1/1
Explorable Map 1/1
BIG Maps 1/1
XP on Ground 1/1
Health on Ground 1/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 1/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 1/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 0/1
Enemy Variety 1/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 1/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 1/1
Difficulty Modifiers 1/1
Bestiary / Lore 0/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 1/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 1/1
Bumpin Music 0.5/1
Fun Writing 0.8/1
Subtle Humor 1/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 1/1
Over the Top 0.7/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 1/1
Fun Ramp 1/1
Low Price 1/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS 1/1

Halls of Torment Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.6 Final Review
96% Positive Steam Reviews
16395 Steam Reviews
9.3 Pure Vibes
9.8 Review Scale
387/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 1/1
Not Janky 1/1
Good UI 0.9/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 1/1
Good Theme 1/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 0.9/1
Unique Twists 1/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Metacritic Scores

- +

This title has metacritic data! The "fuck the man" score is adjusted so each person's review is equally weighted, regardless of critic or fan status.

Critic

- Converted 10 Point Score
- Number of Critic Reviews

User

8.4 User Review Average
19 Number of User Reviews

Average

8.4 Direct Average
8.4 "Fuck The Man" Combined Mean

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: No
  • Online: No
  • Player Count: 1
  • Leaderboards: No

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: 252
  • Steam Leaderboards: No
  • Steam Workshop: No
  • Steam Trading Cards: No

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: Yes
  • DLC Available: No
  • Soundtrack Available: YouTube

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"Slay hordes of terrifying monsters in this horde survival roguelite. Descend into the Halls of Torment where the lords of the underworld await you. Treasures, magic trinkets, and a growing cast of heroes will grant you the power to vanquish the horrors from beyond. How long can you survive?"

Control Style Notes

- +

Technically a twin stick shooter, but with auto aim and auto fire quickly available to toggle via a controller press without having to enter a menu. It felt, in my playthrough, like auto aim always was valid enough as a strategy and sometimes I would want to manually aim. Pretty comfortable play style.

Auto Aim generally targets nearest enemy, with some melee ranged attacks and upgrade paths make it a good mowing game.

Enemies form satisfying maze like patterns.

Automated Features

Auto-Aim
Auto-Fire

Toggle in menu or via button in play, default's to manual aim. With auto-aim on, you can still press the right stick to aim when needed and simply release to return to auto-aim.

Supported Controls

  • Controller: Full
  • Controller Move Only: Yes
  • Controller One Handed: Yes
  • Mouse Only: Yes
  • Keyboard Only: Yes
  • Keyboard One Handed: Yes

Accessibility & Tutorial

- +

Accessibility Notes

Very accessible about of the box control-wise due to easy enable of auto-aim and fire, though menus are a little bit more complicated to navigate.

Menu FX Toggle: Damage Flash Intensity

Visibility Options: Cursor Size, Ability Effect Opacity, Aiming Line, Disable Damage Numbers

Tutorial Notes

Input hints on start is toggleable in the menu.

Shows inputs on screen before fading away at start of run, if toggled.

Tooltips help show information about abilities on hover.

Game Modes

- +

Timed / Boss Ended
Survival

"Agony" Modes
(Difficulty Increase)

Camp
(Main Menu
/Hub Zone)

Game Mode Notes

The game challenges you to survive out a timer and the boss that shows up. Defeating the boss ends the run.

After completing a certain point at regular level, a harder mode called "Agony" becomes selectable.

The main menu navigation is through a hub zone called "Camp" where you control an avatar directly and interact with other characters to switch to them, and to a couple interactable objects and NPCs to increase your power and pick your equipment.

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

At the end of the round the boss shows up and must be defeated. It's a fairly standard countdown timer.

Speed Settings

None

Player Power Progression

- +

Detailed notes on progression systems.

In Run Progression

Much like Vampire survivors, you avoid enemies while picking up XP drops and gold. One difference is you have to find abilities around the map, instead of being able to get them by leveling. Leveling up powers up traits for your current abilities.

Equipment is also another difference, see also meta notes.

There are a couple powerups and a magnet ability.

When you "run out" of traits to pick in a run you can pick health or gold.

Meta Progression

Through progression players unlock characters and features in the hub zone. Players can find equipment and then purchase it from the wellkeeper NPC hubworld to equip at the stash.

Incremental upgrades can be purchased for in game currency between runs. Players can brew potions with the cupbearer NPC allowing temporary options like rerolls in the next run."

It's possible to reset and restore backups of progress in player profiles.

Content By The Numbers

- +

9 Characters ("Heroes") each with 3 Class Traits
16 Abilities each with trait upgrade options.
15 Base Traits
10 Elevated Traits
500+ trait options total that upgrade characters and abilities
22 Visible Player Stats

2 NPCs
4 Stages / "Dhapters"
30+ Unique Monsters
12+ Bosses
2 Difficulty Options (Normal, Agony)
250 Quests (Challenges) Total, split between chapter related and character related.

1 XP pickup item, 4 Healing Drops
1 Gold meta progression currency
4 Temporary Powerups (inc XP magnet)
50+ Equipment Items

18 Meta Upgrades ("Blessings")
6 Potions, brewed with 15 ingredients drops
9 Equippable Buffs ("Marks")

In Game Lore & Extras

2 rescuable hub zone NPCs with light voice acted dialog.

UI Walkthrough: Main Menus

- +

Any other accessibility or menu options not mentioned already in the game modes. Instead of deciding what to list here, I'm going to just list it all. This should make for a pretty interesting UI study, actually, but probably won't be needed by most players. These are all likely missing late game unlock options! Please comment in corrections! From top left, back or close buttons are assumed. Spoiler Warning! Menu unlocks often happen later in play. See also meta unlock menu walkthrough.

Main Menu

Initial
- Character Select (Left Stick)
-> Avatar Control / "Camp" Hub Zone
-> Menu (Start, also option during hub world)

Camp (Hubzone, Walk, button to interact)
- Wellkeeper (Merchant NPC, buy found items)
- Item Stash (Equip)
- Change Character
- Shrine of Blessings
(Currency Meta Powerups)
--> Register of Halls / Door (Choose Stage)
- Quests (Tab through challenges,
see unlock rewards)
- Cupbearer (Potion Crafting NPC)

Menu (LB - RB to tab)
- Settings Tab (Display, Input, Audio, Interface)
- Profile Tab
- Quit Tab (Yes/No Confirmation)

Display & Sound

On the settings tab of the main menu

Display and Window Toggles
- Fullscreen, Performance Mode,
Pause when Focus Lost

Audio Sliders
- Master Volume, Music Volume,
SFX Volume, Voice Volume

Interface
-Cursor Select
- Sliders: Cursor Size, Damage Flash Intensity,
Ability Effect Opacity
- Toggles: Aiming Line, Damage Numbers,
Show Input Hints on Start

Gameplay / Input / Other Options

On the settings tab of the main menu

Input Method Toggles
- Auto Aim, Auto Attack, Mouse Only Mode,
Mouse Only On Hold

Keyboard Bindings
- Move Up, Move Left, Move Down, Move Right, Attack Up,
Attack Left, Attack Down, Attack Right,
Tab Left, Tab Right, Confirm / Interact

UI Walkthrough: Player HUD & Pause

- +

From top left of the screen, persistent UI during play (aka Heads Up Display) and other menus during your run.

Player HUD / Gameplay UI

Play area is in center with persistent sidebars on left and right.

Left Sidebar
- Player Level, XP Meter,
XP Gained / Required Number,
Health/Max, Health Orb.

Right Sidebar
- Menu/Pause Button, Ability Cooldown Icons,
Powerups, Gold Count, Enemies Slain Count,
Time Remaining

On Run Start (optionally) displays controls in bottom left corner of play area. Optional damage numbers. Arrows on edge direct players to objectives.

Pause Menus

On "start" or Menu click, both left and right sidebars persist while center is replaced with menu.

Tab Menus
- Character, Traits and Abilities,
Settings, Quit

Character
- View and equip items, view stats.

Traits and Abilities
- View Traits and Ability Stats

Settings
- (Same as Main Menu Settings)

Quit
- Return to Camp, Quit Game

UI Walkthrough: Leveling & Progression

- +

Listing UI display as well. "In run" applies to "round end" UI in games with rounds. May use in game terms for complicated concepts. See also metaprogression system notes in the game mode notes.

Level / Power Up / Treasure: In Run and End Menus

XP drops as gems. Gold and health drop from enemies and breakables. Items sit on map. Enemies drop chests. Sidebars persist in all views.

On XP Gain Event
- Pick from 4 "Traits"
- 4 Level Options in vertical bordered list
- Potions: Reroll, Banish, Memorize, Double

On "Scroll of Mastery" pickup
- Pick from 3 "Abilities"
- Discard for 50% Level XP

"Dried Up Well" interactable
- Drop found equipment into the well
to retrieve it at camp

End Run Displays Results
- View stats and completed quests
-> Return to camp

Meta Unlock Menus

Various features for the hub world unlock through play.

Players can find equipment and then purchase it from the wellkeeper NPC hubworld to equip at the stash.

Item Stash: 7 slots, 4 loadouts, sorted tabs. Equip items found for bonuses during the next run.

Shrine of Blessings: Purchase upgrades for Health Capacity, Health Regeneration, Defense, Movement Speed, Pickup Range, Damage, Attack Speed, Area / Projectile Size, Attack Range. Can be refunded individually or all at once.

Players can brew potions with the cupbearer NPC allowing temporary options like rerolls in the next run.

[edit]

Rogue: Genesia

EA Free Available

For me personally this is a game that very much scratches the VS itch, but has its own twist on the graphics, gameplay modes, and tons of interesting challenges. Ramps up a little slower. Does have manual dodge / special moves, but can get closer to one handed play either with the mouse or by turning on auto-aim.

Auto-Shooter Bullet Heaven Enemy Hell Horde Survival Mowing Game Roguelite Survivors-like Top Down or Isometric Twin Stick Shooter
8.9 Combined Ranking Score
4/72 Ranking Position
1493/1600 Total Points
9.3 Final Review
93% Steam
9.6 Scale
9.0 Vibes
4480 Steam Reviews
379/400 Review Points
8.6 Similarity Score
93% Diagnosis:
Similar
1114/1200 Comparison Points
99% Genre 7.8/8 genre
70% Simple Controls 2.8/7 move
98% Survival Modes 3.8/4 modes
100% Power Progression 4/4 level
100% Buildcrafting Depth 5/5 build
87% Stage Features 5.2/7 stage
97% Content Breadth 8.5/9 stuff
91% Aesthetics 4.9/6 style
95% Gameplay Vibe Check 8.9/10 vibe vibe

Rogue: Genesia Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 19.7

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/16/2023

dog-rog-from_rogue-genesia.gifThis one was put in pretty early so the review will be fleshed out a bit later.

Options to play one handed with a mouse or to turn on auto-aim can make this feel more like VS. Contains an Endless Mode, but also "Rog's Mode" which has a map with multiple choices like some other Rogue-likes, with special challenges, bosses and bonuses along the way. A large amount of content, can be a little slow to get going but breaks your computer with overwhelmed screen eventually, like any good VS-like should!

cactus-from_rogue-genesia.gifThere's no limit to amount of items/upgrades you can get, so that's pretty fun. Is a little different in that targeting matters, there is a dodge and some other abilities. One class manually fires. Cool art style with the charm of pixel art and hd 2.5d kind of like Octopath Traveler / Live A Live remaster.

goblin-from_rogue-genesia.gifI'll be honest, could bump up in my pure vibes rating a fair amount by offering some more gal characters (the Duelist is a femme but I didn't realize until the dev poked me.)

You might recognize this one as the game that donated us some high res assets to use as the sub background! Great responsive dev.

Rogue: Genesia Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

8.6 Similarity Score
93% Diagnosis:
1114/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle 0.8/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 1/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 1/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) 1/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) 0.2/1
Move Only 0.2/1
No Dash 0/1
No Trigger 0.9/1
No Special Move 0/1
No Aiming 0.5/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty 1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 1/1
Endless Mode 0.8/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 1/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 1/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event 1/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 1/1
1/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 1/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 1/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 1/1
Explorable Map 0.2/1
BIG Maps 0/1
XP on Ground 1/1
Health on Ground 1/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 1/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 1/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 1/1
Enemy Variety 0.7/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 0.8/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 1/1
Difficulty Modifiers 1/1
Bestiary / Lore 1/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 1/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 1/1
Bumpin Music 0.7/1
Fun Writing 0.7/1
Subtle Humor 0.5/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 1/1
Over the Top 1/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 1/1
Fun Ramp 0.8/1
Low Price 0.7/1
Technical Check 0.9/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS 1/1

Rogue: Genesia Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.3 Final Review
93% Positive Steam Reviews
4480 Steam Reviews
9.0 Pure Vibes
9.6 Review Scale
379/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 0.9/1
Not Janky 1/1
Good UI 1/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 1/1
Good Theme 0.9/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 1/1
Unique Twists 0.8/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Rogue: Genesia Tag Cloud

- +

More sortable taxonomies and categories associated with the game (genre tags are available in the main game table line!) We've just started adding tags to enable more sorting options, this section will get more filled out as we go!

Release Tags

LinuxSteam DeckWindows PCEAFree Available

Sorting Categories

Similar

Genre and Control Style Tags

Auto-ShooterBullet HeavenEnemy HellHorde SurvivalMowing GameRogueliteSurvivors-likeTop Down or IsometricTwin Stick Shooter

Aesthetic Tags

HD-2DPixel Art

Setting / Story Tags

Fantasy

Control Styles

Auto-AimAuto-FireControllerController 1 HandedMouse Only

Game Mode Tags

Branching PathsCampaignCurrency MetaprogressionDifficulty ModesDifficulty ModifiersEndless ModeGoal Based RoundsNo TutorialRoulette ProgressionSpeed UpTimed SurvivalUnlockable CharactersWave Survival30m

Features and Extras

Steam AchievementsSteam CloudSteam LeaderboardsSteam Workshop

Dev/Publisher

Huard OuadiiolaCorp Studio

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: No
  • Online: No
  • Player Count: 1
  • Leaderboards: ?

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: 35
  • Steam Leaderboards: Yes
  • Steam Workshop: Yes
  • Steam Trading Cards: No

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: Yes
  • DLC Available: Yes
  • Soundtrack Available: No

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"Walk upon a new world and slay foes endangering it. Rogue: Genesia is an action rogue-lite game, where you fight relentless hordes consisting of hundreds and thousands of monsters, carve your path through their ranks, defeat the boss and save one of the many worlds."

"Make your build from more than 170+ passive upgrades, 56 weapons. 52 + Powerful Artifacts to discover."

Control Style Notes

- +

Twin stick shooter with dodge, auto fire and optional auto aim. It's a little different in that targeting matters, there is a dodge and some other abilities.

Options to play one handed with a mouse or to turn on auto-aim can make this feel more like VS.

Automated Features

Auto Fire
Auto Aim

Optional Auto Aim, always auto fire. Pressing stick in direction takes over until stick is let up

Supported Controls

  • Controller: Full
  • Controller Move Only: No
  • Controller One Handed: Yes
  • Mouse Only: Yes
  • Keyboard Only: ?
  • Keyboard One Handed: ?

Game Modes

- +

Rog's Mode
(Campaign, Timed Survival, Goal Based Rounds, Branching Paths)

Survivor Mode
(Goal at Certain Time, Continues to Endless)

Difficulty Modifiers
(Many Challenges)

Difficulty Modes
(Corruption Slider)

Game Mode Notes

Rog's Mode consists of branching paths, with a series of rounds with objectives such as timed survival, killing an amount of enemies or an elite or boss, etc.

The game has many specific challenges for both modes, a "corruption" difficulty slider for any run, and 2 profile modes for your account (normal and hero, the later of which only counts your best runs for the purpose of buying stuff from the soul shop)

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

Rog's Mode is essentially a set of branching paths, with each node taking 30 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds, depending on win condition. Later campaigns have more nodes and take longer.

The "survivor" mode is technical endless. The "win" conditions are F rank: 15 minutes, E rank: 30 min, D rank: 45 min, C rank: 40min.

Dev: "Once you reach this duration, the timer gets crazy (speeds up and continues to speed-up overtime) this is what we call "red timer". After enemies start spawning with infinite health, you reach what is called "infinity" (this is usually 1 to 3 hours IRL) and the run ends."

Speed Settings

A player ability can slow down the action. Corruption and challenges can speed up enemies, but there's no menu option to speed up play.

"Quick Mode" shortens Rog's Mode run time by having less stages and more enemies, but doesn't change clock time / play speed.

[edit]

Void Scrappers

Free Available Released

A fan loved tightly designed little space survivors-like with a really jammin soundtrack that seals the deal. One handed play possible if you map the boost. Definitely faster and much harder than most games here start off. There's a lot of competition among the space games, this is one of the better ones. It manages to straddle the line of simple and complex in many ways, never seeming to suffer from the lack of trappings in some other games, but also hiding a bit of its depth under arcade stylings and unclear unlocks.

Arena Shooter Auto-Shooter Enemy Hell Roguelite Survivors-like Top Down or Isometric
8.8 Combined Ranking Score
7/72 Ranking Position
1471/1600 Total Points
9.3 Final Review
91% Steam
9.6 Scale
9.3 Vibes
404 Steam Reviews
380/400 Review Points
8.2 Similarity Score
91% Diagnosis:
Similar
1091/1200 Comparison Points
94% Genre 7.1/8 genre
87% Simple Controls 5.2/7 move
99% Survival Modes 3.9/4 modes
100% Power Progression 4/4 level
100% Buildcrafting Depth 5/5 build
79% Stage Features 4.1/7 stage
74% Content Breadth 4.4/9 stuff
100% Aesthetics 6/6 style
99% Gameplay Vibe Check 9.7/10 vibe vibe

Void Scrappers Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 5.0

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/4/2023

shrapnel-from_void-scrappers.gifAn incredibly satisfying and easy to loop into space survivors-like. The controls remind me of playing the drifty UFO style Arilou in Star Control 2, where you'll keep moving a little bit but it's never annoying because you can zip right back around. It's got what I'd say are bullet hell hitboxes (in the best way) where you can cruise quite close to an enemy and still save your neck at the last second.

That's good because it's honestly also very challenging due to the fast movement and generally only 3 or 4 health you've got, with few ways to make yourself more resistant to a hit.

Feels a little slow to unlock things, but also the minimal menu design makes it easy to forget there are also challenge based unlocks and not just the currency ones. Once I got in the habit of finding a challenge to chase I was fully sucked into the "one more run" loop.

It adds a dash but besides that it's mostly an auto shooter. While most space games (and most survivors-likes in general it seems) add twin stick controls, this one happily handles the aiming all on its own. I love that there's a no dashing challenge because I hate dashing.

It's technically an arena shooter but an enjoyable parallax scroll effect and the zippy travel makes it seem like you're in the endless void and not a tiny box, so it doesn't get negative scores in the map size and exploration, even a tiny positive in "big" maps. When you finish the survival/boss mode it just kills you with spawns VS style, but if you make an invincible build it's possible to continue until you break the game. We'll call this full points for both.

Really really good menu music. Great music overall. Like if star control was scored by trent reznor. Accidentally left it paused for a half hour just enjoying it on my phone. Game is considered complete with no updates planned, dev is working now on Bore Blasters, also on this spreadsheet.

Void Scrappers Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

8.2 Similarity Score
91% Diagnosis:
1091/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle 0.8/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 1/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 0.8/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) 0.5/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) 0.5/1
Move Only 0.7/1
No Dash 0/1
No Trigger 1/1
No Special Move 1/1
No Aiming 1/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty 1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 1/1
Endless Mode 1/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 1/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 0.9/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event 1/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 1/1
1/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 1/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 1/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 1/1
Explorable Map 0/1
BIG Maps 0.1/1
XP on Ground 1/1
Health on Ground 1/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 1/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 1/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 0/1
Enemy Variety 0.4/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 1/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 0/1
Difficulty Modifiers 0/1
Bestiary / Lore 0/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 0/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 1/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 1/1
Subtle Humor 1/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 0.7/1
Over the Top 1/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 1/1
Fun Ramp 1/1
Low Price 1/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS 0.7/1

Void Scrappers Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.3 Final Review
91% Positive Steam Reviews
404 Steam Reviews
9.3 Pure Vibes
9.6 Review Scale
380/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 1/1
Not Janky 1/1
Good UI 0.8/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 0.8/1
Good Theme 1/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 1/1
Unique Twists 1/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Metacritic Scores

- +

This title has metacritic data! The "fuck the man" score is adjusted so each person's review is equally weighted, regardless of critic or fan status.

Critic

7.3 Converted 10 Point Score
2 Number of Critic Reviews

User

9.0 User Review Average
1 Number of User Reviews

Average

8.2 Direct Average
7.9 "Fuck The Man" Combined Mean

Void Scrappers Tag Cloud

- +

More sortable taxonomies and categories associated with the game (genre tags are available in the main game table line!) We've just started adding tags to enable more sorting options, this section will get more filled out as we go!

Release Tags

BrowserGOGitch.ioLinuxMacSteam DeckSwitchWindows PCFree AvailableReleased

Sorting Categories

Similar

Genre and Control Style Tags

Arena ShooterAuto-ShooterEnemy HellRogueliteSurvivors-likeTop Down or Isometric

Aesthetic Tags

2DLofiPixel ArtRetro

Setting / Story Tags

ComedySci-fiShip (Air/Space)Space

Control Styles

Auto-AimAuto-FireController

Game Mode Tags

Difficulty ModifiersEndless ModeNo TutorialSpeed UpTimed SurvivalWave Survival30m

Features and Extras

SoundtrackSteam AchievementsSteam Cloud

Dev/Publisher

8BitSkull

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: No
  • Online: No
  • Player Count: 1
  • Leaderboards: ?

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: 11
  • Steam Leaderboards: No
  • Steam Workshop: No
  • Steam Trading Cards: No

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: itch.io
  • DLC Available: No
  • Soundtrack Available: Steam YouTube Bandcamp GOG

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

Blast hordes of alien ships into junk. Collect the scrap to upgrade your ship into an unstoppable force of destruction. Unlock new characters and weapons and upgrade your stats between runs.

"Void Scrappers Post Mortem" - dev interview

"I wanted to play into the power fantasy that a lot of these recent horde shooters aspire to by letting the player move fast. I never liked walking around slowly while doing my slaying, so I've put the player in a zippy space ship. Not just that - but the ship has a dash ability which provides a brief turbo boost (with invincibility!). The game is still difficult, just not because you move slowly." Great responsive dev, helped clarify several features in interview.

Control Style Notes

- +

Zippy fast moving single stick shooter. It adds a dash but otherwise limits attack controls.

Automated Features

Auto-Fire
Auto-Aim

There's no way to disable.

Supported Controls

  • Controller: Full
  • Controller Move Only: No
  • Controller One Handed: ?
  • Mouse Only: No
  • Keyboard Only: ?
  • Keyboard One Handed: ?

Game Modes

- +

Timed/Endless Survival

Difficulty Setting
(Enemy Projectiles)

Game Mode Notes

Dev: "Enemy projectiles can be turned off in settings. This slightly increases enemy HP."

Only one mode, but we're considering it both timed and endless - see run time notes.

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

Dev: "In-game time, the end stages of a run are triggered at 20 minutes. However time stops for upgrades and weapons, so actual time is longer."

When you finish the survival/boss mode it just kills you with spawns VS style, but if you make an invincible build it's possible to continue until you break the game. We'll call this full points for both.

Speed Settings

0.75x - 1.25x

Game speed can be changed in settings with no other impact to achievements or anything else.

[edit]

Bio Prototype

Released

This bioengineering themed arena wave survival game might be my favorite of the Brotato-style auto shooters so far. The logic puzzle style chaining of abilities from your "brain" gives me something enjoyable to look forward to on each round end and within the rounds the movement-only wave survival is quite enjoyable. I also dig the ugly-cute aesthetic and overall vibe, making this a title I'm looking forward to putting more time into. I think if you like Brotato and want to really think through strategy between rounds, this is a good choice. If you like "spellcrafting" games this could be considered similar. It even lets you test your build before going to the next wave!

Arena Shooter Auto-Shooter Brotato-style Bullet Heaven Content Rich Enemy Hell Roguelite Single Stick Shooter Spell Crafting Survivors-like Top Down or Isometric Wave Survival
8.5 Combined Ranking Score
13/72 Ranking Position
1436/1600 Total Points
9.3 Final Review
92% Steam
9.9 Scale
8.8 Vibes
2041 Steam Reviews
379/400 Review Points
7.6 Similarity Score
88% Diagnosis:
Similar
1057/1200 Comparison Points
100% Genre 8/8 genre
100% Simple Controls 7/7 move
85% Survival Modes 2.8/4 modes
56% Power Progression 0.5/4 level
100% Buildcrafting Depth 5/5 build
54% Stage Features 0.6/7 stage
86% Content Breadth 6.4/9 stuff
100% Aesthetics 6/6 style
98% Gameplay Vibe Check 9.5/10 vibe vibe

Bio Prototype Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 4.1

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/13/2023

Bio Prototype is an excellent creature creating survivors-like, though more in the Brotato-style since it does all of the upgrading on round ends and the gameplay stays within a small box-like arena. I haven't played or unlocked nearly enough of it, but it's popular enough that I was able to enjoy some nice gameplay videos and other content to help with my first impressions review.

The lack of exploration aspects may make it less similar to Vampire Survivors, as does the relatively complex upgrade system, but I found it quite satisfying both in avoiding the enemies and upgrading during my run. The enemy drops don't auto gather so it feels a tiny bit more like VS compared to Brotato. The upgrading is done by selecting from a small amount of options for "organs" to implant and then chaining them up from your "brain." This works like a simple puzzle, well simple in terms of left to right alignment but complicated in terms of the chain of events. You can sell your previous upgrades if needed (we're counting this interface as a vendor as well) and even test your ability layout between rounds.

Tweaking this brain linking to get the most heavenly of bullet heavens results in a satisfying gameplay loop that I think will keep many fans busy for a solid set of hours (this is one I intend to come back to after trying out all the games, myself.) It's also helped along by the simple in round movement controls (single stick only!) You avoid mobs and try to gather resources while also lining up your attacks without the distraction of additional controls. The enemy waves are laid out well, as in the best of these games, to make pathing the maze between them satisfying enough to pull you into the zen point (at least until the end of the round.)

There are a variety of playable creatures as well as a fair amount of variation in attacks and abilities. It has multiple stages, though as far as I know they're basically all a simple arena. There's an endless mode and a "draft" mode. It's pretty full of content which is mostly hidden at first behind a pretty simple and straight to the action main menu (something I very much appreciate to get me into the next run quickly.)

Some organs create temporary health/powerup drops so partial score there. There are a lot of challenges to unlock things, but no currency based meta unlocks as far as I know. This makes it a bit more skill and strategy based for progression than some games on this list that mostly reward time spent grinding. That can make it either more or less appealing to you, to me it's just different and sometimes I'm in the mood for one or the other. But I have to admit more obviously grind-happy games sometimes steal more hours away from me.

I think the "round end" upgrade cycle allows it a great complexity in the strategy, but that's not always my personal preference for playing these games (You'll notice I didn't particularly end up enamored with Brotato, kind of king of the round end upgrade auto shooters.) In this case, the game won me over by what I find to be a much more charming aesthetic, relatively unique system for upgrades, and the basic logic/programming puzzle of setting up moves.

Bio Prototype Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

7.6 Similarity Score
88% Diagnosis:
1057/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle 1/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 1/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 1/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) 1/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) 1/1
Move Only 1/1
No Dash 1/1
No Trigger 1/1
No Special Move 1/1
No Aiming 1/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty 1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 1/1
Endless Mode 1/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 0/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 0.8/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event -0.5/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 0/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 0/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 1/1
1/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 1/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 1/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 1/1
Explorable Map -1/1
BIG Maps -1/1
XP on Ground 1/1
Health on Ground 0.3/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 0.3/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 0/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 1/1
Enemy Variety 0.8/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 1/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 0.6/1
Difficulty Modifiers 1/1
Bestiary / Lore 0/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 0/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 1/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 1/1
Subtle Humor 1/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 1/1
Over the Top 1/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 0.5/1
Fun Ramp 1/1
Low Price 1/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS 0.9/1

Bio Prototype Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.3 Final Review
92% Positive Steam Reviews
2041 Steam Reviews
8.8 Pure Vibes
9.9 Review Scale
379/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 1/1
Not Janky 1/1
Good UI 1/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 0.9/1
Good Theme 1/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 1/1
Unique Twists 1/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: No
  • Online: No
  • Player Count: 1
  • Leaderboards: Steam

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: 39
  • Steam Leaderboards: Yes
  • Steam Workshop: No
  • Steam Trading Cards: Yes

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: No
  • DLC Available: No
  • Soundtrack Available: No

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"A wave of irrational experimentation rushes toward you. Hurry up and mutate! evolution! Become scarier monsters than them! Use flesh and blood to bloom a way of survival! 24 characters, more than 80 kinds of organs, and endless build combinations"

"Hurry up and mutate! evolution! Become scarier monsters than them! Use flesh and blood to bloom a way of survival! 19 characters, more than 40 kinds of organs, and endless build combinations!"

"Link organs to your brain to create exponentially increasing combos" "More than 80 kinds of organs, 40 special designed characters, and infinite combinations"

Control Style Notes

- +

The game is a single stick shooter, with no options for manual aim. It's not quite as much of a mowing game, so you mostly avoid enemies while chaining projectile combos.

Automated Features

Auto-Aim
Auto-Fire

No Manual options.

Supported Controls

  • Controller: Full
  • Controller Move Only: Yes
  • Controller One Handed: Yes
  • Mouse Only: Yes
  • Keyboard Only: Yes
  • Keyboard One Handed: Yes

Game Modes

- +

Timed Survival

Endless Survival

Daily Challenge

Test Mode

Game Mode Notes

The primary mode is the timed round survival in the menu. When upgrading within a run, there is an option to enter a sort of test mode where you can see how your abilities end up chaining together and test the damage against dummy targets.

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

Runs are separated into 15 small rounds, with upgrades at the end of each round brotato-style. You can test your build between rounds.

Disclaimer: Hard to say exact run time from my gameplay, since I spend so much time between rounds fiddling 15 short rounds can take me 45 minutes or even an hour. Part of that is just me being silly and spending too much time in the test mode probably. "Run time "Depends on difficulty. In normal mode you can expect 20-35 minutes. You can clock over an hour in endless mode." via BrziKorak on the forum. Sounds about right.

Speed Settings

None

Player Power Progression

- +

Detailed notes on progression systems.

In Run Progression

In between rounds you are awarded a choice of "organs" which are your ability chain and weapon items. You can sell your organs and have access to a store where you can upgrade your capabilities or buy more organ picks. You then must create a programming like chain of attacks from your brain by linking organs, which you can move and rearrange as you wish between rounds.

Some organs create temporary powerups which can be picked up off the ground.

Meta Progression

Achievements unlock new "classes" and new types of organs (the way abilities and attacks chain from your characters brain, or brains rather.)

[edit]

Goobies

Free Available Released

A cute goo busting survivors-like with pretty straightforward single stick shooter gameplay. In my first impressions, it's a pretty straight up Vampire Survivors clone gameplay style. While I kind of appreciate the art style, it was a little unclear in action sometimes and eventually overall it felt a little lacking to me. Not as much depth, not as much over the top aspects, no exploration. Endless mode only afaik, but that ends up with me never feeling like I've "won". It could benefit from clear specific build related challenges. If it was the only game available, I could play a lot of it, but otherwise it feels like I'm grinding a lot of time for less payoff in terms of wacky mechanics. Many love it, try the demo!

Arena Shooter Auto-Shooter Bullet Heaven Enemy Hell Horde Survival Roguelite Single Stick Shooter Survivors-like Top Down or Isometric Twin Stick Shooter Wave Survival
8.0 Combined Ranking Score
24/72 Ranking Position
1413/1600 Total Points
8.1 Final Review
92% Steam
7.7 Scale
7.5 Vibes
1131 Steam Reviews
344/400 Review Points
7.8 Similarity Score
89% Diagnosis:
Similar
1069/1200 Comparison Points
100% Genre 8/8 genre
99% Simple Controls 6.9/7 move
88% Survival Modes 3/4 modes
100% Power Progression 4/4 level
82% Buildcrafting Depth 3.2/5 build
65% Stage Features 2.1/7 stage
85% Content Breadth 6.3/9 stuff
83% Aesthetics 4/6 style
96% Gameplay Vibe Check 9.2/10 vibe vibe

Goobies Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 2.2

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/16/2023

First impressions! This game is a pretty typical survivors-like control wise with a relatively unique "globs of goo" aesthetic look. It seems to be fairly popular and well reviewed, though I had trouble getting into it and actually bounced off it a couple times before coming back and trying to put some more time in for the review.

It's not always easy to figure out exactly why something isn't working for me or get a full view of a game I haven't put a hundred hours into, but I attempted to examine this on pretty closely since it's very popular. People seem to enjoy that it's chill and often mention the aesthetics, but I did notice many of the positive reviewers also don't seem to have a huge amount of hours in the game.

I agree it's very easy to play, the basics of moving around are enjoyable. The character designs are cute, though the top down angle doesn't show much enough of it. Personally I thought the music might be a little too upbeat.

It's got a "World of Goo" kind of style with fairly abstract arenas and gooey trees and plenty of gooey enemies. I think this resulted in it feeling a little boring to me, though, eventually, as everything is goo and most of the enemies are also the same color. It's not a quick action game so unlike other abstract shape games I spent a lot of time staring at essentially the same shapes and colors moving slowly. They also explode in a way on hit spreading goop around them that makes it very hard to tell what is a live and recently dead enemy, resulting in me getting hit or at least stressed a fair amount while trying to skirt the edges of groups.

It's endless but seems most runs end around 30 min when much harder stuff starts to show up, hence the run time we noted. There don't seem to be different stages, though it does change the stage through your run when you beat a boss. One challenge includes manual aiming, which I didn't really find fun at all, but for the most part it's an auto-shooter. It's pretty much a bullet heaven, though it does have 'avoid red circle' style enemy attacks that are fairly common as you get into it.

There are a few characters and a currency based unlock menu for metaprogression, but I found this to feel pretty grindy. I think the lack of clear interesting build related challenges (not just kill x enemies) shown for goal based unlocks can be an issue for me, giving me less reasons to play for longer hours trying different builds. I'd like to get to the high level over the top gameplay I see on YouTube but feel I likely never will since it will just take so long to get there. In my two hours checking it out I didn't unlock a new character or any major changes to the gameplay, just some minor meta upgrades and the optional challenge turning off auto-fire (which I disliked and didn't use past one run since you can't toggle it off.)


I feel like the notes here are coming out a little unfair to it since I'm trying to pin my feelings down - I see how many people like it - but personally it's just not pulling me in to play more since I have so many other options. I like more exploration and build crafting specific challenges. But the vibe is very cute and the core gameplay can be satisfying so if the art style appeals to you it may be worth sticking with it!

Goobies Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

7.8 Similarity Score
89% Diagnosis:
1069/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle 1/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 1/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 1/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) 1/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) 1/1
Move Only 1/1
No Dash 1/1
No Trigger 1/1
No Special Move 1/1
No Aiming 0.9/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty 1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 0/1
Endless Mode 1/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 1/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 1/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event 1/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 0.9/1
1/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 0.4/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 0.8/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 0.1/1
Explorable Map -1/1
BIG Maps -0.9/1
XP on Ground 1/1
Health on Ground 1/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 1/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 1/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 0/1
Enemy Variety 0.5/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 0.7/1
Many Challenges 0.1/1
Multiple Stages 0/1
Difficulty Modifiers 1/1
Bestiary / Lore 1/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 1/1
Retro / Pixel Art 0/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 0.5/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 0.7/1
Subtle Humor 0.8/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 1/1
Over the Top 0.9/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 0.8/1
Fun Ramp 0.8/1
Low Price 1/1
Technical Check 0.9/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS 1/1

Goobies Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

8.1 Final Review
92% Positive Steam Reviews
1131 Steam Reviews
7.5 Pure Vibes
7.7 Review Scale
344/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 0.9/1
Not Janky 1/1
Good UI 1/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 0.6/1
Good Theme 0.7/1
Good Graphics and Sound 0.8/1
Fun Feel 0.8/1
Unique Twists 0.1/1
Vibe Check 0.8/1

Goobies Tag Cloud

- +

More sortable taxonomies and categories associated with the game (genre tags are available in the main game table line!) We've just started adding tags to enable more sorting options, this section will get more filled out as we go!

Release Tags

Steam DeckWindows PCFree AvailableReleased

Sorting Categories

Similar

Genre and Control Style Tags

Arena ShooterAuto-ShooterBullet HeavenEnemy HellHorde SurvivalRogueliteSingle Stick ShooterSurvivors-likeTop Down or IsometricTwin Stick ShooterWave Survival

Aesthetic Tags

3DCell ShadedClaymationUglycute

Setting / Story Tags

Abstract

Control Styles

ControllerController 1 HandedController Move Only

Game Mode Tags

Unknown30m

Features and Extras

SoundtrackSteam AchievementsSteam Cloud

Dev/Publisher

Knifes

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: No
  • Online: No
  • Player Count: 1
  • Leaderboards: ?

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: ?
  • Steam Achievements: 43
  • Steam Leaderboards: No
  • Steam Workshop: No
  • Steam Trading Cards: No

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: Yes
  • DLC Available: No
  • Soundtrack Available: YouTube

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"Battle thousands of blobs in this roguelike auto-shooter. Travel from island to island, defeat bosses, collect and upgrade items to become more powerful and discover lag-inducing combos in an endless blobbath."

"Choose your champion from a diverse cast of 5 Goobies, each with their own unique passive ability and playstyle. Discover countless combinations of items by collecting over 30 of them, many of which have multiple unique upgrades. Unlock the power of up to 20 game-changing artifacts that will redefine the game's mechanics and visuals. Collect Goobie coins from each run to unlock more power all whilst keeping track of your progress and learning about the lore via the in-game encyclopedia!"

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

It's endless but seems most runs end around 30 min when much harder stuff starts to show up.

Speed Settings

?

[edit]

Shape Shifter: Formations

EA

A game that applies all of the survivors-like lessons to a classic abstract arena shooter format, so far seems to be very good at both. Vibes of Geometry Wars or the vintage vector shooters both are based on. I've been playing mostly with auto aim / auto shoot which I think works pretty well and makes it feel a lot more survivors-like in a way my sore hands enjoy. Build depth is pretty good for a more arcade-style title and while there isn't much setting/stage variety I don't spend much time thinking about it. I admit I'd love if there was at least an unlockable boss-free mode, since it feels full on bullet hell with them. Great vibe overall, looking forward to more content.

Arcade Arena Shooter Auto-Shooter Bullet Heaven Bullet Hell Enemy Hell Roguelite Single Stick Shooter Survivors-like Top Down or Isometric Twin Stick Shooter Wave Shooter
7.9 Combined Ranking Score
26/72 Ranking Position
1357/1600 Total Points
9.6 Final Review
100% Steam
9.5 Scale
9.2 Vibes
62 Steam Reviews
387/400 Review Points
6.2 Similarity Score
81% Diagnosis:
Similar
970/1200 Comparison Points
95% Genre 7.2/8 genre
72% Simple Controls 3.1/7 move
83% Survival Modes 2.6/4 modes
100% Power Progression 4/4 level
69% Buildcrafting Depth 1.9/5 build
50% Stage Features 0/7 stage
78% Content Breadth 5.1/9 stuff
83% Aesthetics 4/6 style
93% Gameplay Vibe Check 8.6/10 vibe vibe

Shape Shifter: Formations Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 3.5

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/14/2023

First impressions on this Early Access arcade style arena shooter are very positive. Honestly I'm super thankful for this resurgence of arcade style games so I can get stuff like this.

It's a top down shooter in a small arena, with "shape" enemies more complicated than you might see in some retro shooters but very much giving the abstract vibe. While the aesthetics are quite good in my opinion, the general direction of them is that you should concentrate entirely on the play and the play so far is worth concentrating on. I absolutely don't mind when an arcade style game doesn't have plot/setting trappings, it can still get a full score for on the review scale categories from me if it feels like the 'world' is still crafted for the experience the player is supposed to have. You know, Tron without all that talking.

I haven't yet encountered what I would really call multiple maps or stages, though the arena changes at different stages through the run. After beating a run once (referred to as "the game" in the guide accessible in the main menu), you unlock difficulty modifiers.

Has both goal based and currency based unlocks. The goal based ones are pretty solid for giving you something to do in a run, as in the best of these games (get a new ship!) and I enjoy how the refundable currency upgrades also include different play or build styles, like deciding to prioritize burn for the burn ship. Some of these games don't really understand that meta unlocks can be like offering the player interesting new puzzles and not just ways to make the game easier. The skill tree luckily isn't too baroque and easy access to it at the death screen made it easy to loop into another run.

Speaking of ease it certainly feels harder at first but I think this is partially the classic arcade style format. I'm not sure how much content actually exists here yet with early access, but in many of the games in this lineage you're not really expected to be beating all the bosses on your first run or very quickly. At least, I tried to tell myself this as I got used to actually dodging boss bullets again.

There is a special move button and dash. It's in no way bloated, but does include some fun stuff like stats. No bestiary, but then again not a lot of enemy variety yet either. I'd love to be able to unlock an endless mode without bosses so I could truly zone out.

It's definitely not a mowing game, with very projectile based attacks. The auto-aim/auto-fire is sometimes off in a way that feels a little bugged, but for the most part does work pretty satisfyingly. I found myself doing up close strafing more than I would in a classic arcade shooter, partially because I'm trying to collect the XP drops as well. In that way, while in an aesthetic wrapping of an older wave shooter, the gameplay can feel very much like a modern survivors-like. You move towards some things and away from others, getting into a fairly zen state interrupted only by quickly selecting from a simple selection of upgrades and eventually only sorely interrupted by the arrival of an often run ending boss.

I'm a big fan of older arcade style shooters (my favorite perhaps being Super Stardust HD) and while this one is a little slower to get started because it has the metaprogression aspect I found it very much tickled that old enjoyment. The music seems to keep on the same theme and the visuals are a very satisfying mix of retro aesthetics and fairly active and busy scenery in implementation. Overall I had a lot of fun with it so far and am eager to see it get more content through Early Access.

Shape Shifter: Formations Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

6.2 Similarity Score
81% Diagnosis:
970/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle 0.8/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 1/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 0.9/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) 0.5/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) 0.5/1
Move Only 0/1
No Dash 0/1
No Trigger 0.8/1
No Special Move 0/1
No Aiming 0.8/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty 1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 1/1
Endless Mode Planned/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 1/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 0.6/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event 1/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 1/1
0.9/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 0/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 0.5/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible -0.5/1
Explorable Map -1/1
BIG Maps -1/1
XP on Ground 1/1
Health on Ground 0/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 0/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 0/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 1/1
Enemy Variety 0/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 1/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 0.1/1
Difficulty Modifiers 1/1
Bestiary / Lore 0/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 0/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 0.9/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 0.1/1
Subtle Humor 0/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 0.8/1
Over the Top 0.8/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 1/1
Fun Ramp 1/1
Low Price 1/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS 0.5/1

Shape Shifter: Formations Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.6 Final Review
100% Positive Steam Reviews
62 Steam Reviews
9.2 Pure Vibes
9.5 Review Scale
387/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 0.9/1
Not Janky 0.9/1
Good UI 1/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 0.8/1
Good Theme 1/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 1/1
Unique Twists 0.9/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Shape Shifter: Formations Tag Cloud

- +

More sortable taxonomies and categories associated with the game (genre tags are available in the main game table line!) We've just started adding tags to enable more sorting options, this section will get more filled out as we go!

Release Tags

Steam DeckWindows PCEA

Sorting Categories

Similar

Genre and Control Style Tags

ArcadeArena ShooterAuto-ShooterBullet HeavenBullet HellEnemy HellRogueliteSingle Stick ShooterSurvivors-likeTop Down or IsometricTwin Stick ShooterWave Shooter

Aesthetic Tags

3DGeometricNeonRaveRetroVector InspiredVivid

Setting / Story Tags

Abstract

Control Styles

Controller

Game Mode Tags

Unknown30m

Features and Extras

Steam AchievementsSteam Cloud

Dev/Publisher

Castec Studios

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: Co-Op
  • Online: Co-Op (Remote Play)
  • Player Count: 2
  • Leaderboards: ?

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: 86
  • Steam Leaderboards: No
  • Steam Workshop: No
  • Steam Trading Cards: No

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: No
  • DLC Available: No
  • Soundtrack Available: No

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"Shape Shifter: Formations is an action twin-stick shooter with rogue-lite elements, where you must destroy hordes of geometric enemies alone or with a friend. Select your ship and combine a large variety of weapons, abilities and infinitely stacking upgrades to craft your own unique build."

"Choose from a wide variety of ships each with their own unique active and passive abilities, ranging from protective barriers or invisibility, to shocking tesla towers and a burning laser. Pick the ship the suits your play style and outfit it with a weapon of your choice. Spend cores gained each run on the skill tree to provide powerful permanent upgrades."

Co-op notes: "So each player can select their own ship/weapon and receives their own choice of upgrades when levelling up. Players earn currency in each run together, but they get their own pool to spend at the shop separately. The only thing that's shared, is progression on the skill tree, but this is offset by the fact you progress through this a little quicker in co-op"

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

?

Speed Settings

?

[edit]

Hades

Released

Very Different. Perhaps you want a 30m run isometric rogue-lite but with more hands on hack & slash action, no horde survival, no bullet heaven and need a full story. Very different! One of 10 games Included to test the scale (see FAQ) with a commonly seen recommendation that does share some mechanics but differs widely on others. This is game came out to universal critical acclaim and has received some fun updates since. As shown here, a game that's very different but extremely highly regarded might still be able to get around a 7 on our ranking - it may still be worth trying!

Action Roguelike Content Rich Dating Sim Dungeon Crawler Hack and Slash Roguelite Story Rich Top Down or Isometric
7.1 Combined Ranking Score
40/72 Ranking Position
1256/1600 Total Points
9.8 Final Review
98% Steam
10.0 Scale
9.5 Vibes
216232 Steam Reviews
393/400 Review Points
4.4 Similarity Score
72% Diagnosis:
Very Different
863/1200 Comparison Points
75% Genre 4/8 genre
11% Simple Controls -5.5/7 move
31% Survival Modes -1.5/4 modes
88% Power Progression 3/4 level
87% Buildcrafting Depth 3.7/5 build
75% Stage Features 3.5/7 stage
93% Content Breadth 7.8/9 stuff
86% Aesthetics 4.3/6 style
89% Gameplay Vibe Check 7.7/10 vibe vibe

Hades Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 26.6

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/14/2023

Included here to test/show the scale - accurately about halfway similar to VS. Sometimes recommended for VS fans, Hades is a hack and slash isometric dungeon crawl game that has you move from room to room and defeat a couple small but powerful waves of enemies in each room. It's not an auto battler, not movement-only, very much an action game and not a zen game. Runs are to beat several areas and bosses, not to survive a countdown or endlessly survive.

There's only one character. But it is a rogue-lite, with meaningful and fun upgrade systems (though not multiple weapons), around 30 minute run time, and many other positive features, meaning it does make sense that people recommend it. It's an excellent game - just won't scratch the itch of "more Vampire Survivors!" for many people.

Calling the way powers/items are selected "streamlined level choices" even though its' not "leveling up." It's a good example of how a dungeon crawler might handle the same concept.

Hades Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

4.4 Similarity Score
72% Diagnosis:
863/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle -1/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 0.7/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 0.2/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) 0.1/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) -1/1
Move Only -1/1
No Dash -1/1
No Trigger -1/1
No Special Move -1/1
No Aiming 0/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty -0.5/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival -1/1
Endless Mode -1/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 0.2/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 0.3/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event 0/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 1/1
1/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 0.5/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 1/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 0.2/1
Explorable Map 0.5/1
BIG Maps 0/1
XP on Ground 0/1
Health on Ground 0/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 1/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 1/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 1/1
Enemy Variety 0.8/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 0/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 1/1
Difficulty Modifiers 1/1
Bestiary / Lore 1/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 1/1
Retro / Pixel Art 0.1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 0.2/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 1/1
Subtle Humor 1/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 0.2/1
Over the Top 0.3/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 1/1
Fun Ramp 1/1
Low Price 0.2/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS 0.3/1

Hades Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.8 Final Review
98% Positive Steam Reviews
216232 Steam Reviews
9.5 Pure Vibes
10.0 Review Scale
393/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 1/1
Not Janky 1/1
Good UI 1/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 1/1
Good Theme 1/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 1/1
Unique Twists 1/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Metacritic Scores

- +

This title has metacritic data! The "fuck the man" score is adjusted so each person's review is equally weighted, regardless of critic or fan status.

Critic

9.3 Converted 10 Point Score
61 Number of Critic Reviews

User

8.8 User Review Average
1936 Number of User Reviews

Average

9.1 Direct Average
8.8 "Fuck The Man" Combined Mean

Hades Tag Cloud

- +

More sortable taxonomies and categories associated with the game (genre tags are available in the main game table line!) We've just started adding tags to enable more sorting options, this section will get more filled out as we go!

Release Tags

MacPS4PS5Steam DeckSwitchWindows PCXboxReleased

Sorting Categories

Very Different

Genre and Control Style Tags

Action RoguelikeContent RichDating SimDungeon CrawlerHack and SlashRogueliteStory RichTop Down or Isometric

Aesthetic Tags

3DArtyCartoonCell Shaded

Setting / Story Tags

DungeonsFantasyGreek MythologyMythologyRomanceUnderworld

Control Styles

Controller

Game Mode Tags

Unknown30m

Features and Extras

SoundtrackSteam AchievementsSteam CloudSteam Trading Cards

Dev/Publisher

Supergiant Games

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: No
  • Online: No
  • Player Count: 1
  • Leaderboards: ?

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: 49
  • Steam Leaderboards: No
  • Steam Workshop: No
  • Steam Trading Cards: Yes

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: No
  • DLC Available: No
  • Soundtrack Available: Steam YouTube Bandcamp iam8bit (LP)

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"Hades is a god-like rogue-like dungeon crawler that combines the best aspects of Supergiant's critically acclaimed titles, including the fast-paced action of Bastion, the rich atmosphere and depth of Transistor, and the character-driven storytelling of Pyre."

"New surprises await each time you delve into the ever-shifting Underworld, whose guardian bosses will remember you."

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

?

Speed Settings

?

[edit]

Dead Cells

DLC Released

Very Different. Metroidvania Sidescroller Rouge-lite with Souls inspired combat, it shares some elements with other Rogue-lites. Perhaps you want to jump and slash and don't like currency based meta power creep, preferring to develop your skills and find in-game discoveries to progress. Very Hard! Want it to feel more like Vampire Survivors? Get the Castlevania crossover DLC. That kind of makes it worth including.

Content Rich Dungeon Crawler Hack and Slash Metroidvania Roguelite Roguevania Sidescroller
6.8 Combined Ranking Score
45/72 Ranking Position
1223/1600 Total Points
9.6 Final Review
97% Steam
10.0 Scale
9.1 Vibes
119571 Steam Reviews
388/400 Review Points
3.9 Similarity Score
70% Diagnosis:
Very Different
835/1200 Comparison Points
66% Genre 2.6/8 genre
11% Simple Controls -5.5/7 move
26% Survival Modes -1.9/4 modes
50% Power Progression 0/4 level
71% Buildcrafting Depth 2.1/5 build
93% Stage Features 6/7 stage
96% Content Breadth 8.2/9 stuff
100% Aesthetics 6/6 style
85% Gameplay Vibe Check 6.9/10 vibe vibe

Dead Cells Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 8.0

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/23/2023

Played a fair amount on Switch as well. Very skill based sidescrolling Rogue-lite. Deep combat system inspired by Dark Souls but with a lot of mechanics of its own. It's another great game I'm not very good at. You may love the One More Run pull of it, but if you aren't good at jumping and juggling a lot of buttons, it won't be able to draw you past that. Gameplay wise it feels very different, but it shares some genre conventions with Vampire Survivors.

Many buttons to keep track of and high challenge from smaller amounts of enemies. Currency drops during runs to be used during runs, there's only goal/find based meta-unlocks (and stuff passed to your next run.)

This was be an interesting one to rate. I was inspired to pull it onto this sheet by the Castlevania DLC which not only includes some characters and weapons but a whole fucking castle and soundtrack, so it does have some neo-castlevania vibes which obviously also heavily influenced VS.

A lot of people say it's their "favorite game like vampire survivors" in reddit threads from a while ago, and at that time they just meant.. an action game with meta progression.

Dead Cells Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

3.9 Similarity Score
70% Diagnosis:
835/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle -1/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric -1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 0.9/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 0/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) 0.7/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) -1/1
Move Only -1/1
No Dash -1/1
No Trigger -1/1
No Special Move -1/1
No Aiming 0/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty -0.5/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival -1/1
Endless Mode -1/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 0/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 0.1/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event -1/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 0/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 0/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 0.4/1
0.7/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 0/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 1/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 0/1
Explorable Map 1/1
BIG Maps 1/1
XP on Ground 1/1
Health on Ground 0/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 1/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 1/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 1/1
Enemy Variety 1/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 0.2/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 1/1
Difficulty Modifiers 1/1
Bestiary / Lore 1/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 1/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 1/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 1/1
Subtle Humor 1/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 0.2/1
Over the Top 0.3/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 0.6/1
Fun Ramp 0.8/1
Low Price 0/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS 0.1/1

Dead Cells Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.6 Final Review
97% Positive Steam Reviews
119571 Steam Reviews
9.1 Pure Vibes
10.0 Review Scale
388/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 1/1
Not Janky 1/1
Good UI 1/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 1/1
Good Theme 1/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 1/1
Unique Twists 1/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Metacritic Scores

- +

This title has metacritic data! The "fuck the man" score is adjusted so each person's review is equally weighted, regardless of critic or fan status.

Critic

8.9 Converted 10 Point Score
35 Number of Critic Reviews

User

8.2 User Review Average
742 Number of User Reviews

Average

8.6 Direct Average
8.2 "Fuck The Man" Combined Mean

Dead Cells Tag Cloud

- +

More sortable taxonomies and categories associated with the game (genre tags are available in the main game table line!) We've just started adding tags to enable more sorting options, this section will get more filled out as we go!

Release Tags

AndroidEpiciOSitch.ioLinuxMacPS4PS5Steam DeckSwitchWindows PCXboxDLCReleased

Sorting Categories

Very Different

Genre and Control Style Tags

Content RichDungeon CrawlerHack and SlashMetroidvaniaRogueliteRoguevaniaSidescroller

Aesthetic Tags

2DPixel Art

Setting / Story Tags

DungeonsFantasy

Control Styles

Controller

Game Mode Tags

Find Based Metaprogression30m

Features and Extras

SoundtrackSteam AchievementsSteam CloudSteam Trading CardsSteam Workshop

Dev/Publisher

Motion Twin

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: No
  • Online: No
  • Player Count: 1
  • Leaderboards: ?

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: Yes
  • Steam Leaderboards: No
  • Steam Workshop: Yes
  • Steam Trading Cards: Yes

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: No
  • DLC Available: Yes
  • Soundtrack Available: Steam YouTube Bandcamp Spotify

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"Dead Cells is a rogue-lite, metroidvania inspired, action-platformer. You'll explore a sprawling, ever-changing castle... assuming you're able to fight your way past its keepers in 2D souls-lite combat. No checkpoints. Kill, die, learn, repeat. Regular free content updates!"

"RogueVania: The progressive exploration of an interconnected world, with the replayability of a rogue-lite and the adrenaline pumping threat of permadeath."

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

?

Speed Settings

?

[edit]

Whisker Squadron: Survivor

EA

Very Different. An excellent pick if you want to mix it up with a rogue-lite Star Fox style rail shooter survival with leveling mechanics. Has a ton of control differences but sometimes the differences from most survivors-likes makes a game your next favorite. Main complaint is there just isn't enough content. I want more varied pilots, weapons, maps, more bullet heaven aspects. I hope they bring a lot more during Early Access. Needs more for the price and a greater breadth and depth would skyrocket it up this list. Hate the energy meter firing delay.

On-Rails Shooter Roguelite Survivors-like
6.5 Combined Ranking Score
46/72 Ranking Position
1219/1600 Total Points
8.7 Final Review
92% Steam
8.4 Scale
8.4 Vibes
180 Steam Reviews
360/400 Review Points
4.3 Similarity Score
72% Diagnosis:
Very Different
859/1200 Comparison Points
71% Genre 3.4/8 genre
29% Simple Controls -3/7 move
85% Survival Modes 2.8/4 modes
100% Power Progression 4/4 level
60% Buildcrafting Depth 1/5 build
60% Stage Features 1.4/7 stage
75% Content Breadth 4.5/9 stuff
88% Aesthetics 4.6/6 style
82% Gameplay Vibe Check 6.4/10 vibe vibe

Whisker Squadron: Survivor Ranking Notes

- +

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 3.8

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/20/2023

It's rogue-lite wave survival wrapped around a star fox controls style rail shooter that looks like an HD neon remaster of a 1990s vector graphic shooter. That's awesome. Add a couple cute cats, and you've got yourself a nice little package. I had a lot of fun with this one and will probably try to at least unlock all the ships and levels. Lots of buttons/triggers, no auto, not like Vampire Survivors there. Fun music. The only real shame is there isn't a ton of content or build variety. Would be great to see more. There is both a boost and a roll so it gets a full -1 in that category.

More unique characters, ships, maps, and enemies. Character abilities are a little underwhelming and haven't gotten any over the top bullet heaven combos, but still fun. Would also be cool if characters got star fox style wah wah unique to them, not just the dot for the text. They could also use more personality. Don't love the energy meter. I customized controls to fire with trigger. Colors/levels could pulse/warp procedurally to give feel of endless variety, like some older games do. Quibbles quibbles. I worry because devs announced a next similar game while this could use more content for 14.99.

This has the bones to be one of the best games on this list and one of the best games I've played in a while, but it's just the bones right now. It needs to go over the top and it needs to go hard, and bringing in a writer with some humor and further developing some diversity in the style and color palette would help too.

Whisker Squadron: Survivor Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

4.3 Similarity Score
72% Diagnosis:
859/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle 0/1
Real Time 1/1
Top Down or Isometric 0/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 1/1
Arcade Style 1/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) 0.4/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) -1/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) -1/1
Move Only 0/1
No Dash -1/1
No Trigger -1/1
No Special Move 0/1
No Aiming -1/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty 1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 1/1
Endless Mode 0/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 1/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) 0.8/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event 1/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) 1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 0.4/1
0.5/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 0/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 0.1/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 0/1
Explorable Map -1/1
BIG Maps 1/1
XP on Ground 1/1
Health on Ground 0/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 0.4/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 0/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 0/1
Enemy Variety 0.1/1
Bosses / Elites 0.5/1
Many Interesting Characters 0.3/1
Many Challenges 0.6/1
Multiple Stages 0.6/1
Difficulty Modifiers 1/1
Bestiary / Lore 0/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 0.4/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 1/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 0.6/1
Subtle Humor 0/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 0.5/1
Over the Top 0.6/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 0.8/1
Fun Ramp 0.7/1
Low Price 0.1/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 0.9/1
Fun Check 0.8/1
Feels like VS 0.8/1

Whisker Squadron: Survivor Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

8.7 Final Review
92% Positive Steam Reviews
180 Steam Reviews
8.4 Pure Vibes
8.4 Review Scale
360/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 1/1
Not Janky 1/1
Good UI 0.7/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 0.3/1
Good Theme 0.4/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 1/1
Unique Twists 1/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Whisker Squadron: Survivor Tag Cloud

- +

More sortable taxonomies and categories associated with the game (genre tags are available in the main game table line!) We've just started adding tags to enable more sorting options, this section will get more filled out as we go!

Release Tags

LinuxMacSteam DeckWindows PCEA

Sorting Categories

Very Different

Genre and Control Style Tags

On-Rails ShooterRogueliteSurvivors-like

Aesthetic Tags

3DNeonRetroVector Inspired

Setting / Story Tags

AbstractFurryRobotsSci-fiShip (Air/Space)

Control Styles

Controller

Game Mode Tags

Currency MetaprogressionDropped Powerups30m

Features and Extras

SoundtrackSteam AchievementsSteam CloudSteam Trading Cards

Dev/Publisher

Flippfly LLC

Game Features

- +

Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: No
  • Online: No
  • Player Count: 1
  • Leaderboards: ?

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: 22
  • Steam Leaderboards: No
  • Steam Workshop: No
  • Steam Trading Cards: Yes

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: No
  • DLC Available: No
  • Soundtrack Available: Steam Bandcamp YouTube

Marketing Blurb

- +

Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"A cosmic roguelite on-rails shooter with wild 30-minute runs that will take your feline flight crew to thrilling new heights with each randomized adventure. Your plan is simple: wreak vengeance on the Swarm and try to survive."

"Embark on an ever-changing adventure across neon-laced roguelike levels featuring on-rails shooter runs that change with every 20-30 minute playthrough" "Design a fighter ship using randomized upgrades that can be built using scraps dropped throughout each level and Victory Points earned through play."

Run Times & Speedups

- +

Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

?

Speed Settings

?

[edit]

Crypt of the Necrodancer

DLC Released

Extremely Different. Rogue style short runs in a horror fantasy setting with pixel graphics, but rhythm based gameplay without bullet heaven elements. Used to come up more in recommendation threads on reddit. Fan comparison scores via Necrodancer discord. Maqua: "A rhythm turn-based roguelike that lets you perform beat downs to the beat. Less like Vampire Survivors due to fundamental differences in design, but the variety of characters as well as in-game leaderboards allows you to get a lot of replay value even after you master the mechanics." Tufwfo: "Extremely difficult roguelike where all inputs are done to the beat of the music. Learning the patterns of all the enemies leads to mastering the game which is incredibly satisfying after hundreds of hours." Movement focus, but feels very different!

Content Rich Grid-Based Movement Rhythm Game Roguelike Roguelite Top Down or Isometric Turn Based Hybrid
6.5 Combined Ranking Score
47/72 Ranking Position
1200/1600 Total Points
9.3 Final Review
95% Steam
9.4 Scale
9.0 Vibes
20594 Steam Reviews
379/400 Review Points
3.7 Similarity Score
68% Diagnosis:
Extremely Different
821/1200 Comparison Points
61% Genre 1.7/8 genre
69% Simple Controls 2.7/7 move
63% Survival Modes 1/4 modes
38% Power Progression -1/4 level
61% Buildcrafting Depth 1.1/5 build
65% Stage Features 2.1/7 stage
88% Content Breadth 6.9/9 stuff
74% Aesthetics 2.9/6 style
80% Gameplay Vibe Check 6/10 vibe vibe

Crypt of the Necrodancer Ranking Notes

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Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 3 (xoxomonstergirl) 4129 (Tufwfo Review) 828.4 (Maqua Review)

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/18/2023

I'm terrible at rhythm games, so went to discord for help investigating this suggestion I'd seen on reddit! Number scores averaged between our user surveys or by scoring guide. Fan review score notes from Tufwfo and Maqua on the Necrodancer discord! Reprinted from the survey with some editing. Maqua Notes: "Crypt of the Necrodancer is a rhythm turn based roguelike. Its unique gameplay style allows it to flow in its own interesting way without separating itself from the identifiers that make it a roguelike." Tufwfo: "It's a very difficult rhythm based roguelike." This gives it a partial score in real time, since it does go on without you.

DLC: "Certain features are limited to the Synchrony DLC such as online multiplayer and versus"

Maqua: "You move on tiles to the beat of the backing music track, using the arrow keys in time with the music. Moving into an enemy makes you attack the enemy, and if an enemy is able to move into the tile you are on, or moving to, they attack you. It is a very different game from Vampire Survivors since there is a constrained grid system, a low max enemy count per floor, and progression based on if you can make it to the bottom of the crypt or not. It's less about avoidance and more about planning and execution."

They're both movement focused spins on roguelike games, but very different! Maqua: "I'm going at this from the perspective of a player with over 840 hours on steam. Necrodancer is a roguelike that relies mostly on player knowledge of the game to be difficult and fun, and any progression elements are mostly reserved for players learning the game for the first time. After that, it's about knowing how to control scenarios in game such that you don't make any mistakes."

Maqua continues: "The real complexity comes from the pseudo-turn-based combat that the beat of the game revolves around, making sure you perform correct actions in the scenario you're in without making any mistakes. I find it much different than Vampire Survivors in that aspect, since after a certain point in any run, you're just waiting for the timer to hit zero and move onto the next. In Necrodancer, the very act of clearing a run with a specific character is a major accomplishment by itself. It's also worth noting that Necrodancer's idea of scaling is drastically different than VS, since the stats in ND revolve around low value integers, instead of ranges exceeding a thousand. With ND, you need to have a more active role in play, rather than letting passive item effects let you walk through the rest of your run without much thought."

Tufwfo: "All enemies have a specific pattern so over time you learn them all to be able to handle any situation. The game is incredibly fair (in my thousands of hours there's only 1 thing I would say is explicitly unfair) so even playing low% (no items or healing) you can win every run if you're good enough. I consider Vampire Survivors to be a fairly chill game while Necrodancer is extremely difficult. If you're willing to challenge yourself then I absolutely recommend it."

Maqua, recommends for VS fans: "..only on the basis that I would recommend this game to anyone. If anyone wants to try something new, this is a game for you." It's worth noting the more rogue-lite side of the game, Single Zones Mode, is easier and earns it a high partial on the rogue-lite feature score.

Maqua: "There exists a spin off game, "Cadence of Hyrule feat. Crypt of the Necrodancer" that released on Nintendo Switch by Brace Yourself Games. It is even less similar to a roguelike/roguelite game, but is way more accessible to a newcomer to the style of game. I got into Necrodancer through Cadence of Hyrule first, and the differences between the two games are massive. If anyone finds Necrodancer too rough to get into, I'd personally recommend Cadence of Hyrule as a watered down, but more accessible and charming version of the game."

Crypt of the Necrodancer Similarity Scale Heatmap

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Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

3.7 Similarity Score
68% Diagnosis:
821/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 0.8/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle -1/1
Real Time 0.7/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar 0.9/1
Arcade Style 0.8/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) -1/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) -0.5/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) 1/1
Move Only -0.2/1
No Dash 0.5/1
No Trigger 0.8/1
No Special Move 0.8/1
No Aiming 0.8/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty -1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 0.5/1
Endless Mode 1/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves 0/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) -0.5/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event -1/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) -1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 0.5/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 0.5/1
Build Crafting 0.2/1
0.5/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 0.1/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 0.3/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 0/1
Explorable Map 0.5/1
BIG Maps -0.8/1
XP on Ground 0.5/1
Health on Ground 0.2/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 0.2/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 0.5/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 1/1
Enemy Variety 0.7/1
Bosses / Elites 0.5/1
Many Interesting Characters 0.7/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 1/1
Difficulty Modifiers 0.3/1
Bestiary / Lore 0.7/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 1/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 0/1
Lofi Charm 0/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 0.5/1
Subtle Humor 0.4/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 0.4/1
Over the Top 0/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 0.5/1
Fun Ramp 0.2/1
Low Price 0.5/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS -0.9/1

Crypt of the Necrodancer Review Scale Heatmap

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The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.3 Final Review
95% Positive Steam Reviews
20594 Steam Reviews
9.0 Pure Vibes
9.4 Review Scale
379/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 1/1
Not Janky 0.8/1
Good UI 0.7/1
Controller and Deck 1/1
Lots of Content 1/1
Good Theme 1/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 0.9/1
Unique Twists 1/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Metacritic Scores

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This title has metacritic data! The "fuck the man" score is adjusted so each person's review is equally weighted, regardless of critic or fan status.

Critic

8.7 Converted 10 Point Score
46 Number of Critic Reviews

User

7.8 User Review Average
240 Number of User Reviews

Average

8.3 Direct Average
7.9 "Fuck The Man" Combined Mean

Crypt of the Necrodancer Tag Cloud

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More sortable taxonomies and categories associated with the game (genre tags are available in the main game table line!) We've just started adding tags to enable more sorting options, this section will get more filled out as we go!

Release Tags

AndroidEpiciOSLinuxMacPS4PS5Steam DeckSwitchWindows PCXboxDLCReleased

Sorting Categories

Extremely Different

Genre and Control Style Tags

Content RichGrid-Based MovementRhythm GameRoguelikeRogueliteTop Down or IsometricTurn Based Hybrid

Aesthetic Tags

2DPixel Art

Setting / Story Tags

DungeonsFantasyHorror ThemedUndead

Control Styles

Controller

Game Mode Tags

Unknown30m

Features and Extras

SoundtrackSteam AchievementsSteam CloudSteam LeaderboardsSteam Trading CardsSteam Workshop

Dev/Publisher

Brace Yourself GamesKlei Entertainment

Game Features

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Listing various features we've got info on.

Multiplayer

  • Local: Co-Op Versus
  • Online: Co-Op Versus
  • Player Count: 4 (Local) Many (Online with DLC)
  • Leaderboards: ?

Steam Features

  • Steam Cloud: Yes
  • Steam Achievements: 61
  • Steam Leaderboards: Yes
  • Steam Workshop: Yes
  • Steam Trading Cards: Yes

Extras, Etc.

  • NSFW: No
  • Demo Available: No
  • DLC Available: Yes
  • Soundtrack Available: Steam YouTube Bandcamp Amazon Apple Soundcloud Spotify

Marketing Blurb

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Some description of the game and its features from the creators.

"Crypt of the NecroDancer is an award winning hardcore roguelike rhythm game. Move on the beat to navigate an ever changing dungeon while battling dancing skeletons, zombies, dragons, and more."

"Descend into the crypt as 15 playable characters with unique play styles and challenges! Jam out to over 40 original songs in Danny Baranowsky’s award winning soundtrack, or set your own beats with songs from your own MP3 collection!" "BONUS: Includes 6 playable remixes of the entire soundtrack. Remixes by FamilyJules, A_Rival, Chipzel, OCRemix, Girlfriend Records, and Virt!"

"Reach great heights as you disco down through the depths of the crypt. Whether you aim to get the highest scores or complete runs in the fastest times, you can compete against a robust community of players in a range of permanent and daily challenges across all characters." (There are no leaderboards in rogue-lite mode)

Single Zone Mode: "Gather diamonds to unlock permanent upgrades and better equipment to traverse deeper into the NecroDancer’s lair. The deeper you go, the more treacherous enemies you'll face."

Run Times & Speedups

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Average Run Time: 30m

Run Time Notes

Maqua: "22 minute casual runs". Tufwfo: "40 Minutes Maximum"

Speed Settings

None

[edit]

Loop Hero

Free Available Released

Extremely Different. It's hard to have a better pick if you want a rogue-lite auto-battler with really unique map-building non-direct control of the main character. But chances are you didn't know you were looking for that. Included to test the scale but also because it's a great game that might scratch your itch if it's about exploring a new system with great progression and interesting synergies, along with tense action that's not reflex based even if it doesn't have stick movement focus. It's above 5.0 so it might be recommended to appeal to VS fans, but only with major disclaimers about differences.

Auto-Battler Content Rich Deckbuilding Roguelite Story Rich Strategy
6.3 Combined Ranking Score
49/72 Ranking Position
1168/1600 Total Points
9.6 Final Review
93% Steam
9.4 Scale
10.0 Vibes
29569 Steam Reviews
387/400 Review Points
3.0 Similarity Score
65% Diagnosis:
Extremely Different
781/1200 Comparison Points
59% Genre 1.5/8 genre
21% Simple Controls -4/7 move
44% Survival Modes -0.5/4 modes
65% Power Progression 1.2/4 level
73% Buildcrafting Depth 2.3/5 build
31% Stage Features -2.6/7 stage
91% Content Breadth 7.3/9 stuff
100% Aesthetics 6/6 style
95% Gameplay Vibe Check 8.9/10 vibe vibe

Loop Hero Ranking Notes

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Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 80.0

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/17/2023

nospawn/litch-from_loop-hero.gifA map-making rogue-lite auto battler. You have a character that goes around a loop fighting enemies during your run, but you can only help him by placing map parts and changing gear - no direct control. There's so much to talk about with this one, but it's pretty different from most of the games on our scale. What it shares is really satisfying metaprogression and some autobattle elements.

Put in about 44.6 hours on Steam and then another 40+ hours on Switch when it released there. Amazing game, totally unique, interesting to compare to VS in terms of mechanics. The game is a strategy game played in menus and by putting down tiles, but we'll call the real time use of a click button a 'trigger' press.

One of the best games ever imho, but it's pretty different so no need to really discuss in detail here.

Loop Hero Similarity Scale Heatmap

- +

Measured in 60 categories via likert-scale style options -1 to 1 in tenths, how does this game compare to Vampire Survivors. This allows 1200 total "points". It's easier to have a point of comparison and we just picked Vampire Survivors since it's the most popular and commonly referenced game in the subgenre. For detailed methodology read the explainer. For in depth examples at score value, see the scoring guide and for term definitions see the key.

3.0 Similarity Score
65% Diagnosis:
781/1200 Comparison Points
Rogue-lite 1/1
Auto-Fire / Auto-Battle 0.8/1
Real Time 0.6/1
Top Down or Isometric 1/1
Direct Control of Single Avatar -0.7/1
Arcade Style 0.8/1
Bullet Heaven A (Many Player Bullets) -1/1
Bullet Heaven B (Few Enemy Bullets) -1/1
One Handed Play (w Controller) 0/1
Move Only -1/1
No Dash 0/1
No Trigger -1/1
No Special Move 0/1
No Aiming -1/1
No On-Aim / On-Fire Movement Penalty -1/1
Timed / Boss Ended Survival 0/1
Endless Mode 1/1
Organic / Unannounced Waves -1/1
High Enemy Count (Horde) -0.5/1
Level Up on XP Gain Event 0.2/1
Streamlined Level Choices (Simple UI) -1/1
Currency Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Goal Based Meta Unlocks 1/1
Build Crafting 1/1
0.2/1
Weapon Combination / "Evolution" 0/1
Interesting Item / Weapon / Ability Synergy 0.1/1
Broken / Invincible Builds Possible 1/1
Explorable Map 0.2/1
BIG Maps 0.2/1
XP on Ground -1/1
Health on Ground -1/1
Temp Powerups / Items on Ground -1/1
Treasure Chests and/or Loot Events 0/1
Vendor / Merchant on Run 0/1
Enemy Variety 1/1
Bosses / Elites 1/1
Many Interesting Characters 0.6/1
Many Challenges 1/1
Multiple Stages 0.7/1
Difficulty Modifiers 0/1
Bestiary / Lore 1/1
Achievements 1/1
Secrets 1/1
Retro / Pixel Art 1/1
Damage Numbers 1/1
Lofi Charm 1/1
Bumpin Music 1/1
Fun Writing 1/1
Subtle Humor 1/1
Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 1/1
Over the Top 0.4/1
"One More Run" / Short Runs 1/1
Difficulty Ramp 1/1
Fun Ramp 1/1
Low Price 0.5/1
Technical Check 1/1
Controls Check 1/1
Fun Check 1/1
Feels like VS -1/1

Loop Hero Review Scale Heatmap

- +

The review scale is judged from -1 to 1 in 10 categories, with 200 possible "points" earned. Steam review positive percentage is worth another 100 points, and a "ten point" pure vibe review number adds extra subjectivity. Converted into points, that's 400 points total. The points aren't used directly in the ranking, though, which averages the three number scores for the final review score listed in the game line above.

9.6 Final Review
93% Positive Steam Reviews
29569 Steam Reviews
10.0 Pure Vibes
9.4 Review Scale
387/400 Review Points
Not Buggy 1/1
Not Janky 1/1
Good UI 1/1
Controller and Deck 0.4/1
Lots of Content 1/1
Good Theme 1/1
Good Graphics and Sound 1/1
Fun Feel 1/1
Unique Twists 1/1
Vibe Check 1/1

Metacritic Scores

- +

This title has metacritic data! The "fuck the man" score is adjusted so each person's review is equally weighted, regardless of critic or fan status.

Critic

8.2 Converted 10 Point Score
63 Number of Critic Reviews

User

7.9 User Review Average
194 Number of User Reviews

Average

8.1 Direct Average
8.0 "Fuck The Man" Combined Mean

Loop Hero Tag Cloud

- +

More sortable taxonomies and categories associated with the game (genre tags are available in the main game table line!) We've just started adding tags to enable more sorting options, this section will get more filled out as we go!

Release Tags

EpicGOGitch.ioLinuxMacSteam DeckSwitchWindows PCXboxFree AvailableReleased

Sorting Categories

Extremely Different

Genre and Control Style Tags

Auto-BattlerContent RichDeckbuildingRogueliteStory RichStrategy

Aesthetic Tags

2DArtyPixel Art

Setting / Story Tags

Alternate RealityApocalypseFantasyTime Loop

Control Styles

ControllerMouse Only

Game Mode Tags

Boss ModeDifficulty ModifiersEndless ModeHub ZoneSpeed UpWave Survival30m

Features and Extras