#an absurd, charming, but potent evolution of the Survivors-like formulation – Destructoid

2025 has been wonderful to date for roguelike followers, with so many distinctive and enjoyable video games popping out one after the opposite. From Hades 2 to Silksong, we’ve seen some heavyweights drop in 2025, however indies (which these two are also) have, too, dominated the scene.

One such recreation is Megabonk, the newest roguelike craze that takes inspiration from video games that’ve outlined the style, however sprinkles in a few of its personal concepts, with the end result being an absurd, meme-packed, chaotic title that actually stands out. It was made by a single individual, however it performs as if an entire workforce of geniuses labored on it, refining recognizable mechanics into a brand new and refreshing expertise.

Right here is our full assessment.

The perfect of two worlds

Megabonk, at its core, has two souls: every associated to both Danger of Rain or Vampire Survivors. Which dominates its complete extra is up for debate, as each are equally represented in its core gameplay, gadgets, and characters.

The fight is very like Vampire Survivors: you drop right into a world, have a weapon that mechanically assaults swarming enemies, whilst you can increase your self by way of gadgets and Tomes, all of which add important bonuses to your offense, protection, and survivability. Gadgets are gained by way of chests, whereas weapons drop with level-ups (till you’ve crammed your weapon slots, then it’s simply upgrades) alongside Tomes.

Each every now and then, a boss emerges—both a smaller or an even bigger one—dropping a chest on the finish. They value an rising sum of gold to open. Shrines and distributors that give particular powers or gadgets might be encountered all through the map.

The gadgets, weapons, and Tomes you will get throughout a match rely on how a lot you’ve progressed within the recreation, as every little thing must be bought by way of Silver, earned by taking part in the sport and finishing quests.

Being a roguelike, dying means beginning over, however unlocking extra gadgets with that hard-earned Silver and accomplished challenges provides a way of progress to the sport that’s largely absent from comparable titles. You possibly can swap on varied additional challenges for any given stage when you accomplished it not less than as soon as, additional bettering replayability.

Every part can also be tremendous depending on RNG and luck, which is on no account a nasty factor as a real style staple. Roguelikes with out randomization can be as in case you had Name of Responsibility with no weapons; it simply wouldn’t work. Nonetheless, this may find yourself irritating some gamers not used to the luck of the draw, which is comprehensible, however probably not the sport’s fault.

Whereas studying that, you’ll most likely spot influences from each Danger of Rain and Vampire Survivors, and I can not stress sufficient how a lot these two video games come collectively in Megabonk.

A captivating new take

Whereas its core loop, with the automated assaults, enemy swarms, slot machine-esque chests, and periodically-spawning bosses that, too, drop chests, actually comes from Vampire Survivors, RoR principally takes care of every little thing else. As an alternative of surviving for a selected time to “beat” the stage, Megabonk asks you to seek out the teleporter, which spawns a boss, very like it does in Danger of Rain.

You could find varied Shrines that increase bosses, buff them, spawn extra of them, or improve issue throughout the maps, all of that are present in nearly each RoR run.

The gadgets within the recreation don’t “mix” in the identical manner they do in Vampire Survivors, with specific gadgets or weapons creating a brand new one synergetically, however are quite akin to these in RoR—stacking flat or percentage-based buffs that do their very own factor.

Combining these two formulation produces a completely new expertise, one the place you’ll really feel proper at dwelling, irrespective of in case you like Dangerous or Survivors extra. It’s one of the best of each worlds, introducing a plethora of latest memes into the combo and spicing up the comedy, whereas smashing the sport straight into the zeitgeist.

It’s charming to say the least, with the memes lending themselves to permitting the creator to experiment with ludicrous and humorous designs, distancing themselves from generic fantasy, sci-fi, or different genres, and as an alternative creating one thing acquainted to gamers, but additionally distinctive and its personal.

This form of applies to many of the recreation, because it’s a mix of established formulation and mechanics, but additionally new and refreshing. In spite of everything, two and two give 4, an entire new quantity, however one inevitably made up of numbers previous it.

Megabonk additionally isn’t as tough as most different video games within the roguelike or Survivors-like style. Most runs can go properly for you, however larger tiers ramp up the problem rapidly, throwing every little thing they’ve at you. Coming ready is sort of a should for these larger tiers, so don’t go into them with out first unlocking a number of good weapons, gadgets, and Tomes (and characters).

Talking of which, unlocking extra stuff does improve the problem considerably, which is the sport’s solely actual disadvantage. The extra gadgets you might have, the bigger the pool the sport has to drag from, which means you’ll get much less of what you need extra usually. It’s a style flaw that the dev may repair in some unspecified time in the future, however it’s probably not that large of a deal. It’s a roguelike, in any case, and RNG is king right here.

General, Megabonk does every little thing properly, evolving the formulation considerably and introducing new methods to expertise established roguelike mechanics, all of the whereas having fun with tons of humorous memes, impressed characters, and a loop that not often goes stale, and which the sport is aware of when to finish (by spawning guaranteed-kill enemies when the timer runs out).

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