With Steam Next Fest upon us, there’s going to be a wealth of demos to play over the next couple of weeks. Ahead of the festivities, I was sent a demo of Entropy Survivors and, based on the absolutely ridiculous sci-fi setup, I was immediately up for taking a closer look.
If you’ve got a game such as 20 Minutes Until Dawn, which takes things quite seriously, on one end of the scale, then Entropy Survivors sits firmly on the other end of that line.
I’ll give you an example. The first ability I unlocked was called something along the lines of Cosmic Clap and, when activated, two giant hands appear from nowhere and slap any enemies directly in front of you.
I’m getting ahead of myself, though.
What is Entropy Survivors all about, then?
As the name implies, this is a survivors-like in a similar vein to Vampire Survivors. The difference here is that instead of pixel graphics and a huge roster of characters, we’ve got one two characters – a sentient space frog and his mecha – and vibrant 3D graphics. It’s fair to say that Entropy Survivors looks quite good.
It’s funny, too. The aforementioned Cosmic Clap appeared in my first run, but in the second I had a special attack that resulted in a series of Converse-looking trainers stomping off into the distance. Entropy Survivors is clearly aware of how silly the genre is, and it plays to that.
While many games in this genre would also class themselves as auto-shooters, this one is very much a reverse bullet-hell (or even a bullet-heaven, if you prefer). You’ve got a number of attacks, some of them automatic, but the standard attacks are player-controlled.
You’ll need to stay on your toes as it doesn’t take long for the screen to fill up. Expect a fair amount of dodging and back-peddling, although the pacing did feel a little slow during the opening of each new run, before you’ve had a chance to level up your abilities.
Play alone or bring a friend or two
The setting is pure sci-fi. Your frog pilot sits atop his mech and takes shots at his enemies. The sword-wielding mech delivers melee hits to those enemies who get close enough. Fallen foes drop XP and credits, which you grab as you go, and thus you’re given options to upgrade both your frog and your mecha.
As a result you’ll get the usual buffs, such as deal more damage or run faster. However, you’ll also get some zany options to choose from, like the aforementioned trainer stomp. The enemy designs are also pretty fun, and reflect the duality of the player character; there’s a blend of slimy organics and high tech enemies to deal with.
As it’s part of Steam Next Fest, the demo is out now and available to download. Entropy Survivors supports co-op, so you can either battle the forces of Entropy alone, or team up with up to three additional players.
Incidentally, developer Moving Pieces Interactive is also making an action-roguelite using the same characters. It’s called Shoulders of Giants, and this is not the only occasion that I’ve seen devs rework their roguelike assets from one game into this closely aligned format. It makes sense, when you think about it.
Back to the matter at hand: if you’re a fan of this burgeoning genre, you’ll know that it’s beginning to get a bit over saturated. Entropy Survivors already stands out thanks to its bold visual design and playful sense of humour. It’ll be interesting to see how it progresses, but the demo is worth a closer look, and now Shoulders of Giants is also on my radar for 2024.
