Ok I’ve thrown some big names around in that headline, but it got your attention didn’t it?! Well I did what I did because I’ve got a game that I want to put on your radar, Dear Reader.
Sisyphus Paradox is a new side-scrolling space shooter with a roguelike soul, and it just launched into Steam Early Access. I’ve been playing a little this afternoon (while I should have been doing chores, for shame) and I’m already quite intrigued. Yes, this one might have a way to go, but the last hour or so has inspired me to fire up the desktop and thrown down some words.
What is Sisyphus Paradox?
The headline says it all really, but let’s dig into it real quick. The developers of the game, Unruly Mob (great name btw, folks), describes it as “a fusion of roguelike tactical elements with classic side-scrolling shoot ’em up gameplay.”
The setting and its roguish execution made me think of FTL Faster Than Light, although I must stress that this plays nothing like Subset’s game. There are several similarities, however, including a procedurally-generated star map and a strong engine building element. To that end, you can upgrade and enhance your ship as you jump between systems. Just don’t run out of fuel (you know the drill).
The narrative side of things is also a bit FTL-ish, although I’m going to drop another name here: Iain M Banks. I just get the feeling that the developers have read a bunch of the late great author’s books. The name of the game and the philosophical aspects of the narrative reinforced that thought for me, too. (Devs, if I’ve got this horribly wrong, let me know so I can delete this bit.)
What about shooting stuff?
I think the thing that caught my eye first was the visuals. I like the hand drawn art style and even the stylised explosions worked, despite being a little muted. I feel this part of the game may be divisive, but for me it worked, and the spaceships that I encountered looked suitably alien with sleek, curved lines and strange looking weapons.
The R-Type style side-scrolling action has you ducking and dodging streams of bullets and lasers. It gets busy on the screen, but the controls felt nice and responsive. The standard enemies are quite easy to dispatch, even if there are a lot of them, but I must say that the bosses are hard as nails, and both of the big bads that I encountered kicked my ass. I’m feeling very tired today – I’m sure that’s what the problem was (or it was a skill issue, you decide).
There are a bunch of different weapons to equip, along with passive ability slots, and there’s additional emergency weapons that you can use at a cost to your hull stability. I tried using these abilities in my first run but it didn’t really work for me (read: I used them too often and then crashed and burned), and so I deployed them much more sparingly after that.
This news piece is turning into a preview – wrap it up!
I was just going to give you a quick heads-up on this one, but it turns out that I had something to say…
Sisyphus Paradox has surprised me with its mixture of gameplay elements, and I’m keen to see more. That said, it’s in Early Access for a reason, and I can already see how there’s room to make combat feel more reactive and weighty. There’s also plenty of room for interesting story beats and other interesting curios, but I feel like the devs are on the right track there.
Sisyphus Paradox costs less than a tenner in its current state, although it is expected to stay in Early Access for up to two years. If you can’t wait to experience this hand-drawn sci-fi side-scroller in its finished state, I hope that nothing I’ve written above has dissuaded you from a taking a look sooner rather than later.
