Mycopunk, an upcoming title from indie developer Pigeons At Play and publisherDevolver Digital, is a fast-paced FPS that blends a little bit of Destiny and a little bit of Risk of Rain 2. You join the New Atlas Hazard Crew, a band of ragtag robots previously destined for the scrap heap who have been given an opportunity to redeem themselves after being hired by the SAXON corporation.
This is a co-op shooter with mission-based rounds. You deploy to various battlegrounds to defeat waves of fungal enemies while completing objectives - which might be to clear the infection from some important infrastructure, or load-up a railgun to destroy a rival ship in the atmosphere of the planet.
What It’s All About
Robots Fighting Mushrooms In A Trippy World
There are also four characters to choose from: Wrangler, the lasso-wielding cowboy; Bruiser, with a powerful shield; Scrapper, with a jetpack, and Glider, with rockets and wings.
Gunplay is pretty satisfying but nothing exceptional. You have to rotate your guns, as your secondary will replenish ammo for your primary. Guns are pretty punchy and have good sound design. Again, there’s nothing super impressive about the gunplay - and I had to turn down the camera shake a lot, because it was making me feel nauseous. That being said, I only played solo with a few starting upgrades, so it might get more interesting the further you go into the game.
Where Mycopunk really stands out is with its customizable builds, personality, and style. It also has a banging soundtrack and all your missions are dictated to you by a sentient cockroach called Roachard Cox. It’s just about the most Devolver game you can possibly imagine. They know how to pick ‘em, that’s for sure.
Set My Guns On Fire, Please
Mycopunk has a fun upgrade system where each gun or ability upgrade is like a thread of DNA that you have to Tetris-stack into your backpack. Again, I couldn’t delve especially deep into this mechanic because I only unlocked a few upgrades, but I can see this getting pretty complex the more upgrades you unlock. There are lots of different synergies available between elemental effects and other status modifiers.
For example, I received an upgrade for my Shotgun called the Immolator (this is an Exotic tier upgrade), which sets your avatar on fire. When you first do so, your mag instantly replenishes and all your bullets deal extra fire damage. This is a proper upgrade, not some sort of ‘x damage multiplier’ that has no meaningful impact.
Even with just a few upgrades to your name, the game grows significantly more difficult as you up the threat level. You’ll likely want to play with at least two or three friends, and, as far as I can see, there is a public server - or you can host your own game for strangers to join. There are several zones available on the mission select screen too, so I can imagine the latter zones getting pretty chaotic.
Mushrooms With Robotic Arms
Enemies are essentially fungal lifeforms that have taken over bits of machinery. They come in various shapes and sizes, from weirdly-moving little blobs that latch onto huge claws, to enormous anomalies with several snipers on the end of their robotic fingers. To be honest with you, I found them a little unnerving - in a good way. If you don’t fully finish off an enemy, they can fuse on to each other or find new bits of metal to incorporate into their fungal mass.
I can see how the different characters will be able to help you take down powerful enemies. Scrapper has this large pole that he shoots out that allows players to grapple on to and reach on top of enemies and around their shields. Glider has a support kit that allows you to heal your ally’s HP. As I mentioned before, this is definitely an experience that has been designed around co-op play.
Mycopunk is releasing into Steam Early Access in 2025. This is a promising little title, and I’m interested to see what the game might look like in a few months, with extra characters and more elaborate enemy design. Find some friends and clear that infection, robot.
