Mycopunk — Why It’s Hard to Talk About Early Access Games
197Mycopunk — Why It’s Hard to Talk About Early Access Games
Thank you to the publisher for providing a code for coverage and critique purposes.
In just talking about Mycopunk, I can guarantee you this video will age strangely. That's because in trying to give my interpretation of an early access game, I'm not just reviewing the experience I have in front of me, but a promise —and ultimately promises change, both in intent and meaning.
On one hand, I think, given that you pay money for it in early access, you should review the experience in front of you and that's mostly it, but on the other, that sort of means however I frame this video, it won't be all that relevant a month from now. Effectively, early access games are a concept, they give you an idea but the specifics change. If games are a sandwich, please just go with me on this one, then early access is the bread. It gives a solid foundation for all those toppings and can give you an idea of what that texture feels like as your teeth chomp down, but also like a sandwich, it's the topping that really makes it shine, and without the cheese, foliage, and various residue in the way, I can really feel my teeth click together.
Okay, I feel like I've gone off the rails, and I've only just started. Here's what I think of Mycopunk from my time with it thus far.
But first, I'm incredibly happy to say that I've somehow hit 2500 Subscribers. Given I started the year with not much than 500, I'm genuinely astounded by how much support I've felt in just the last few months. I've set myself to get 3000 this year, which would be absolutely monumental. If you'd like to show support, subscribing and maybe giving this video a like would help me out more than I think I can fully express. Thanks.
So, with Mycopunk, we have the concept, we have the bread, but we don't have the fillings. Well, I can assure you the bread isn't mouldy so far, as much as that would be quite fitting for a shooter about blasting away little fungal growths.
It's a pretty sardonic shooter, that I think will be compared to the likes of Borderlands, and not just for its scratchy near-comic-book aesthetic. As robotic cowboy employees of megacorp Saxon, you are sent into missions to extract data, clear out roadblocks and exterminate a fungus that is ever-expanding.
It’s a sort of sickly post-apocalypse, where Earth has been destroyed by a terrorist group, and Saxon are predictably hinted to be more liable than otherwise stated, it all has this nonchalant recklessness to it. The four classes you and three buddies can choose from all have different traits and you are encouraged to hurtle through enemies, caring more about surviving then about accuracy. It does a good job of inducing those hell yeah endorphins It felt playing the rather impeccable movement shooter, Echo Point Nova. it's a little bit Void Bastards in presentation and tone and a bit Deep Rock Galactic in approach.
I can happily report that the gameplay feels great. Guns are weighty and you have few enough hotkeys that the game almost feels like incentivizes turning the brain off and just pulverising things.
The enemies are also unique. Starting with small cores that have purple limbs attached, waves spawn in and they congeal together in a gross mass. If a claw is hitting from a short distance and you shoot off that arm by firing at that creature's limb, another can pick that claw up and attach it to their body. This facilitates a real kill-it-with-fire approach where you are shouting at your friends to destroy that shield module before another big bad enemy slaps it onto their forehead. This also leaves you analysing a group of enemies waiting for the critical mass of guns and teeth to hit, before you stop focusing on bodies and instead focus on their firepower.
You are constantly put into the position of culling their weaponry just enough to start focusing on the creatures themselves and flitting back and forth. Once you have finished a mission, you call a drop pod, then have to survive until it arrives.
#mycopunk #indie #indiegame #devolver #devolverdigital