Mycopunk is a four-player co-op shooter from a new team, Pigeons at Play, published by Devolver Digital. It’s similar to other mission-based cooperative shooters, however, it focuses primarily on frenetic gunplay and movement, alongside a unique weapon upgrade system.
A team from Checkpoint Gaming has already hit the surface to scour the planet of the alien menace, dropping hot to blast away at the fungal threat, along with chatting with some of the development team at Pigeons at Play.
Glorious guns
One thing Mycopunk does well is the combat feel. The moment-to-moment movement and gunplay are strong, especially for a project from a new team. I favoured the DMLR, a rifle that charged up with each hit to then fire a continuous laser. Another weapon fired a cloud of shots above enemies, which then dove into them. These designs inspire confidence, but with only five weapons available during our time, it is hard to say how the arsenal will develop. Hopefully, future weapons will be similarly distinct.
Along with these unique designs, the modification system has a huge ceiling to make each gun your own. A hex grid allows you to snap in various alterations, with an almost Resident Evil inventory system for maximising synergistic mods. The bones for a great progression system are here, although how deep this system goes is yet to be seen. When speaking to the team, they mentioned Destiny as an influence for the weapons. But while we were playing, Borderlands also sprang to mind with the weapon modification system and movement.
Mycopunk is fast. Each of the four core character chassis has some kind of movement ability. I favoured a character with a jetpack, who also had a deployable rocket barrage as a secondary ability. Similar shooters rarely let you pick up this much speed, and it is certainly a unique selling point. You’ll need to use these abilities actively to avoid getting quickly overwhelmed in a sea of enemies.
“…which creates a hectic but thoroughly untactical environment.”
The basic enemy is a small orb that strikes out at you with tentacles, with a shielded core at its centre. All enemies are built on this design, with additional layers and arms defining their combat role. Large enemies might have seven arms, each with a different weapon, shield attachment, or other part of their arsenal.
Because enemies can pick up discarded weapons, their abilities and threat level come from overlapping pieces of gear. You would think this would make each creature unique, but sadly, the opposite is true. The mass of tentacles quickly becomes indistinguishable. I quickly found myself firing in the general direction of the threat rather than at anything specific. Communicating the danger of any particular enemy is difficult, as they are unidentifiable by name, which creates a hectic but thoroughly untactical environment.
For example, shouting out ‘Charger’ in last year’s hit cooperative extraction shooter Helldivers 2 lets your fellow squadmates know that there is a large threat on the field, and to respond accordingly. Lacking any defining features and with a vastly similar combat role, enemies in Mycopunk fall into a problematic area. They might all be unique, but conversely, they feel uniform.
Visual verdict
Another reason why this creates difficulty is Mycopunk’s visual direction. It can be very hard to see what you’re doing moment-to-moment. Every enemy is a mass of writhing tentacles that can be hard to tell apart from any other enemy on the field. The environments are also very overdesigned and detailed in a way that detracts from the readability of the game. Quite a lot of detail and texture work is just set dressing. In the height of the action, that visual noise can be difficult to parse.
The other part of this is very much based on personal taste, but I found that the look of Mycopunk just wasn’t for me. While it’s clear that effort has gone into the design, I wouldn’t be shocked if others were equally put off by the high contrast and messy visuals.
For a student project turned commercial release, Mycopunk is impressive. The gunplay and movement feel very polished, and are easily the highlight of the overall package, and the tongue-in-cheek comedy in the hub space is decently funny.
Still, the game is entering a competitive genre. Similar co-op experiences like Deep Rock Galactic and Helldivers 2 have rusted on player bases that will be difficult to dislodge without a comprehensive plan to grow the offering over time. These games are endlessly replayable and have a high rate of new content, which would be difficult for a new studio to compete with. Without high variety, these kinds of experiences can quickly become stale, and Mycopunk does use set levels. While Pidgeons at Play assured us they were large enough that this wouldn’t cause replayability concerns, I am highly sceptical that it won’t become noticeable.
Overall, Mycopunk has promise. If given time to develop alongside a community, I could see it becoming a solid experience with friends. But given the current climate of multiplayer experiences, I struggle to see it competing against titans.
If you’re interested in being a part of that community, Mycopunk has a demo available now and will be released onto Steam Early Access in 2025.
About the Author
Austin Gallagher
he/him
Austin enjoys long walks on the beach, sunsets, and games with turn-based tactical combat. If he isn't save-scumming in XCOM or a immersive sim, running a tabletop RPG, or climbing a rock wall... wait that's not Austin... what is that?
