Rogue: Genesia is what happens when you mix Vampire Survivors with deck-building roguelikes and then crank the absurdity dial up to eleven. Developed by solo dev Ouadi Huard, it takes the familiar bullet heaven formula and pushes it to new extremes with limitless scaling, deep meta-progression, and an almost overwhelming number of weapons, perks, and synergies.

Choose your path, break the game

At its core, Rogue: Genesia is a survival roguelike where you pick weapons, stack upgrades, and obliterate increasingly ridiculous waves of enemies. What sets it apart is its structure: rather than a single continuous survival mode, it lets you navigate branching paths filled with shops, challenges, boss fights, and rest stops. It feels a lot like Slay the Spire in this way, but it merges the best parts to make it work.

One of the more underrated aspects of Rogue: Genesia is its character system called avatars. At launch, you start with Rog, the standard character, but as you progress and unlock Soul Coins, you can access different classes that drastically alter how you approach each run. The best character depends on your playstyle. If you enjoy fast and aggressive combat, the Duelist is the strongest pick, but the Corrupted avatar keeps things unpredictable. It’s a welcome addition that adds some challenge and changes your play.

The core gameplay loop is endlessly satisfying. Weapons level up into devastating evolutions, artifacts add permanent boosts, and enemy swarms become larger and deadlier. Every run is an exercise in balance. You’ll start by asking yourself whether you stack raw damage, focus on attack speed, or lean into defensive scaling. Eventually, you’ll grow more powerful until you become an unstoppable machine that sweeps each level.

“…grow more powerful until becoming an unstoppable machine that sweeps each level.”

At least, that’s how it should work. Unfortunately, balance isn’t Rogue: Genesia’s strongest suit. Many builds are so strong that they trivialise the game, making strategic choices feel secondary. Almost any weapon combination can work because stats stack exponentially, and by the time you reach high corruption levels, enemies exist only to be vaporised in milliseconds. While that’s fun in a power fantasy sense, it undermines the tension that a good roguelike should have. Challenges exist to add difficulty, but most feel artificial, either disabling key progression or pushing enemies into absurd scaling.

However, this also means build decisions feel less strategic than in other roguelikes. The best runs often come down to pure stat stacking: Crit Rate + Crit Damage + Attack Speed = Profit. Some weapons like the Kunai, Magic Wisp, and Shaman Staff can become so strong that they belittle entire runs, while others feel noticeably underwhelming (looking at you, Swordrang).

That said, if you’re in it for the spectacle of becoming an unkillable whirlwind of destruction, Rogue: Genesia delivers in spades.

The horde grows stronger

With 60+ weapons, 200+ upgrades, and near-infinite stacking potential, Rogue: Genesia thrives on excess. There are multiple characters, each with unique playstyles that rely on melee, summoning allies, or even manual aiming, adding variety to the experience.

The enemy variety is decent but not groundbreaking. Standard fodder dies in droves, while elite monsters and bosses introduce bullet-hell mechanics that force you to dodge or reposition. Still, once you hit high-level scaling, even the toughest bosses melt within seconds, reducing what should be challenging encounters to nothing more than stat-checks.

Unlike many bullet heavens where movement is your only defence, Rogue: Genesia gives your character a dedicated dodge roll. This adds an extra layer of skill-based survivability, especially against boss attacks and late-game enemy swarms. It’s a small addition, but it helps keep combat from feeling completely automated.

“…the challenge curve is front-loaded. You’re often so strong by mid-run that the only real threat is performance issues.”

Meta-progression is handled through a Soul Shop, where you spend currency earned from runs to unlock persistent upgrades. This system means even failed runs contribute to long-term progress, making the grind feel rewarding rather than frustrating. The game also leans heavily into synergy-based builds. You can evolve weapons by combining them, leading to game-breaking combinations like rapid-fire crit explosions or screens covered in homing projectiles. But because nothing is limited, you eventually reach a point where enemies explode the second they spawn, removing all difficulty.

For those who find Normal difficulty too easy, Challenge Runs offer modified rule sets, like restricting certain upgrades or forcing specific builds. But instead of introducing clever difficulty adjustments, most of them just turn off key mechanics you’ve worked to unlock, which feels more frustrating than rewarding.

While this makes for a cathartic power trip, it also means the challenge curve is front-loaded. You’re often so strong by mid-run that the only real threat is performance issues.

Pixel art and visual clarity

Rogue: Genesia has a simple but charming pixel-meets-2.5D aesthetic. It’s functional rather than flashy, with clear enemy designs and smooth animations. The problem? It’s absolute chaos by the time your build reaches peak insanity.

Hundreds of enemies, thousands of projectiles, constant explosions. It’s all fun until you literally can’t see what’s happening anymore. Some players love it, but others may find it too much, especially on higher corruption levels where enemies spawn so fast they teleport onto the screen.

The sound effects are crunchy and satisfying, especially the impact of high-damage attacks and crits. However, music is where the game falters. While I did initially think the soundtrack was fantastic, it quickly became super repetitive and extremely limited. You’ll likely find yourself muting it in favour of your own playlist after just a few hours. Although, these sorts of games are known for being “podcast games”, so that’s not a huge demerit.

7.5

Good

Positive:

Exponential power fantasy
Deep build variety and rewarding progression
Diverse playstyles with different avatars
Merges best parts of the roguelike genre

Negative:

Not all weapons are equal
Too much power means no challenge
Style leads to alot of visual clutter

Rogue: Genesia is one of the most ambitious bullet heavens out there and is all from one hardworking developer, Ouadi Huard. It combines the best parts of genre titans to create a game with unlimited build potential, deep meta-progression, and a massive power curve. But it’s not perfect. Weapon imbalances and upgrade power mean challenge often takes a backseat to sheer spectacle, and the visual clutter may be overwhelming for some players. If you love min-maxing, insane scaling, and watching enemies evaporate by the thousands, this game is for you.