Cosmic Coliseum

The bad: A bit buggy, as typical of a Unity game. The Blessing of the Rat God perk in particular kept making my game not let me select perks with a controller (awkward when you also can't see your cursor). The quest progression reverted on me at one point, but it fixed itself just by playing another run. I would've liked something to spend metacurrency on after getting all of the upgrades, even if it was really minor. The good: I had a lot of fun. It's twin-stick shooter with a variety of cool weapons and randomized level-up perks. There's a touch of humor, too.

Addicting Arcade Fun! Sharp visuals, unique sci-fi witty art design; Deeper than it looks at first glance. It hooks you the way plinko, slots, or a strong roguelike does—easy to start, hard to walk away from. Cosmic Coliseum keeps things fresh. You start off running laps around the map and dodging enemies, progressing as you get stronger and more knowledgeable using less space on the map until you're just a God. And just when you think you’ve found the perfect build or weapon combo, the game shifts—new enemy dynamics, different pressures, and suddenly you’re adapting again. It never lets you coast. The progression feels real; you grow stronger over time, not stuck in a flat loop. Boss mechanics, varied maps, and a wide spread of weapons give it more depth than most arcade-style games. Only downside: it will push your PC hard during long sessions. Six hours disappears quickly, and your system will feel it. Great care was taken in balancing, mechanics, design etc.

For a full release, there are so many sloppy irritating pieces that could easily have been fixed. Walking diagonally into a wall slows you down as you bounce off it every frame, for example. The introduction phase is handled poorly, and the meta-progression evolves far far far too slowly to make a difference. I played for a little over an hour and got enough meta-currency to unlock one weapon (smg), which did not appreciably alter the playstyle of the game, and the remaining weapons are all 'plasmified' versions of purely mundane weapons. Laser shotgun, plasma rifle, pulse grenade launcher. The creativity on display is truly underwhelming. On the plus side, the graphics and sound design are decent and it sort of supports controllers if you take the time to fiddle with steam input settings. There are many other games that do everything better. Go play one of those.