Sisyphus Paradox Reviews

Fast-paced and addictive gameplay, the loop gets better the more familiar you become with the game. The music is epic and grows on you and the hand-drawn graphics are a nice touch. If you are into roguelikes, this one should be in your collection.

Very nice game, arcade fun, spiced with RPG elements and true to it's title challenge!

An lovely indie gem! I don't know if it's because it combines some of my favorite game genres, but I loved it. It's like "what if Rtype and FTL had a Roguelike child?" "But like a really well-implemented and addictive child?" This doesn't make sense, but you got it. I have put many hours into the game, and have yet to try to 2nd and 3rd ship, each of which have a totally different playstyle. Pros: - Many build options: you can be a "tank" with loads of energy / a "ranger" shooting from far away / a "melee" attacking from close up etc. - Nice hand-drawn visuals - A bit on the hard side, but very well balanced and rewarding - Lots of content to unlock - Awesome music! - More-than-a-basic-story, with much narrative and some lore if you're into it. Cons: - Higher timestreams are reaaally hard (or maybe I'm not good enough or lack dedication...) - Some enemy ships and bullets are very difficult to distinguish on specific backgrounds - I find some weapons and power ups really enjoyable (both practically and visually) but others seem way less interesting (and I avoid them after I tried them once - twice) - A run may be 1-1.5 hour, I would like shorter "cycles" in a roguelike - Some minor bugs here and there, but nothing that got in my way of enjoying the game (also, this is expected from an Early Access game)

Great Fast paced arcade style space combat with permanent progression elements, ship customization and Phasers. i hope i get photon torpedoes next. Also great synth-wave soundtrack I do need to get better at evading.

Remember those old-school sidescrollers, shooters, with aliens and pewpew and stuff? This is it, but on drugs 😎. You got weapons, upgrades, snazzy storyline and procedurally generated maps, and from a startup indie developer too. Highly recommended 👾

Do you remember back in the day, where you would boot up MAME and play your favorite side scrolling games where you would pilot a airplane or spaceship with hordes of enemies coming at you? This game recreates that nostagic feeling for me. Borrowing mechanics from roguelike games like FTL and Slay the spire, it offers a modern variation to the classic side scroller/bullet hell recipe. The music is catchy and the visuals are vibrant with very nice details on the big boss enemy ships. Gameplay-wise, as the game is in early access, I would like to see 2 improvements: - It is relatively difficult to identify that your ship has been hit, while also trying to focus on dodging the next wave of enemy fire. A visual or sound effect that "pops" out a bit more would help with this. - Auto-targetting weapons seem strictly better than forward firing. While on paper forward firing weapons have more DPS, the accuracy or "uptime" on auto-targetting weapons feels like it makes up for this and then some, increasing their overall "effective" DPS. If you like side scrollers I think the game is worth at least checking out the demo.

I've really liked the game so far. Hope the devs keep working on this. But there is enough game there already to keep me entertained for a while. It really feels retro, like old arcade games, but it is a roguelike. You don't die easily, but because you made many mistakes in a row.

Expectation: Barebones roguelike shmup Reality: Large variety of weapons and other equippables, lots of decisions on the map, cool stuff to do at shops, big variety in enemy design, challenging but not impossible levels I thought I'd check it out for a bit, I ended up playing for hours until my fingers hurt. I really appreciate it's not one of the 'punishing' bullet hells, but you can get hit a lot of times before you are in danger. A bullet maybe does 1% dmg, a collision does maybe 10%. So dying is more of a war of attrition (like Slay the Spire) rather than something that can happen at any minute (like in arcade shooters). Worth noting, there's a surprising amount of narrative (I personally skip but I appreciate it's there for players who like narrative. Highly recommended, even to players who aren't usually playing this genre. Can't wait to see what else is added while in EA.

Very enjoyable space shooter with a variety of enemies, bosses, equippable items, random encounters & interesting storyline. The Chrono Crystals are a great idea: a kind of prestige system, which lets you choose permanent bonuses each time you start a new run. A definitely positive experience. Can't wait to unlock the second ship! Meanwhile, I will be doing my best to imagine him happy. :D

Really fun and addictive arcade-ish space shooter with a rogue-like twist! The core gameplay has that nostalgic feel of some arcade space shooters I played when I was younger. Between the encounters, there is a "slay the spire"-esque tree navigation where you choose your fights, events, quests, merchants, etc. The rogue-like element is what makes me want to play again and again, to try out different weapon/ability combinations and manage to beat the end boss. Each time it feels like a new challenge, depending on what you get and choose to level up. I find the shooter part itself to be in a good balance between challenging but doable. The longer you play, you are able to understand the patterns and abilities of the 3 enemy factions and how to react to them, making it a satisfying play and learn cycle. One detail I personally love is that as you level up your weapons, they also gain visual/funtional changes as well at key levels (e.g +1 missile, explosion area, etc). I really like trying out different weapons each run and leveling them up, to see their different stages and manage to beat the loop with a weapon that proved overpowering while initially seemed uninteresting Extra points for... * Great and unique designs on the ships * Overarching story tying it all together (hoping to see more here!) * Many random events with their own narrative * Permanency system for player ships and option of difficulty scaling * Alternative ships that have their own unique gamestyle