An inconspicuous roguelike with retro graphics is thrilling tens of thousands of players on Steam and has collected 93 percent positive reviews.
No glossy graphics, no million-dollar marketing campaign, and yet more successful than many AAA titles. The action roguelike Megabonk is currently shooting up the Steam charts and joining the list of indie hits à la Balatro that became successful even without a big budget.
A few days after its release, Megabonk reached almost 40,000 concurrent players on Steam. It also has over 5,000 reviews, 93 percent of which are positive – even though the game looks like it’s 30 years old. Or maybe that’s precisely why?
What makes Megabonk so special?
Anyone who sees the following game description will quickly think of another representative of the popular Survivors-Likes:
- You dodge hordes of enemies while your weapons and abilities attack automatically.
- With each level up and each treasure chest found, you choose from a wealth of upgrades, weapons, and items to become more and more powerful. The goal is to create absurd synergies that cause the screen to explode in a chaos of effects.
- Each playthrough unlocks new characters, weapons, and abilities for future attempts, ensuring high long-term motivation.
But that’s deceptive: Solo developer Vedinad combines the typical “just one more round” feeling of Vampire Survivors with the 3D action of Risk of Rain 2, creating a game that is currently captivating a huge community.
You can see what it all looks like in action in the gameplay video – and of course we don’t want to deprive you of our fireball-shooting robot cowboy:
Why players love it
If you take a look at the Steam reviews, you’ll quickly see that Megabonk is a surprise hit for many – even for players who don’t actually like the genre:
- Ir0n_Revverb:
Actually, I don’t really like Vampire Survivors. But Megabonk feels like Vampire Survivors if it were Risk of Rain 2—and I really like that. This game is good.
- ∞NeoEgo∞:
If you love crafting crazy builds and finding your own playstyle, this is the game for you! Damage numbers bursting into colorful explosions are the main event here.
- Osiristaa:
I got bonked so hard that my brain is now smooth. If you have a job, you’d better not play this game.
- Twiddily:
If you’re a fan of ridiculously powerful power scaling and Survivors-like games, this is the game for you. Megabonk? More like Megafun.
Incidentally, there is only one person behind this success: Developer Vedinad celebrated the milestone of almost 30,000 concurrent players with the idiosyncratic words: “I’m going to eat a hell of a lot of spaghetti tonight.”
After spending several hours playing the game, we can advise you: if you’re looking for a game that offers hours of fun for less than $10 and runs on almost any PC, Megabonk is an absolute megahit.