You’re hard at work in a lab of questionable ethics when an outbreak occurs. Something monstrous is now standing between you and the exit, which is at least six rooms away, and you’re armed with a wrench. In Demon Spore, a roguelike twin-stick shooter, this implausible scenario is your terrifying new reality. Developed by DinoBoss and published by Null Games, Demon Spore forces players to think fast and act faster if they want to make it out alive. After some hands-on time with the game, I returned eager to play more.
Starting out, players will find themselves armed with only a melee weapon. This can get you through the first few rooms since the alien creatures will only crawl around at first. However, like a monster out of science fiction, the aliens will constantly evolve, and your arsenal must evolve with them to stand a chance. A fire extinguisher on the wall can freeze enemies in place or stop an ever-growing web of alien nodes, but without a decent firearm or environmental weapon, you’ll soon find yourself overrun.
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Indeed, since you’re in a lab, you’ll find various volatile items that can serve as makeshift grenades and other aspects of the lab can help you in the long run. If your enemies are crawling toward the nearest source of sound, a shattered vial full of acid can provide a quick and easy deathtrap. A monitor you’ve ripped off the nearest desk can serve as a stun grenade, shocking any enemies near the impact zone.
To make the most of these hindrances, you’ll need a proper weapon, which can be found in rooms marked with a special icon. These rooms aren’t always close to your starting point, but they provide such invaluable long-range power that it’s worth heading straight for them. Weapons can even be upgraded by visiting other specific rooms.
Making these journeys is a double-edged sword, though. Every time a player moves into a new room, the center of the outbreak spreads into other rooms. This creates stronger enemies in affected rooms, so a room that was previously full of harmless sludge creatures may now contain much more lethal aliens. With a grid of 49 rooms, wasting trips or meandering without a goal can spell certain doom, so it’s important to pick a goal and head straight for it. There are ways to slow the outbreak, but these aren’t intended to be permanent solutions. The only way to survive is to get to the exit, but it’s not going to be easy.
Like any roguelike, Demon Spore will punish players harshly for their mistakes. Didn’t see that approaching alien amidst the chaos? You’re starting over. Run out of ammo? Back to square one. Accidentally shoot an explosive barrel in melee range? That’s the end of this run. With a single ‘point’ of health, death comes quick and easy, but it never feels unfair. Every death is a learning experience; you’ll need to pick it up quickly if you want to survive for long.
The green glow in each room highlights a tool that can help you, whether it’s unlocking a door, providing a distraction, or even keeping a weapon safe for you to pick up. The visual language in Demon Spore feels very intuitive, and after a few deaths, you’ll quickly learn what to look out for. The worst part of dying is waiting to jump back in, but Demon Spore makes it incredibly easy to start your next game, reducing some of the tension of losing your progress. If it gets too stressful, you can invite a friend or two to join you. This allows for a character who is defeated to be revived by a surviving player.
With a constantly shifting map with new potential scenarios in each run, Demon Spore is shaping up to be a great way to spend a few hours with friends. Whether that remains true in the full release is unknown, but Demon Spore’s future seems secure. At least, more secure than the labs in the game.
Demon Spore is coming to PC in 2024.
