If Deep Rock Galactic, Risk of Rain 2, and a vat of psychedelic mushrooms had a love child, that game might be called Mycopunk. Developed by the appropriately named Pigeons at Play and published by Devolver Digital, Mycopunk is an early access co-op shooter that throws you and your squad into the heart of a planet-wide fungal meltdown. You’ll exterminate bio-mutated mushroom horrors as a gang of malfunctioning robots armed with makeshift sci-fi gear, strange gadgets, and a whole lot of chaotic energy.
It’s weird. It’s janky. It’s brilliant. Let’s break it down.
Fungal Extermination for Fun and Profit
The premise? You’re part of the New Atlas Hazard Crew, a misfit team of robotic reject exterminators hired by the shady SAXON corporation to deal with a mysterious fungal infestation that’s eating a planet alive. Of course, like all good dystopian sci-fi plots, you’re probably not getting the whole story.
The game drops you into planet-side missions where you’ll blast your way through swarms of fungal foes, gather resources, and uncover secrets. Missions are quick but intense, designed for drop-in/drop-out online co-op play. Between runs, you return to your orbiting hub, a lively dropship full of mini-games, customization stations, and one very chatty insectoid boss named Roachard Cox.
Weapons, Perks, and Build Madness
Customization in Mycopunk is where things start to get spicy. Every robot can be loaded with weapons and perks through a clever grid-based upgrade system. Think inventory Tetris meets deck-building. Want a shotgun that fires corrosive slime and stuns enemies on reload? How about a flamethrower that turns foes into loot piñatas? If you can imagine it, you can probably build it—or at least scrap together something close.
The depth of the perk system encourages experimentation. Stack damage boosts, movement buffs, crowd control effects, or go complete troll with offbeat status effects. This flexibility fuels the game’s chaotic identity. You never know what your loadout is really capable of until you’re mid-mission, getting overrun, and laughing like a maniac as your gear finally clicks into place.
Movement Is a Feature, Not Just a Control Scheme
One of Mycopunk’s standout traits is its fluid, momentum-driven movement. Every class has unique traversal abilities: grappling hooks, pole-vaulting poles, dashes, gliders, even a lasso that can pull enemies—or teammates—closer. It turns each encounter into a ballet of airborne dodges, slick slides, and vertical chaos. When you’re not dodging enemies, you’re zipping across arenas collecting parts or reviving fallen friends by piecing them back together.
It gives the game a rhythm that feels fast but not overwhelming, and movement becomes as much a weapon as your gun.
Smart Enemies With Dumb Faces
The enemies in Mycopunk are gloriously gross. Fungal blobs, biomechanical beasts, and hybrid horrors—modular creatures that pick up the weapons and limbs of their fallen. You’ll shoot one’s gun arm off, only to watch another scuttle over, attach it, and start blasting you with it.
Combat becomes a constant assessment of threats. Do you shoot the core to kill an enemy outright, or focus on disarming them first? Can you outrun the swarm until your grenade cooldown is back? Do you split from your team or stick together? These decisions feel meaningful because the AI reacts to your actions in subtle ways.
An Early Access Game With Soul
Mycopunk is still in Early Access, and it shows. Matchmaking bugs, minor UI glitches, inconsistent difficulty spikes, and uneven weapon balancing all come with the territory. But these issues are offset by just how playable and content-rich the current build already is.
Players have already clocked hundreds of hours, and feedback is steadily shaping development. The devs are active, the roadmap looks promising, and the community is growing. That’s a solid trifecta for any Early Access title.
Missions, Mayhem, and Mushrooms
The mission variety is surprisingly solid. You’ll recover lost cargo, escort weird sci-fi tech, clear out infestations, or survive waves of increasingly unhinged fungal monsters. While some players have noted that a few of the ball-rolling escort objectives are more frustrating than fun, overall, the gameplay loop is tight and satisfying.
And yes—there’s a car. You can spawn a dinky little ride mid-mission and go drifting around alien landscapes while blasting spores out of the air. It’s dumb. It’s fun. It’s perfect.
Visuals, Vibes, and Vices
Aesthetically, Mycopunk leans hard into its oddball identity. The visuals are crunchy yet charming, featuring lots of vibrant colors and chunky design elements. The music? Absolute bangers. Sound design? Solid, if a bit chaotic. But it all fits. This isn’t a polished AAA sci-fi world. It’s a trippy, punk-flavored fungus firestorm—and you’re here to burn it all down.
The game doesn’t take itself too seriously. From the oddly polite Roachard Cox to the chaotic player chatter in the hub, it feels like a world made by people who love the genre but don’t mind poking fun at it either.
Mycopunk: Mycopunk is the kind of game that sneaks up on you. At first glance, it looks like another indie roguelite shooter. But once you spend a few hours with it, once you start syncing with your team, discovering secrets, customizing your build, and screaming “GET THE CORE!” at your buddy across the map—you’ll realize it’s got that magic. It’s not flawless. It’s not done. But it’s damn fun. – Obsidian
