Swapmeat

SWAPMEAT is a fast-paced roguelite that is best played with friends. At first, the game seems like a silly cartoony shooter (and it is funny) but after playing a bunch of runs, I started to see the strategy behind the different body parts and combining them to create some really powerful builds. The boss battles are intense and far more manageable playing with friends. One More Game is constantly adding community challenges and updating the game, which adds to the replayability. If you are a fan of Hell Divers and like 90s and 2000s humor, this is a game that should be added to your collection.

Swapmeat is a surprisingly deep roguelike with plenty of entertaining parts under the hood. Its titular mechanic is great fun, even if RNG occasionally gets in the way. Runs are challenging but never insurmountable, and the variety of locales, weapons, and powers gives the game plenty of replayability, whether you’re playing alone or with friends. Its grotesque style won’t be for everyone, and I do wish there were a few more planets as part of the rotation at launch. Still, for $16 and some change, Swapmeat is excellent value — cheaper than most fast food meals, and certainly more savory.

SWAPMEAT is the kind of game that gets exponentially more fun as the player count goes up. Highly recommended with friends, recommended with caveats solo, and one of the more distinctive games released in the genre this year.

SWAPMEAT stands out as a game that defies convention, skilfully blending biting black humour directed at unbridled capitalism with a grotesque, cartoonish aesthetic. The mechanic of dissecting and grafting enemy body parts is not merely a brilliant aesthetic flourish, but the beating heart of frenetic gameplay that encourages constant tactical experimentation. Although it is at its best in the chaos of co-op mode and shines thanks to the level design of its boss fights, this title from One More Game unfortunately stumbles over an unnecessarily chaotic and frustrating progression system, accompanied by a certain repetitiveness in the voice lines and a few too many annoying bugs.

Swapmeat won me over on its chaos, silliness, and replayability. Its grotesque meat swapping mechanics kept me on my toes in building wild looking yet wildly powerful meaty monsters.