When I was offered the review option for Mycopunk, I was honestly a little hesitant. I’ve written about this game two times in the past; I honestly didn’t know what more could be said about it in a critical capacity. However, little did I know that, much like the game’s fungus, Mycopunk had been growing and evolving into something far more advanced than it was before.
Jumping into the 1.0 release of Mycopunk is kind of a best-of-both-worlds situation. If you played it while it was in Early Access, you’re going to be pretty surprised by how much has changed, while still being able to enjoy what was there originally. If you’re diving into it for the first time, you’re going to be treated to a game that’s fast, frantic and genuinely filled with fun.
Mycopunk has expanded a bit since I last played it, actually adding a bit of backstory to the game’s proceedings to give players a general idea of what they’re doing and why. In the year 4083, the Saxon Corporation discovers large quantities of “Saxonite” (which I’m guessing was a corporately inspired name like “Unobtainium”) on the distant moon of “New Atlas.” After a minor colonization effort, Saxon makes contact with the Hashetty, an alien race from a nearby galaxy who declare war on the Milky Way. In the midst of all this, New Atlas is destroyed by a fungal organism, and sends robotic cleanup crews to salvage what they can as they deal with the war.
“Mycopunk had been growing and evolving into something far more advanced than it was before. “
While it doesn’t add much to the overall in-game experience, it provides a nice pinch of spice to the game’s proceedings—giving the game a bit more context to its indifferent, or more accurately evil corpo vibes. It does help better explain why some of the game’s missions were activating an interplanetary railgun and blasting space stations out of the sky. But Mycopunk didn’t really need an abundance of story or lore, when it lets its gameplay do all the talking.
Like I said in my two previous previews, Mycopunk is an intense objective-based shooter where players choose from a myriad of different missions while fighting wave after wave of fungus-possessed scrap machinery. The game has an almost Risk of Rain-style mechanic, where the longer a mission takes, the more the difficulty ramps up, so players are encouraged to coordinate and play effectively in order to survive each encounter. But a lot has been improved since I went hands-on with the Early Access build; it almost feels like a different game.
To start, Mycopunk introduces a lot of nice QoL touches like colour-coding enemy weak spots to let players know if they’re almost broken. The game has received a bit of a rebalance, so solo play is a lot more manageable, while multiplayer feels more rewarding with a group. The game also adds a fifth character class with a really interesting gimmick—building corruption as they use their abilities, which makes them more powerful but will chip away if it grows too large.
While Mycopunk’s missions remain largely the same, biomes have gotten a serious overhaul in design—appearing much grander and fleshed out with winding caverns, structures and flora to navigate around. I was genuinely floored by just how different levels felt from the wide-open spaces of the EA build, making fights much more intense and personal as you navigate tighter spaces and look for openings from the chaos wherever you can.
“Mycopunk is as fun and captivating on this third critical go-around as it was the first time I sat down to play it.”
Enemies have also received a serious visual overhaul that goes far beyond the bits of scrap plastered onto living fungal tentacles. Each enemy has more shape and looks more like a piece of machinery come to life, which not only makes them more visually interesting, but also changes how you engage with them in combat—as needing to remove limbs or break open weak spots becomes radically different. It allows Mycopunk to maintain its frenetic pace while giving players more strategic options when engaging the enemy.
And Mycopunk retains a lot of the elements I thought were really interesting from the preview. Needing to slot upgrades onto a hex grid, with each different one taking a different shape, adds a really unique element to how players build their characters—encouraging them to consider whether to attach powerful upgrades, which are usually bigger and complexly shaped, or smaller, less powerful ones that are simply shaped and allow for more upgrades.
And Mycopunk has a great visual style, combining a cel-shaded art style with detailing that makes everything look kind of grungy. It goes a long way to capturing the “punk” aesthetic that is the game’s namesake, while also adding a kind of gross-factor to this planet now overrun with a living fungus. The visuals are backed up by a killer soundtrack that uses a lot of synth keys that can be both eerie and frantic, combined with intense drum solos that make each fight feel both unnerving and intensely engaging.
Mycopunk is as fun and captivating on this third critical go-around as it was the first time I sat down to play it. It’s got a great sense of style and unique ideas, all wrapped around a gameplay hook that never stops being enjoyable. For a seriously good time that won’t break the bank, do yourselves a favour and check this one out.
