Recent reviews by Max

(Review written while playing v1.0)

A strong 9/10 FPS roguelite combining elements of DOOM, Risk of Rain, Borderlands, and a hint of Overwatch.

As an FPS veteran of almost two decades, i actually don't have much to say about the minute-to-minute gameplay of Roboquest other than the fact it's immaculately designed. This is one of those games where if you're familiar with the genre, everything just instinctively works. As soon as i was given control in the demo i could immediately tell just the basic movement alone was incredibly well crafted, it's kind of absurd how good of a job they did. I was hooked in less than an hour.

The gunplay is immensely satisfying, the combat demands your full attention at all times, the classes skills and items come together to make varied and fun build combinations every run, the soundtrack by Noisecream is ridiculous (there isn't a single track in the entire OST i didn't like) and the art direction takes your eyes on a romantic dinner date under the pale moonlight at the most luxurious dining establishment money can afford in Lyon, France, hometown of developers RyseUp Studios.

Basically everything is on point, RyseUp almost doesn't skip a beat. The beats they do skip don't even warrant anything but minor complaints, which i'll list from most to least important. There WILL be spoilers past this point.


What's likely the most recurring complaint with players. While the game isn't barren by any means, it really does stretch that $25 price tag to it's limit. There's roughly 30 hours of game to play give or take about 10 depending on how fast you do it all, and while that's obviously not a short amount of time, for a Roguelite game like this that's definitely on the shorter side of things in terms of replay value.

And after you've done everything, there's currently no point to replaying the game other than to beat your best times, beating it on higher difficulties, or just because you feel like it. I will say though, you know you got a masterpiece on your hands when the biggest complaint from players is that they want more game to play.


The game is overall balanced very well, but there's some slight issues here and there.

Low damage high fire rate weapons like SMGs, ARs, and LMGs could use a buff, i never use them over anything else, most other weapons outclass them in every way in my experience. Some more niche weapons like the mine launcher and dragoon mortar i never use either, the damage they deal isn't worth using over something more conventional. I can't think of much else when it comes to weapons though, they're all good in their own ways.

The game likes to sometimes throw just a few more enemies than you can handle at one time, leading to a perfectly good run coming to a sudden halt when you can't chew through everything the game expects you to handle. The worst example of this being...

The final two battle rooms on the Moon are harder than the fight with IRIS herself, this has been the case with every run i've had that's gotten there, even with power crystals. WAY too many things being thrown at you at once, even with a strong build it's always the hardest part of the moon.


After de-corrupting IRIS and watching the end cutscene, nothing really happens in-game, you're still in the same old basecamp as you were at the start, nothing's been changed or added. It feels odd doing the same gameplay loop over and over when i've already fixed IRIS and Haven 8 is back up and running, y'know? My headcanon is that the Guardians are just really bored afterwards and they keep bugging IRIS to make more badbots for them to fight, much to her annoyance. Having the option to move the camp to Haven 8 after the end would be a cool addition, but i realize this might be more dev work than it's worth.

It's also odd that Max is the only character who properly speaks to you in-game amongst the smattering of other NPCs that exist, i feel like there were a lot of missed opportunities for some fun interactions there. Having these NPCs hang out in your camp after completing their side quests would've been a cool feature as well, as the camp in it's current state is pretty lifeless despite the very lived-in feel.


All in all, an absolutely stellar game made by a relatively unknown studio up until this point, or at least i myself have never heard of them. If you like FPS games in any capacity, Roboquest is worth every single penny even with the slightly lacking amount of content it contains at launch. I'm sure RyseUp will stuff it with more content over time with the amount of attention and positive reception the game's getting, so if you feel like the current price tag is a bit much for what you get, just wait until then or wait for a sale.

I'm really digging it.