RAD (2019)

nice

[b]RAD delivers a stylish and atmospheric roguelite experience set in a wonderfully strange post-apocalyptic world. Its colorful visuals, bizarre characters, and retro-inspired presentation create a setting that feels both dangerous and mysterious. The mutation system is easily one of the game's coolest ideas. Discovering new mutations and watching your character gradually transform gives each run a fun sense of unpredictability. The visual changes are also a great touch, making your character feel increasingly bizarre as the run progresses. Unfortunately, the underlying gameplay is considerably more simplistic than the presentation suggests. Combat and exploration are straightforward, and after the initial novelty wears off, there aren't enough layers to the core gameplay loop to make every run feel meaningfully different. This is especially noticeable when compared with roguelites that offer deeper synergies between weapons, abilities, and upgrades. RAD gives you interesting toys to play with, but not always enough ways to combine them into radically (hehe) different playstyles. The result is a game where the idea of build variety is stronger than the actual build variety. …

Suprisingly good! One of the better, more polished and content-complete Double Fine games. It starts kinda slow (for some reason I kept getting the same mutations over and over again in the first 2-3 hours, maybe there's a hidden unlocking mechanic?) but once it starts rolling, the variety is very much there, and the random builds can be very fun to play, and look great. If I had two gripes, it would be that I wish there was more to the meta-progression layer, and that there was a bit more biome and enemy variety. But it kept me coming back for more, and that's what I'm looking for in a roguelike.

This was way harder than I thought it would be. I liked the 80's vibe and the announcer. It needed more level and enemy variety but was good for some quick runs every now and again.

If you want something different from other games in this genre, this might be worth checking out. But if you're looking for a solid roguelike, this probably isn't it. [i] * I don't really enjoy this genre anymore, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. [/i]

The wasteland calls Mutations turn survival into madness Ride onward through the ruins