Xenomarine

Fun little rogue-like with an "Aliens" / "Space Hulk" theme. The feel during play is a bit old school, but it's overall a really great effort from a one-man show. The developer thought of a lot of stuff and Xenomarine has that nice mix of action, crafting, and RPG that keeps you wanting to play. It is tough and you'll die a lot, but there's also an adventure mode that lets you save a level at a time and pick up at the start of the most recent level progress you made. I do wish in the rogue mode your character could offer more to the next attempt, but it's still a good time. There's some dependency on the RNG to treat you right, but I think that's par for the course in many rogue-likes. A good, affordable diversion that you can run on a machine that you bought ten years ago.

Xenomarine, developed and published by Fourfold Games, is a modern interpretation of a classic roguelike framework, combining procedural exploration, tactical turn-based combat, and a grim science fiction setting that emphasizes isolation and survival. It draws heavily from the genre’s traditional design principles—permadeath, randomness, and system-driven progression—while presenting them through a more accessible visual style. The result is a game that feels both familiar and demanding, offering depth for those willing to engage with its systems while remaining largely uncompromising in its approach. The premise is straightforward but effective: you are a lone marine trapped within a hostile, alien-infested station after your squad has been wiped out. From the outset, the game establishes a tone of vulnerability, placing the player in an environment where resources are scarce and danger is constant. Rather than relying on a structured narrative, the game allows its story to emerge through gameplay—each run becoming its own tale of survival, failure, and gradual improvement. This minimalist approach to storytelling aligns with the roguelike tradition, where the player’s experienc…

I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of Xenomarine and the amount of fun I got out of it. I habitually buy lots of cheap indie games (especially around the holidays) in the hopes that they will be good and sometimes that pays off greatly and this was such a time. In fact, I almost didn't buy it because the screenshots of the graphics and some other miscellaneous aspects of the Steam page made me think it may be yet another cheap indie game that didn't deliver but I was quite wrong. Xenomarine does a great job of delivering on its promise: no other game I've tried captures the feeling of Alien-like sci-fi gameplay dynamics in a turn-based game as well as this one does! It feels more authentic and captures the desired feeling of a xenomorph infested environment substantially better than certain other turn-based sci-fi (traditional) roguelikes do. Xenomorph creates the feeling of managing the space around you and your own movements through it that embodys that feeling well. In particular, some things about this game that may seem awkward at first glance (and did to me too on the first 2-3 runs I tried) are in fact elegant strokes of gameplay genius once you actually…

Only play this if you enjoy suffering. Pretty much every enemy encounter is a 'haha got ya xD' mechanic. The game has a skewed action economy stacked against the player as you lose a turn to change direction while enemies dont. Each run boils down to you vs rng, gambling on did the game give you more medkits than it forced you to take damage. Even if you position optimally and play as safe as possible, the game still likes to throw fights at you that you simply do not have the resources to survive.

Better than Witcher 3

not fun. at all.