I’m not super into co-op shooters, but when Devolver Digital releases a game, I usually try and play it. Mycopunk clearly takes a lot of influence from Deep Rock Galactic, down to having a focus on completing objectives on large maps before calling down a dropship and extracting, in addition to having multiple classes and upgrade systems. But it also wields a whole lot of unique, interesting aspects that makes it feel very much like it’s doing its own thing as you’re dashing around and gunning down hordes of strange foes. But the question stands – is Mycopunk worth it in Early Access, or should you wait and see how it plays out until full release?
Before jumping into missions, you’ll pick from one of four classes of robots. I’m maining the Glider, who is able to shoot a missile volley and uses jet thrusters to rapidly zoom forward. Others include a robot that has an air dash and a lasso that pulls it towards enemies, one that launches itself upward with a jetpack and builds a device that lets its teammates jump, and even one with a shield. Each class has its own progression that gains points upon levelling up. Points are placed into skill trees that unlock new perks that can be slotted in a grid. As such, there’s a lot to unlock if you desire it.
You’ll unlock new weapons as you level up and these too have upgrades that can be slotted, provided you’ve picked up enough resources to create these upgrades. Plus, there’s crafting once you reach level 10. Mycopunk‘s systems are very nicely thought-out and slowly upgrading the classes (employees as the game calls them) hits the right notes. The game is predominately multiplayer-focused, so you can squad up with friends or join public squads with ease, whether they’re hanging out in the hub or in the middle of a mission.
In the hub, the squad leader chooses a region and then selects from a few available missions. These have a lot of variety. Some just task you with defeating a certain number of enemies, but then you’ve got ones such as calling forth and setting up a railgun, destroying a fungal infestation, or activating satellites. Even within these missions, there’s a surprising amount of variety that makes them very distinctive. One has you and your teammates roll data cores onto a platform. Another sees you building cable connections (and you can rail grind on what you’ve built,) but you’ll also defend targets, and more. You can even call down a car that you can drive to get around faster.
One interesting part of Mycopunk is that it’s almost entirely feature complete, despite being released in Early Access. There’s more content coming, sure, but the full suite of characters, weapons, and other things practically make it a full game. The devs also want players to help with balancing the huge amount of upgrades, which is part of the reason it’s Early Access. It’s supposed to stay that way for six months before releasing in full (as version 2.0, as this release is counted as 1.0.) The game already feels as polished and fun as you would probably expect from a full release.
I’m mostly using the shotgun and a precision laser rifle that you charge up with weaker shots. Once charged, it unleashes a powerful laser. Enemies are these weird cores that come in different shapes and sizes and often have limbs and weapons attached to them. Each piece of these enemies can be destroyed and blasting through their cores to damage their internals is extremely satisfying and feels very impactful, as does the way the enemies react to taking damage. Mycopunk is more than happy to throw a ton of enemies at you at once too, so the game can be quite hectic and challenging, even on lower difficulties.
Between the strong gameplay, interesting classes, and vast range of items to unlock and upgrade, Mycopunk is very much already worth it in Early Access. This is a very intuitive game with great maps and very satisfying combat, plus it’s a great time with friends. I played it with a buddy of mine and we both walked away very impressed. Boosting through the air before dumping shotgun rounds into an enemy core, only to watch it explode makes for one hell of a time, so anyone looking for their next co-op shooter fix will very likely find it here.
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