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When a game becomes popular, often times more games in the same vein start appearing and some call these types of games “clones” (Doom clone, Grand Theft Auto clone, Hotline Miami clone, etc.). It’s been a thing for years. Imitation is the highest form of flattery or so they say. One of the more recent examples of this is Vampire Survivors and the flood of games that follow in its footsteps. They’re not all exactly the same, of course, with their own twists on the formula but it’s obvious that Vampire Survivors planted the roots for these types of games and I admit, I’ve become a fan. I’ve invested plenty of hours into Vampire Survivors and I find its particular style of gameplay to be addictive. There’s plenty of games like it now and among them is Disfigure which, as of this review, is free. And who doesn’t love free games? Developed and published by Cold Brew Entertainment, Disfigure was released for PC in 2023. You can get it on Steam and as far as I can tell, it’s updated fairly frequently. Maybe every couple of months or so.
To quote the game’s description on its Steam page, “Disfigure is a top-down shooter rogue-like in which you fight countless grotesque creatures shrouded in darkness.” Basically, you run around the environments killing enemies, collecting experience, and upgrading your character. There are numerous weapons to unlock, two maps to choose from, and multiple difficulty levels. You can actually beat the game in the single sitting but it is the kind of game meant to be replayed and does support leaderboards. The goal is to survive for as long as possible and try for high scores and from what I can tell more weapons and maps are planned for the future.
Enemies will come from everywhere and more will spawn the longer you survive and after surviving for certain periods of time, bosses will appear. In Disfigure, a map is considered beaten after surviving for twenty minutes and defeating that boss. However, you can keep going afterward. So this is how it works; kill enemies, collect the experience they drop, after collecting enough you level up and can choose an upgrade, and there are plenty to choose from. Over one hundred, in fact, according to the game’s Steam page. This is the addictive part. Choosing a specific combination of upgrades that work well with your chosen weapon, all in an effort to survive the onslaught of enemies for as long as possible, seeing your character become more powerful and efficient at obliterating the hordes of enemies coming from every direction.
Before jumping into the gameplay, you must select your weapon, map, and the difficulty. The maps, themselves, are seemingly endless in every direction so you can freely run around and shoot foes without any obstacles to worry about. It’s the enemies and bosses that will be different depending on the map. When you die, you are scored based on your performance and are granted credits as a reward which can be spent to unlock new weapons. Each weapon does look and feel different and comes with different perks. After reaching certain levels, instead of an upgrade, you’ll get to choose one of these perks. The arsenal consists of a mix of firearms and melee weapons and I feel the gunplay and combat is satisfying. From the sounds of the weapons to the look of the bullets to the way enemies break apart when they die, it feels good to kill in Disfigure and even better when a blast wipes out out an entire mob. Considering action is primarily the highlight here, the satisfying combat is a wonderful thing.
It’s the combination of the weapon, its perks, and the upgrades you choose that make the game so much fun. Death means starting over but it also means you can build something new. It’s all about figuring out what upgrades work best and compliment your chosen weapon. The difficulty you select obviously determines how hard things will be but also your score multiplier. If you touch an enemy or get hit by a projectile, you lose a heart. Bosses do drop hearts when defeated and if you lose all your hearts, you die. The challenge comes from avoiding damage or in other words, avoiding the enemies that are literally everywhere. Besides the different sets of foes that appear in the two maps, the other big difference between the two is the amount or frequency of enemies that appear. I found Map 2 more challenging mainly because more enemies are present which means you have less room to maneuver. You need to be vigilant at all times.
One thing that makes Disfigure unique is how it handles light and darkness. The maps are shrouded in darkness and your character is surrounded by light which represents your vision. At the press of a button, you can switch to cone vision to see further ahead of you. You can only see enemies that appear in your vision and there are upgrades that affect the size of your vision or light along with others that make it easier to reveal enemies. I feel this light/dark mechanic adds tension to the gameplay and does make things interesting. You know enemies are all around you but you can’t see them or know what kind they are until they are revealed by light or enter your vision. According to the game’s website, Disfigure is going for a Lovecraftian look and feel and the enemies certainly fit that style. From bug-like looking things to more creepy things with tentacles, they all differ in look and size. They all seem to rush you and some also unleash projectiles.
Much of the presentation is in black and white with only certain things like enemy projectiles and upgrade effects in color and you can manually adjust colors. The sprite work is good, your character and the enemies all appear to be flat distinct shapes and I feel the primarily monochrome look and feel along with the Lovecraftian style does give the game a gloomy and ominous kind of tone. I feel I should mention that, according to the game’s Steam page, an AI Art Generator was used to create some of the upgrade icons but this is only temporary. The audio work is also good with satisfying weapon sounds and moody music to match the dark atmosphere on display. On the technical side, I’m happy to say I did not encounter any issues.
I had a lot of fun with Disfigure. It’s easy to pick-up-and play and understand, it can be fast-paced and hectic, the action can be intense, it’s addictive, and most importantly, it’s fun. Even with the small amount of content that’s currently on offer, you can spend hours playing, trying different combinations of weapon, perks, and upgrades. I can’t say it’s as deep as a game like Vampire Survivors or offers as much content but there are countless ways to “build” your character so to speak and as far as I know, more content is on the way. It’s not officially an Early Access game on Steam but I think it kind of feels like it could be considering it’s still being worked on. Obviously, I would love to see more weapons, maps, and upgrades. I would also welcome additional game modes and progression systems. What’s here is already fantastic and I’m excited to see it grow.
I absolutely recommend Disfigure. For one thing, it’s free so it’s not going to cost you anything but time to check it out and it will fill that time with fun and addictive gameplay and fast-paced action. If you’re a fan of games like Vampire Survivors, I think Disfigure offers an interesting take on the formula and is on its way to becoming one of the best of its kind. Definitely check it out.