Redacted

Sure enough, while it doesn’t seek to reinvent the roguelike wheel or provide an especially captivating story or cast of characters as Hades does, [REDACTED] nonetheless provides enough clever adjustments to the formula while embracing some incredible combat fundamentals to come out of seemingly nowhere and secure its spot as one of my favourite roguelikes of the year.

[REDACTED] is a solid rogue-like with good combat and a variety of upgrades, even if it is on the short side. Plus it runs flawlessly on the Steam Deck.

While [REDACTED] may not quite be on the level of other recent hit roguelikes, Striking Distance Studios has crafted a pretty strong title here. It puts players in the shoes of a prison guard from The Callisto Protocol's Black Iron Prison, and in classic roguelike fashion, tasks them with fighting their way to safety. Through this, players will conquer all sorts of enemies, meet a fun cast of characters, and play around with countless wild abilities. But, even though that does make for an experience fans of the genre do not want to miss out on, [REDACTED] is not without its hiccups.

Nobody expected a spinoff to 2022’s The Callisto Protocol and so Redacted — a fast-paced, twin-stick shooter roguelike — comes as a pleasant surprise. Set in CP’s Black Iron prison on Jupiter’s moon, Callisto, you take on the role of a prison guard who is not only in a race to reach the last remaining escape pod but also a fight for survival against inmates who are transforming into weird, mutated monsters known as Biophages.

[REDACTED] thrives when you are moving as fast as possible, cutting through infected enemies in a rush to finish a run. This frantic combat flows together incredibly well, so you never feel held back by the game when you are gaining momentum. There is a nice selection of weapons and numerous upgrades to take advantage of, to create a nice power curve over multiple runs. Its narrative isn’t particularly deep and much of the humor leans heavily on edgy internet memes and references, but it occasionally lands a joke, typically one of the silly ones. Luckily, much of your focus will be on the soli...

With a colorful art style and roguelike hooks, Redacted has little in common with The Callisto Protocol besides a shared setting, yet it's a similarly uneven experience.