Vampire Survivors spawned just as many competitors as it did squashable pixel beasts, but the most recent auto-battling, bullet heaven, top-down roguelike Pizza Hero is worth a second look for a few reasons.
Firstly, it's not called Pizza Survivors. Riff on the subgenre's big dog but don't make it that obvious, y'know? Secondly, the roguelike is entirely themed after its namesake: pizza. You play as a sentient slice that propels itself forward using a tomato sauce that squirts from its backside - kinda gross when you stop to think about it - and all the upgrades are classic pizza toppings. Pineapples blast a large laser right through enemy hordes, cilantro buffs your damage, peppers increase your area of effect.
Thirdly, Pizza Hero sets itself apart from the Survivors-ish crowd with a pet companion that follows you around the map. I only played with the default doggy Max, who's actually inspired by the developer's own good boy of the same name. Please, watch the video below to meet "the sweetest dog on the planet," according to a really cute blog post full of other fun Max facts. "He hates it when you touch his paws," for example, and "loves pears." Isn't this wholesome, huh?
Finally, you can grab and keep Pizza Hero for free "before it becomes a paid game." The Steam announcement blog says that the offer will end at an unspecified date "soon," so you better get clicking fast. I'm guessing indie developers everywhere are looking to Content Warning's winning recipe that boils down to: release game for free for a limited time, sell a bajillion copies after it blows up on the algorithms.
Pizza Hero came out on mobile devices last year, but its recent Steam port already has a 'Very Positive" rating based on user reviews. After playing a few rounds myself, Pizza Hero doesn't reinvent the subgenre's wheel - you're still idly walking about and dodging projectiles until your rig's practically burning from all the on-screen chaos, but it was moreish enough to threaten my productivity for the rest of the work day, as is usually the case with these kinda games.
Looking for a roguelike of the manual-battling variety? Check out our picks of the best roguelike games available right now.
