RoguedexPart 1 (Sep 2023) · #23 of 35 in that tierWatch the moment (1:02:37)
Fury Unleashed
- Developed by
- Awesome Games Studio
- Published by
- Awesome Games Studio
$19.99
Shoot your way through the pages of an ever-changing comic book in this fast-paced roguelike. Play solo, in local or online co-op, expand your weaponry, and upgrade your hero with each run. All that to find out why has your creator lost his faith in you and to prove him wrong.
Consensus
C69.5/100
Steam players87.2% positiveVery Positive2,922 reviews
Metacritic ↗79/100Users: 7.5/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈87.7K copies · ≈$880K gross
What creators say
Ranked Apr 2023 · #5 of 30 in that tierWatch the moment (2:03:54)
What players say
A fast 2D run-and-gun roguelite platformer set inside a living comic book, where each room is a comic panel and ink is the upgrade currency; playable solo or in local/online co-op.
Fury Unleashed is well liked but rarely treated as a genre heavyweight. Steam shows about 87% positive across roughly 2,900 reviews (Very Positive), and Metacritic critic scores sit in the high 70s (79 on PC, 76 across platforms), with user reviews and critic reviews both calling it polished, tight and cheap fun. Reviewers compare it to Contra/Metal Slug crossed with Dead Cells and Rogue Legacy, and lean on its combo system and control feel. Criticism centres on repetitive content (few level themes, samey bosses), modest meta-progression, and spongy enemies on the default Hard setting. The other recurring complaint in recent years is flaky online co-op. It is a released, non-early-access game (Steam release listed as May 8, 2020); the developer keeps an active Steam community presence (bug-report threads, Discord), but recent reviews show online co-op and platform issues (Steam Deck, Linux audio, crashes) are still open pain points. No OpenCritic page was located.
Players love
- Tight, responsive controls: dash, double jump, stomp, shoot and melee feel smooth and precise, which reviewers call the game's strongest asset
- Combo/heat system rewards aggressive, damage-free play with escalating rewards such as health and shield drops, and is described as the freshest mechanic
- Comic-book framing: chapters are individual comics and stages are laid out as comic panels, which players find creative and cohesive
- Big arsenal and many power-ups with trade-offs, giving varied runs; cited as a source of replayability, plus about 40 bosses
- Very customisable: adjustable difficulty sliders, full button remapping and character/face customisation
- Couch and online co-op make it far more fun with a friend, and two controllers even work in single-player for a silly shared-character mode
- Great value: often heavily discounted, with many reviewers saying it is worth more than they paid
- Strong soundtrack and a fast, chaotic, adrenaline-heavy feel that several players call an underrated gem
Common complaints
- Online co-op is unreliable: players report failing to connect over half the time, desyncs, and in 2026 reviews it is described as hard to get working
- Co-op design gripes: in online lobbies only the host can customise a character while the guest waits
- Repetition: only four level themes, rooms, weapons and bosses can feel alike over long sessions
- Enemies are spongy on Hard, slowing the pace; some find enemies spawning underneath them cheap
- Progression is seen as minor and mostly stat upgrades (health, etc.) rather than changing how you play; some upgrades are barely noticeable, like the blink invulnerability
- Weapon drops are random, and some runs go long stretches with nothing good
- Stability issues reported by some: a top-upvoted negative review reports consistent crashes shortly after launch; Steam forum topics mention black-screen crashes, Steam Deck and Linux audio problems
- Some reviewers find it short and, for solo play, outclassed by better action roguelites
Can feel tedious
- Hard-mode enemy sponginess and tiptoeing around damage makes some runs feel slow and tedious
- Early-game low-level runs feel very hard before upgrades make it easy (one reviewer likens it to Destiny: the game starts at full level)
- Upgrade grinding is called a grind by some, and the secret final level surprised and frustrated a reviewer
- Repetitive bosses, which one reviewer summarises as jumping around and shooting
- Connecting to online co-op is a hassle, sometimes harder than playing the game
- Basic for genre veterans: one top negative review says anyone who plays a lot of roguelikes will get bored of it
What's unique
- Every stage is a page of a comic book, with rooms as panels and chapters as issues, tied into a story about a creator who has lost faith in his hero
- Ink is both the currency dropped by enemies and the thing you spend on upgrades
- Combo meter tied to survival: a whole run on one continuous combo is a stated challenge, and heat increases damage and healing drops
- Full customisation: players can change every difficulty setting, remap every button and design their character's look
- Hard is the default, with Easy mode locking leaderboards and achievements, plus harder modes and a secret final level unlocked later
- Roguelite with light grinding until the late secret final level, blended with old-school Contra-style run-and-gun
Players want
- Fix and modernise online co-op connectivity and sync, and let guests customise their own characters
- Add more level themes, enemy types and boss variety to reduce sameness
- Deeper meta-progression: unlocks that change playstyle rather than small stat bumps
- Rebalance enemy health on the default Hard difficulty to keep pacing brisk
- Smoother Switch performance (Nintendo Life cited framerate issues) and better Steam Deck/Linux support
- More reliable weapon availability per run so a run is not dead for long stretches
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Replay ValueRogue-likeFast-PacedDifficultOnline Co-OpOld SchoolPlatformerShooterLocal Multiplayer2D Platformer
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Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Fury Unleashed is a flashy, comic-book-framed action roguelike with big guns and explosions against Nazis, aliens and monsters. He loves the meta-story about a tired comic writer, which turns emotional and feels personal to the developer. Individual runs get repetitive because guns feel alike and there are no unique run-altering abilities. He treats it as more of a campaign-like experience that he finished once in about 10 hours, and he places it around the middle of the board without naming a tier letter.
Liked
Disliked