Part 1 (Sep 2023) · #9 of 18 in that tierWatch the moment (1:36:41)
Noita is a magical action roguelite set in a world where every pixel is physically simulated. Fight, explore, melt, burn, freeze and evaporate your way through the procedurally generated world using spells you've created yourself.
Consensus
A75.6/100
Steam players95.1% positiveOverwhelmingly Positive89,036 reviews
Metacritic ↗76/100Users: 8.1/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈2.7M copies · ≈$35.9M gross
What creators say
Ranked Mar 2025 · #1 of 21 in that tierListen to the episode
Scored 8.16/10 · tier derived from the score
Ranked Jun 2023 · #3 of 14 in that tierWatch the moment (0:47:25)
Ranked Apr 2023 · #3 of 16 in that tierWatch the moment (2:03:54)
Ranked Dec 2024 · #14 of 14 in that tierListen to the episode
What players say
A physics-sim action roguelite from Nolla Games where every pixel is a simulated material and you build your own spell wands to fight and dig through a procedurally generated underworld.
Players rate Noita extremely highly (Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive, about 95% of roughly 89k reviews, with recent reviews still around 92%), and many long-time players call it one of the deepest games ever made. Critics were favorable but more mixed than players: Metacritic sits at 76 from 20 reviews, with scores ranging from 95 down to 45, mostly split on whether the randomness and lethality are a feature or a flaw. The recurring split is between admiration for the wand-building and pixel-physics depth and frustration with one-shot deaths, hidden knowledge and slow early-game loops. It left early access on 15 Oct 2020 (early access began 24 Sep 2019); the developers shipped the Epilogue update in March 2021 and a second Epilogue update in April 2024, plus ongoing bug fixes and strong mod support. It is not abandoned, though major content updates are rare.
Players love
- Fully simulated pixel physics: every pixel of sand, water, lava, acid, gas and fire reacts, so the world can be burned, flooded, melted or blown apart
- Wand and spell crafting is hugely deep, with a very high skill ceiling; players describe building absurdly overpowered wands, black holes and infinite-heal setups
- Enormous depth of secrets, alchemy, lore, puzzles and hidden content that the community is still uncovering years later (one reviewer with 1,000+ hours says mysteries remain)
- Emergent, funny and spectacular deaths and moments; the chaos is often described as a large part of the fun
- Huge replay value and the sense that you yourself improve since there is no persistent character power progression
- Distinctive pixel art and particle effects that make the physics visually satisfying
- Strong modding scene and Steam Workshop support extending the game
- Rewarding 'breaking the game' fantasy: late runs let you become a near-unkillable god after struggling early
Common complaints
- Extremely punishing, often feels unfair: instant deaths from off-screen fast projectiles, single pixels of lava/acid/fire, polymorph, or accidentally hurting yourself with your own wand
- Very little is explained; much of the knowledge needed to play well is hidden or requires a wiki, leading many to say it needs 50-500 hours before you feel any agency
- High variance and randomness: several critics and reviewers say outcomes depend heavily on lucky early spells and wands rather than pure skill
- Long, slow early game that you must repeat after every death, with enormous levels to crawl through for gold
- Secrets and quests are cryptic (ARG/cryptography-style) and often require tedious trial and error or outside resources
- Inventory is small relative to the number of spell options, making optimal experimentation feel like a walking and swapping chore
Can feel tedious
- Repeating the first mines area hundreds of times; several reviewers spent most of their time in it and found it dull after many runs
- Crawling through huge levels clearing enemies for gold, with hours of tedious re-exploration after a cheap death
- Secrets hunting and cryptic puzzles that feel like wasted time without a guide
- The first boss ('tutorial boss') taking players dozens or even hundreds of runs, which some find off-putting
- Walking back and forth to swap wand and spell loadouts because of the small inventory
- Feeling underpowered even while dealing large damage, due to fragile health and one-shot hazards
What's unique
- Every pixel is an individual physically simulated material, unlike tile-based roguelikes
- Wands are built from modular spells with modifiers, triggers and multicasts, closer to programming than picking items
- A hidden alchemy system and layered secrets, including multiverse and 'new game plus' style content beyond the obvious ending
- No persistent character upgrades; progression is entirely player knowledge plus what you find in a run
- Made by veteran indie devs (Petri Purho of Crayon Physics Deluxe, Olli Harjola of The Swapper, Arvi Teikari/Hempuli of Baba Is You), and praised as a technical showcase (GDC Best Technology nominee)
- Fully destructible world where digging, flooding and explosions are core strategies, not just scenery
Players want
- Better onboarding and in-game explanation of wand building, materials and core systems so players are not forced to use a wiki
- A minimap or better navigation and possibly some fast-travel or shortcut to cut down on re-traversing huge levels
- Less punishing instant-death sources or clearer telegraphing of off-screen and one-pixel hazards
- Ways to skip or vary the early game and first-biome loop after repeated deaths
- More inventory or quality-of-life for swapping wands and spells while experimenting
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
PhysicsRogue-likePixel GraphicsDifficultDungeon CrawlerIndieOpen WorldSandbox2DPerma Death
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Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Noita is a roguelike where every pixel/particle is physically simulated, and you descend a huge mountain-like world as deep as you can. He calls it extremely punishing, possibly one of the hardest roguelikes ever, with a wand-building spell system that produces wild and often lethal interactions. He admires the depth of hidden secrets and the dedicated community, and he met the developers at GDC years ago. He places it in A tier but wouldn't recommend it widely because it demands serious commitment.
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