‘Mycopunk’ Is Some of the Most Chaotic Fun I’ve Had With a First-Person Shooter in a Very Long Time (Review)

To be upfront and honest, the first round of Mycopunk is likely going to be a touch confusing. It’s a game all about shooting fungi, but none of the creatures on screen are going to look like what you may imagine. I was expecting weird little mushroom guys, but these look more like scientific cells. They’re creepy, crawly, and honestly, a little bit disgusting. But once I figured out what was friend and what was foe, it was off to the races. The screen is quick to fill up with chaos, but Mycopunk runs like a dream. No matter how many enemies were on screen, my rig handled the game like a champion, pushing 244FPS or more at any given time using an ASUS 4060TI.

‘Mycopunk’ Delivers on Both Quantity and Quality, With Screens Full of Enemies To Dispose Of

It also plays incredibly well with a controller. After diving into a few solo rounds myself, I decided to give the controller a try over mouse and keyboard. This may be my preferred way to play Mycopunk at this point. Flying through stages, sticks slapping and clacking against the sides of their walls. It’s so intense and freeing, feeling almost like an MLG Call of Duty montage rather than a game about shooting fungi. Picking powers that suit your playstyle, upgrading your character and weapons to suit it, and just blasting anything that gets in your way. Sounds like the perfect type of multiplayer mayhem that I’ve been craving for years.

Choose Your Character (And Make Them Stronger)

As of the time of launch, there are four different characters available to play as. Of course, I couldn’t see a robot with a Stetson and not play as him. Wrangler has been my go-to since I started playing, but jumping into a multiplayer session with a Scrapper and Glider, everybody here has their uses. Each character may move the same, but their movesets are what set them apart. Glider, for example, can deal a tremendous amount of damage, but she’s also great at healing. Scrapper has the Grapple Pole, which turns you into a Dollar General Spider-Man, and it’s as amazing as it sounds.

After picking a character, I’m dropped into The H.U.B., a rather large location with a massive pod in the center. After selecting a mission in one of the four available biomes, I pull a lever, and it’s time for me to get sealed in. I wasn’t sure if I was losing my mind, but I love the attention to detail that Mycopunk puts into the smallest things. Such as the number of missions you’ve run being stamped on the door, or the silly little emotes that you can do. Yes, you can run around with your middle finger slammed up to the sky until you need to draw a weapon. Or if you’re playing multiplayer, you can let your friends fight off the creatures while you flip ’em the bird. That’s the true beauty of Mycopunk right there.

Playing Solo Was Fun, but ‘Mycopunk’ Really Shines When You Party It Up With Friends

As thrilling as a solo run in Mycopunk is, I’d rather be chilling. Partying up with a group of pals makes Mycopunk even more exciting, ramping up the difficulty of each encounter and ensuring that a lack of communication will spell certain doom. There’s something incredibly gratifying about scrambling around a battlefield in search of a downed partner, needing to reasssemble their body back together before they can rejoin the fight. It’s hilarious, and was completely unexpected. Just like basically everything about Mycopunk up to this point. Witty dialogue spouted between characters, the greatest host character ever created (I love Roachard), and incredibly immature emotes. In the most complimentary way possible, you can tell Mycopunk was created by a group of college friends.

But man, oh man. Mycopunk is a joy to play with a group of friends. In-game voice chat makes this incredibly simple. Completing a difficult mission brings a sense of camaraderie that is only equaled by something like Helldivers 2. Mycopunk takes a lot of inspiration from other multiplayer games, notably games like Helldivers 2, Deep Rock Galactic, and maybe even a little bit of Destiny 2. Toss ’em all into a blender together, and you’ve got the most basic idea of what makes Mycopunk a must-play for a group of buddies.

I’m Already Happy That More Mission Variety Is on the Horizon for ‘Mycopunk’, Though

There is a pretty fair amount of variety in the different missions I could partake in when I was playing Mycopunk. Regardless of whether I was doing solo runs to boost my power or jumping in with a group of friends, there was always a rotating list of missions available to pick from. As long as the development team behind the game can keep up with the rapidly evolving world of online gaming, I’ll happily keep jumping back in. It’s already been noted that more missions, content, and more will be on the way for Mycopunk after launch, and I’m already excited about that fact.

Playing through different missions on higher difficulties loses its luster after a while. While Mycopunk may be launching at only $15, I wish it had more variety at launch. There’s a good chance that it might, and I’ll look like a goof for even mentioning this. But as we’ve learned from so many other “live-service” games, fans are quick to abandon ship if there isn’t enough new stuff rolling in all the time. I have faith that Devolver Digital and Pigeons at Play have what it takes to make this happen, though.

Whoever Designed the H.U.B. Deserves All of the Awards, a Million Dollars, and the Nobel Peace Prize

Three simple words. Well, technically two words, but one of them is hyphenated. That’s all I need to sell you on how amazing The H.U.B. is in Mycopunk. Go-Kart Track. Yes, when I’m not blasting fungi with my friends, there’s a whole ass go-kart track in The H.U.B. After finally figuring out how to unlock the door, it quickly became a tradition to do a race before we would go out onto the battlefield. You never know if someone may get left behind, after all. But the amount of interactivity inside The H.U.B. is mindblowing to say the least. I’ve played MMOs that have less to do in them.

Targeting fungi limbs to delete them from existence never got old. Every run felt fresh, even if sometimes the limited mission variety did get a little tiresome. Pulse-pounding music makes every run feel like pure cinema. From the moment I logged into Mycopunk the final time I signed off before writing this review? I knew I was playing something incredibly special.

I Strongly Suggest You Skip Out on Coffee for a Few Days and Just Play ‘Mycopunk’. It Gives the Same Feeling, Honestly.

For $15, Mycopunk punches well above its weight. It takes inspiration from games like Borderlands, Helldivers 2, and even Halo, blending them all together into one of the most memorable and exciting multiplayer experiences I’ve had since February 8, 2024. Helldivers 2 has some legitimately stiff competition here. While it doesn’t have the biting political satire of its potential inspiration, the incredibly satisfying momentum and action of Mycopunk is a perfect complementary piece. If I don’t want to squash bugs or robots with my friends? I can wrangle them up for a rude, crude, slightly immature FPS experience that we aren’t going to forget.

Mycopunk has my favorite movement system in an FPS since Neon White, and that’s saying something. Sliding, jumping, leaping, soaring; everything here feels buttery smooth. For a small team of college kids, Mycopunk has the potential to take the FPS scene by storm. It’s like an overly caffeinated version of all of my favorite FPS games mixed into one, with killer music, great art direction, and plenty of creeps to blast through.

Verdict: Best In Its Class

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Mycopunk is available now on PC. A code was provided by the publisher for the sake of review. Reviewed on PC.