NOITA

Developer/publisher Nolla Games

Format PC

Origin Finland

Release 2020

After six years of work, the spell is almost complete. But if Noita grows more powerful than it already is, we’re going to be in trouble. We are mesmerised by the thing, booting it up over and over again for just one more run. It’s a devilishly difficult Roguelike with a twist: every single pixel in Noita’s randomly generated cave systems is physically simulated via Nolla Games’ own Falling Everything engine.

Conjure a bomb from your’s strange, subterranean world are hypnotic to watch; moreover, they can be weaponised. A mineshaft leading to some kind of loot sparkling coquettishly in the darkness – most likely a wand, or a flask of a magical potion – is filled with leaping, bloodsucking monsters. One well-placed bomb later, and we manage to cave in its ceiling from above, dumping an entire lake of oil onto them. Not a problem for the already hygienically challenged foes, you might think – until we switch to a wand that spews arcing fireballs, and barbecue them silly.