The majority of my time with roguelites is spent with hidden gems on Steam that are the result of tons of hours searching high and low. So it’s a departure to see a game from this platform make enough of a splash to debut on new-gen consoles thanks to publisher PQube. Tacking on a cyberpunk locale and extra polish, ArcRunner was a must-play for me. With a heavy emphasis on getting back into the action after many expected deaths, this game really leans into the Rogue-lite nature instead of Rogue-like. Is it a fun time despite the expected grind?

Since my transition to ArcRunner necessitated that I deviate from my comfortable mouse and keyboard setup for aiming, it was a godsend that this game offers an adjustable aim assist. After the kinks got worked out a few runs in, I was hitting all the shots I needed to. Of course, this is a roguelite, and that means one thing – death is inevitable. Thankfully, ArcRunner‘s got a succinct permanent upgrade system ready to plug away at once you perish. From the vitals like more HP and damage to quirky ones like an extra ability slot and better rarities, this aspect of the title is as good as it gets.

With the aforementioned necessary deaths being prevalent in ArcRunner as players learn the ropes, the room variety must be vast and expansive. This is absolutely not the case here. There are about five different rooms total that you’ll encounter several times over in your first few hours of ArcRunner. This has a hidden benefit of memorizing enemy patterns and spawn points, but the tedium is too much to bear after the fifth consecutive run facing the same enemies ad nauseam. It wasn’t until I started reaching the first boss portion that I became able to breeze through this pain point.

As the runs progress in ArcRunner, you’ll encounter more weapons and abilities to play around with. I found myself loving the SMG’s versatility as well as having an auto turret have my back due to the high quantity of enemies in the late stages of a room. Earning enough kills with a gun resulting in it being unlocked at the start of subsequent runs is an excellent incentive to utilize them, even if some are vastly better than others; the beam weapon is practically useless compared to its counterparts.

It’s not going to win any awards, but for what it sets out to do, ArcRunner is a solid Rogue-lite that rewards persistence and trying out different strategies in each run. I wish there was more content to work with in its early stages as the stagnation sets in due to fighting the same enemies in the same places, but the Rogue-lite edge of being stronger each time makes pushing through worth it. This is best bought on a sale and maybe after some updates in the future, should Trickjump Games be savvy towards the Early Access critics from its time on Steam and elsewhere.

A PS5 review copy of ArcRunner was provided by PQube for the purposes of this review.

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ArcRunner

$19.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Excellent Scenery
• Strong Upgrade System
• Plenty of Weapons

Cons

• Low Variety in Rooms
• Bothersome Enemy Patterns