Megabonk (2025)
The most recurring description for the game is Vampire Survivors but in 3D. I am not going to lie it's tricky to rank it for an upcoming blog for that reason. At the same time, there's a few notable changes to differ it barely enough from that. I'll be very direct with a video from Megabonk's creator confirming he was heavily inspired by Vampire Survivors.
Yes it's essentially Vampire Survivors at it's core. But you actually can jump especially making tricky jumps to platforms. Considering it's in full 3D you really felt like you're in that world. You actually have to turn the mouse to see around you often. Which you don't need to do for Vampire Survivors or similar style games.
Obviously the maps are quite big that isn't infinite. Sometimes I felt a little too big but mostly decent. Majority of stuff you use in Vampire Survivors also presented in this. Let's put it this way if you do well at Vampire Survivors. Then you should do amazingly well at Megabonk. Don't expect nearly as much content as some of those games.
It's not what I call being light on content either. Achievement hunting wise it's a lot of fun. The audio as a whole truly amazing work. The controls is exactly where it needs to be. You constantly level up in the levels with randomized aspects. Which means every playthrough going to be different by default. They also done three tiers for two locations.
You start with Tier 1 Forest just one level. I am not going to lie there's some major problems. Like the difficulty can easily become unbalanced difficult at times. Even after you defeat the stage boss, the exit doesn't appear at the boss portal. I don't know how to get around that issue. It turns out a portals only appears for Tier 2 and Tier 3 respectively.
This means regardless which Tier once the final boss is defeated. You inevitably going to lose what an painful way to end the experience right? It almost comes off being trolled by the developer. You try so hard to finish the other level sets. The odds are really against you in so many ways. Honestly, this could turn a lot of people off from the game.
At times a lot of enemies will gang up on you. It doesn't get as bad as some similar games. I personally find it amusing for a lot of enemies. The default attack is simply moving into you I'm not kidding. The projectiles some of them fires can be a little confusing how to properly counter. Some bosses' health bars are quite massive.
Just like Vampire Survivors, you got a time limit. Which also has something similar when the timer runs out. In Vampire Survivors, it starts with one reaper. It is possible more than one reaper can come after you. In Megabonk's case, a lot of ghosts with horns constantly after you. As soon as they start becoming darker you're about to get very overwhelmed.
There's also challenges to help spice up the game. You can use silver coins to unlock stuff. I nearly have all the characters at the time writing this review. Just like some of those games, everyone specialize in what they do including their debut weapons. Megabonk is incredibly simply with a surprising level of depth.
This was made within a year I'm quite impressed. I considered Megabonk being a parody of the genre. One of my favorite characters is Monke. Whose an monkey that fires out bananas. Essentially this monkey constantly throwing bananas at enemies. The real reason Monke stands out is being able to walk or jump up higher areas with ease.
It almost felt like a cheat code how that works. It's incredibly fun to use especially when you ran out of time. Megabonk does cost a little more than the base game of Vampire Survivors. To be honest, you really can't go wrong playing both of them. You also get a radar as well as a huge map to figure out where to go.
Easily among the most fun games I played this year. I wish there was more actual locations in the game. If you wanna be technical you currently have six levels right now. Which isn't a lot of levels for a game of this style. If it didn't have the challenges, this wouldn't been worth it's price for me. The challenges gets very creative that also helps you unlocking some stuff faster.
Some of them actually might be the prefer variation of the game to play. I won't sugar coat you will lose a lot. Don't get upset though because you may unlock stuff as well as earn silver coins. There's plenty of unlockables to take hours to get. Megabonk is among the craziest games in the genre I played. I will confess it's not my favorite though.
My thoughts on Megabonk removal from The Game Awards 2025
I originally didn't plan on discussing this. However I really enjoyed the game a lot. I figured since I'm reviewing Megabonk. I should share my thoughts on this situation. The Game Awards didn't properly research the solo developer for the game. In fact, the person in question requested Megabonk removal from their awards show.
They respectfully agreed to do that. There's some mixed opinions on this. Some people including myself felt their honestly was worth noting on the matter. It actually gotten me more interested in playing Megabonk. Others felt they might know who made the game. Very quickly toxicity came out following that.
Regardless who actually made Megabonk thank you so much!!! My big issue actually led to a huge disappointment. Originally Best Debut Indie Games award had five nominees. Reduced to four following Megabonk's removal. They didn't state anything on why they didn't replace the game? Even it's creator threw out an indie game they wish would've taken it's place.
As far as I'm aware The Game Awards isn't replacing Megabonk. Which I personally found to be very disrespectful. Now I know this occurred early into the voting. At the same time, they had enough time to simply replace it. Indie video games is really doing wonders right now. Obviously there's no shortage of worthy replacements.
They could've put Best Debut Indie Game award on hold following this. Then after they found an replacement restart the voting for that particular award. Hell they also could've waited to do it along with Players' Voice award. In a way I felt bad for not just the creator of Megabonk. But also for many indie developers that could've gotten nominated for this award.
I already know The Indie Game Awards 2025 coming soon. The point I'm trying to make it they need a few new rules regarding this situation. Maybe when it eventually happens again. They could do the right thing this time or keep doing questionable stuff coughs nominees for Best Fighting Game award. I personally hope indie developers keep going strong!!!
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