Atomic Picnic Is Shaping Up To Be The Best 3rd Person Roguelike I Have Ever Played

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Since I first played Binding of Isaac and Risk of Rain, I have fallen for the roguelike genre. The games are just so addicting, and I love seeing myself progressively become more powerful as I continue playing and learning the mechanics. It can be a little repetitive, but overall, it's a lot of fun. Risk of Rain 2 started to introduce me to the 3D realm for Roguelikes, and while there are some solid ones out there, none captured my attention like Atomic Picnic has.

I had the chance to play the game and talk to the developers before its release yesterday, and I think it has the potential to be one of the best third-person roguelikes, especially if the optimizations for the Steam Deck really come through. After talking with them, I am more confident in the game's future in terms of content and Steam Deck playability, and I think it will be a worthwhile investment during the early access period.

I played multiple times across two of the three available maps to try out in my time with it. It is a standard third-person shooter in general, and it feels pretty solid overall, but there are a few changes the team has made to make it feel much more enjoyable.

The biggest difference in this regard is movement. Walking around and jumping is pretty standard, but you can enhance how you jump and dodge. Your characters have an ability that can stack twice, which allows you to either dash in a direction or give you a second jump that uses something like a grappling hook to boost yourself up even higher and further away. The maps are quite big, and utilizing this is a great way to get around it. It makes the experience feel more vertical, and it fits perfectly within the context of the game.

We also have the events in-game. To spice things up, Atomic Picnic will have events in your runs. These are manually triggered and could provide benefits like more health and such. Text will appear on the screen, giving you a hint of what the event will do. I liked how they structured it; it feels very mysterious and enjoyable to go find the event and complete it.

Unlike other roguelikes, we also have some cool ways to strengthen our characters. In-game, we have Curios, which can give you new abilities and modify your stats. You get a new Curio each time you level up, and they can give different effects, like sending out a shockwave when you successfully fast reload or add piercing to your bullets. There are also Cursed Curios, which give you a great stat buff while also giving a stat debuff. These Curios can also be leveled up to increase their effects. I love how unique some of these are, rather than just straight increases to damage or move speed, and it can change my strategy while playing.

As you play, you will unlock Discoveries, giving you more characters, stages, and Mementos. These Mementos are permanent stat increases that cost in-game currency. You can use the in-game currency to enhance your characters and improve their abilities. I enjoyed the way you progress, and combined with the Curio system, I can't recall enjoying a game like this as much as I have with Atomic Picnic.

Then we have the visuals, which are on the right track. They remind me a bit of Fortnite in some ways, with the cartoonish aesthetic and vibrant colors, but I see a lot of potential here. The team, which is based in Brazil, has also injected some influences from around them into the game. There's one map that has some references to the Lencois Maranhenses, a gorgeously haunting park in Brazil that gives off creepy but stunningly cool vibes.

I did have some minor complaints here and there, like how hard it was to find health. The team explained that they wanted the stakes to be higher and encourage multiple runs instead of making one super easy, which I understood, but it did feel a bit too hard. I have played the game since then and on launch, and it was much easier than I remembered to find health, so it isn't something that bothers me anymore.

As for Steam Deck performance, it is okay right now. This is an early-access game, and I expect it to get better as updates come out, but it's playable. I can stick to around 30 FPS when things get heavy, though, with more people and lots of explosions everywhere, this could drop to the 20s. The team does have Steam Decks and is testing to make sure it will be very playable in the end, and I have full faith they can do it!

Atomic Picnic wowed me when I first saw it at The MIX earlier this year, and being able to play it has only solidified my resolve. I see a ton of potential, and with the enjoyable progression systems and Curios, I have faith in what the team will accomplish! There is also a story here that interests me, and while there are little bits about it here and there, I believe this will be expanded on more in the future.

Atomic Picnic is now in early access and can be purchased for $19.99.

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