ALARIC

ALARIC released on Steam on June 15, 2026, a $14.99 boomer-shooter and metroidvania hybrid from solo developer Dominik Grigoras, published under the GRIGORAS label. After a brief prologue playing as his doomed father, players take control of Alaric, imprisoned in a quarry and trained through years of hardship, as he leads a rebellion and marches on a castle to kill the tyrannical uncle who murdered his father. Its 14-review English pool is largely Positive, 14 up, 1 down (93%), and the reviews describe a genuinely inventive, atmospheric solo project whose rough edges are real and worth taking seriously rather than a mere accompaniment to overwhelming praise.

The genre combination itself draws the pool's most consistent enthusiasm. One reviewer captured the pitch vividly: "Alaric combines BOOMERSHOOTER action with METROIDVAINIA mechanics and vibes," comparing the overall feel to a blend of "Castlevania, Doom, Devil May Cry, and a heavy-metal album." A second reviewer broke down the combat mechanics in more technical detail, noting the game gives each mouse button "a different weapon, allowing you to fire them individually or both at the same time," and that "aiming is rewarded because enemies take double damage when hit in their weak spots, although body shots are still effective enough to dispatch them quickly." A third reviewer praised how the whip, guns, and kick combine into "some basic combos, which are useful due to the large amount of enemies that can attack at once."

Atmosphere and presentation earn similarly strong, specific praise. One reviewer described the game's "great atmosphere and some really beautiful locations in a low poly retro appearance," adding that its Unreal Engine visuals "bring back memories of playing a late 90's PlayStation or N64 game." Another reviewer singled out the castle's dramatic set pieces, writing "especially once you walk up to the castle, its storming, rain pouring I just love how epic everything looks." The soundtrack draws consistent praise across the pool as well, with one reviewer writing "the soundtrack slaps so hard it should be illegal," and a self-described metal fan calling the music one of the game's best aspects alongside its atmosphere and art style.

The pool is also unusually candid about specific, corroborated rough edges, which is worth taking seriously rather than dismissing as isolated nitpicks. Multiple reviewers flagged the same enemy-respawn design as a real source of friction: one wrote that "enemies constantly respawning on reentering the room" made backtracking "quite annoying," while another suggested directly that "enemies respawning when you leave a room and go back in they should only respawn either on a timer" instead. A separate reviewer flagged a related combat fairness issue, noting "there are no I-frames when hit, so you can get chain killed if you're unlucky," particularly during boss encounters with area-of-effect attacks. A third reviewer's complaint about the game's staircases, "you can't go up on them and it's annoying to jump on them," came up as a specific, concrete gripe rather than vague criticism. One reviewer went further, suggesting bluntly that "this should have been an early access game" given how much additional polish it still needs, while still expressing hope it would get there.

The pool's lone negative review deserves to be represented fairly rather than dismissed, since it's detailed and specific rather than a driveby complaint. That reviewer argued the game simply doesn't measure up to its influences, writing "it's kinda clunky, and at no point did I really have fun, despite it being quite playable," and naming a long list of retro FPS and metroidvania games they felt handled similar ideas with less jank. They explicitly rejected the framing that the game deserved leniency as a solo debut, arguing "Steam Recs ought to be primarily for the consumer, rather than false positive reviews born out of sympathy." It's worth noting that several other reviewers in the pool responded directly and somewhat dismissively to that single dissent rather than engaging with its substance, which doesn't make the underlying critique less valid, jank the positive reviewers corroborated independently backs up real parts of it, even if most players clearly landed somewhere more forgiving.

Sound mixing draws a more specific complaint from at least one reviewer, who found that "music or ambient sounds feels too loud and interfere with combat flow" to the point of drowning out audio cues for enemies approaching or spawning nearby. The same reviewer also noted a structural quirk with the game's rooms, observing they "feel a little bit on the smaller side," which compounds the respawn-related backtracking frustration raised elsewhere in the pool. Despite these complaints, that reviewer still recommended the game overall, calling it "quite good and fun" and worth buying, particularly at a discount.

A couple of reviewers also noted the game plays comfortably across control schemes, a detail worth flagging for players weighing whether to pick it up on Steam Deck. One reviewer confirmed it "runs perfect on steamdeck," while another described using controller aiming specifically to work around a physical hand tremor, writing that after lowering sensitivity in the Steam Input settings they found it "easier than with mouse and keyboard," adding "I did, however, enjoy it! The idea of a boomer shooter Metroidvania mix got me excited about a year ago and I love it!" That kind of flexibility, alongside the confirmed Deck compatibility, is a small but genuine point in the game's favor for a low-poly indie built by a single developer.

Taken as a whole, ALARIC is a genuinely inventive, atmospheric solo debut that earns real praise for its combat feel, retro presentation, and standout soundtrack, while carrying corroborated technical rough edges around enemy respawns, combat fairness, and sound mixing that keep it from being a clean recommendation for everyone. For fans of boomer shooters and metroidvanias willing to tolerate a first-time developer's growing pains, it's a worthwhile, if imperfect, pickup.