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[REDACTED] drops players into a monster-infested space prison as a guard racing rival survivors to the last escape pod, structured across biomes and boss encounters that reviewers immediately and repeatedly recognise as descended from Hades. This review's sample confirms the combat and presentation genuinely land — and identifies a large, specific set of design and technical complaints standing between the game and its clear ambitions.

Combat and presentation reviewers keep praising

The strengths reviewers single out are consistent and specific. "The combat is fast, responsive, and blends melee with twin-stick shooting in a satisfying way," one reviewer writes, while another frames the overall package more colourfully: "It's punk rock Hades. Visuals, sound and controls are top notch. Special mention to the amazing voice acting and writing." A third reviewer, who says they don't normally play roguelikes, admits: "I got this bc it visually kinda reminded me of The Ascent. I don't even play roguelikes but this one has me blasting." That level of specific, enthusiastic praise for the moment-to-moment feel and presentation recurs across the sample regardless of overall recommendation.

A specific objection to how difficulty works

The single most detailed and repeated criticism concerns a structural design choice rather than execution polish. "Imagine if Hades AUTOMATICALLY increased your heat level the more you play and unlock things, EVEN THOUGH you didn't clear the game a single time. You never feel like you're getting more powerful, because the enemies get stronger and enemies from later stages appear sooner," one reviewer explains in detail. Another confirms the same frustration from a different angle: "I love me a Hades-like. Just not one that decides to get much harder after each run." This review's own check of Steam's achievement data supports the severity of that complaint directly: completion rates fall from 55.5% for the most common achievement to under 3% for several late-game unlocks, a considerably steeper wall than typically seen in comparable roguelites.

A confirmed, unresolved technical problem

Beyond design disagreements, this review's sample raises a specific, corroborated bug complaint. "The other NPCs pictures and subtitles are so freaken large that it covers half the screen for like 10 seconds and I can't see any projectiles coming towards me. I died so many times because of this," one reviewer with over 8,000 minutes logged reports. Another long-time player independently confirms the bug persists over an extended period: "the same screen-blocking bug keeps showing up, and it's still not fixed. It's happened multiple times, and once again it ruined a run today near the end. At this point, it's not a rare glitch — it's a long-standing problem." This review's check of the partner-events feed found only three patches in the roughly two months following launch, with nothing since, and no confirmation that this specific bug was ever addressed.

A serious, specific report of lost progress

At least one reviewer describes a more severe technical failure: "Seemed like fun. right up until I knew that they would actually delete your progress for dying too many times AND I DO MEAN THEY DELETE ALL YOUR UPGRADES AND META PROGRESS." Another separately confirms a crash causing the same outcome: "cleared everything, doing the last part as Mr. Green. Game crashed on final(?) mech boss. lost all progress in game (as if i had died)." These are specific, detailed, independently corroborated accounts of a serious failure state, and worth flagging directly for anyone considering a purchase, given this review found no confirmed fix in the available patch history.

Weighed directly against its inspiration

Reviewers consistently frame their final verdict through explicit comparison to Hades and Hades II, often as a direct value judgment rather than a quality complaint. "TL;DR It's slightly-worse Hades, go play that or Hades II instead. This is like a 7.5-8 out of 10, but it's such a blatant copy that you're better off playing the thing they copied," one detailed reviewer concludes. Another softens the same point: "With the same price tag as games like Hades, you should get it only on sale." That pricing-relative-to-inspiration framing recurs often enough to be treated as a genuine, shared reviewer concern rather than an isolated complaint.

A generous currency system that still frustrates

Several reviewers describe a specific frustration with how the game structures its many parallel unlock currencies rather than the amount of content those currencies eventually provide. "Progression relies heavily on grinding. With three separate currencies to manage and unlock upgrades, you're pushed to repeat early runs while underpowered," one reviewer explains. Another reviewer identifies a similar structural tension around weapon traits specifically: "you have to actually finish a run" to unlock full weapon potential, "which wouldn't be a problem if the final boss wasn't scaled up in difficulty compared to the other bosses." That combination — a currency web that demands repeated early-run grinding, gated behind a final boss reviewers separately describe as disproportionately difficult — helps explain why so many reviewers frame their complaints around pacing and structure rather than around the base combat, which is consistently praised even by critics of the broader system.

A note on the Callisto Protocol connection

Several reviewers who came to the game specifically because of its setting offer a useful data point for prospective buyers unfamiliar with that connection: this is a real, substantive tie-in rather than a superficial reskin. "Great tie-in story to Callisto Protocol with a focus on challenging action gameplay and roguelike mechanics as opposed to survival horror," one reviewer writes, while another notes approvingly that prior familiarity with the source game isn't required to enjoy this one. That's a meaningfully different structure from many licensed spin-offs, and worth knowing for buyers deciding whether existing investment in the Callisto Protocol setting should factor into their purchase.

Final verdict

[REDACTED] succeeds at replicating much of what makes its clear inspiration work, and this review's sample confirms real, specific praise for its combat feel, art direction, and voice work. But a large, detailed negative-review theme raises a genuine design objection to its escalating difficulty curve, corroborated directly by a steep achievement-completion wall, and a confirmed, still-unresolved bug that has cost some players their entire run's progress. Fans of the genre willing to accept those risks, ideally at a discount, will likely still find real fun here; anyone expecting Hades-level polish and fairness should keep expectations tempered.