Steam gamers have a brand-new extraction roguelike to play with friends named Grain Rot, which integrates base-building into a similar gameplay loop as REPO. The game is already making waves with some glowing reviews on Steam, and it looks set to become the next co-op game everybody is playing.
Grain Rot comes from developer Beck & Branch Games, a two-person studio composed only of Michel Strömbeck and Nikolai Nyqvist. It is the studio’s first-ever commercial release, and has launched as the first title from publisher Neem Interactive. One of the major benefits of small games like this is that the developer can take more chances, with no pressure to appeal to every single gamer out there. This creative freedom often leads to the most innovative games on the market, which is why smaller titles often offer a more unique experience than their AAA equivalents.
Grain Rot Brings Base-Building to REPO-Style Gameplay
Check Out Grain Rot on Steam Now
Grain Rot released on Steam on August 7, a brand-new horror co-op extraction game where players must explore procedurally shifting underground dungeons, complete runs to collect furniture, extract with the spoils, and rebuild an Outpost with base-building mechanics to improve the odds on the next run. In the Outpost, players can unlock interactive furniture and stat upgrades. While the core gameplay loop has clear Lethal Company and REPO vibes, it’s the base-building that really elevates Grain Rot into a class of its own. Players need to survive the Corrupted vessels along the way, either opting to defeat them or run away from them. Like many similar co-op games, the physics-based gameplay only adds to the chaos, resulting in no two runs being the same. How it handles these runs is very roguelike-esque, earning it the tag on Steam. The deeper players go in their runs, body corruption and mutilation modifiers take hold, making it even more difficult to continue. There’s plenty going on here, making it one of the most comprehensive co-op games to launch of late.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)
On Steam, the early player reviews for Grain Rot are sitting at “Very Positive,” indicating that gamers are having a lot of fun with it so far. It has received plenty of praise for its high level of polish, with one review particularly surprised at it having “so much more depth than your typical ‘friendslop’ game.” The rewarding progression and evolution of previous similar games like Lethal Company and REPO without being too similar have helped set Grain Rot apart from the crowd.
Grain Rot Key Features
- Explore ruins in procedurally shifting underground dungeons, rip out furniture, scavenge for loot
- Survive and rebuild the Outpost to improve your chances in future runs
- Play co-op and work together – or don’t
- Modifiers affect gameplay the deeper you get
- Survive or defeat the Corrupted
- Continue playing as a Spark when dead
- Physics-driven chaos
- Customize characters with “questionable cosmetics”
Despite the early positive reviews from gamers, Grain Rot has had a modest player count on its first day of release. At the time of writing, the game has peaked at 4,388 concurrent players, but this is pretty typical of these kinds of fun co-op games. Often, they will launch to fairly low player numbers, and word-of-mouth on social media will see them continue to grow beyond the initial launch week. And given just how positive the early feedback has been for the game, it’s easy to imagine that Grain Rot could enjoy plenty of success in the coming weeks.
This genre of game has become playfully known as friendslop by some in the gaming community. Titles that are far more fun when played with friends, and often lend themselves well to social media clips. Other games in the genre include PEAK, RV There Yet, REPO, and Meccha Chameleon, all of which found massive success on Steam. Whether Grain Rot can be the next to find a similar audience remains to be seen, but it certainly seems to have all the correct ingredients.
