Some games are a guilty pleasure
Somehow, without quite meaning to, I have managed to spend around forty hours playing Megabonk. There's a little part of me that's ashamed to admit that. It's full of flashy lights, terrible humor and a fair share of mindless grind. Ultimately though, if its fun, does any of that matter?
I played and liked Vampire Survivors and a little bit of Risk of Rain 2, this game describes itself a combination of the two. That means a lot of levels, items, enemies and failing a lot.
Alongside the gameplay there's a clear effort put into the regular dosage of dopamine. Shiny lights, flashy sounds and enough randomization to keep me coming back for more. I saw somewhere online that the game was akin to Coco Melon for adults and in some ways that feels about right. At least on the surface.
Initially I was quite bad at playing. I never quite got the hang of Risk of Rain 2 and in a similar way I struggled to get past the first stage. I'd misjudge timing, pick the wrong combination of upgrades and become overwhelmed. At this point I kept playing out of a desire to get better.
Eventually I started to get the hang of things. I unlocked a few items and weapons and started to learn about the game's many stats and systems. It was at this point that the first hints started to show that while there were flashy lights all over the place there had been effort and attention to making the game good.
A few more hours and I could regularly make it from zone one to zone two. I knew what I needed to do in order to stay ahead of the difficulty scaling. I started to unlock more weapons and tomes and spent time testing different combinations.
At some point I'd hit around 80% of the steam achievements. I am not one to hunt for 100% completion but there were a few left that I could see a path towards. I setup runs with very specific builds and learned more about the game through these constraints. The lights kept flashing but underneath it all there was challenge.
In amongst all of this grinding I found myself at the final boss. I was once again promptly killed. I quickly learned that what gets you through the hoards of enemies doesn't always work for defeating the final boss. Each round became a new balancing act. I had to pick upgrades that would both get me to the boss but also help me win.
I first saw the game on YouTube on Haelian's channel. Much like the game it's a channel I feel a little odd saying I watch. There's nothing odd about the content but watching someone else play games falls into the same odd space as Megabonk. I enjoy it but feel a little silly saying it out loud.
Eventually I managed to make it through the final boss. Getting there was a struggle. Plenty of runs, plenty of failed attempts. I'd achieved something at that point. Sure you could say that was time wasted. Maybe I should have been watching art house films or playing the latest AAA release but I am okay leaving that to others.
After beating the boss and unlocking a few more in game items and characters I reached a point where I felt the fun was waning. There was more to do but I could see the amount of time I would need to get there. At this point I'd had my fun and was happy to move onto something new.
Looking through my Steam library there are plenty of games like Megabonk in there. I'll call them guilty pleasures but the amount of guilt I feel isn't really very high. They're not pushing the boundaries of the genre but for the most part I won't play something for that long if it's lacking in depth.
On the surface Megabonk looks like a low effort slot machine of fun. Underneath there's clearly been care an attention put into getting it to where it is. It's authentic to itself and that should warrant giving it a chance.
Some of this you can feel if you watch the short form content on the developer's youtube channel. It has the same level of slightly cringe humor but there's evidence there of consistent effort, attention and an understanding of how to build interest over time.
I say all of this knowing I'm not alone. With over 30k reviews on steam and a 92% positive rating this seems to be the guilty pleasure of a lot of people.