Take on the role of a new Acolyte as they embark on a nightmarish odyssey. Uncover the cosmic secrets of the Loam Lands and The Tower of Madness, the moon’s mysterious Citadel. The horrific monsters you face are never the same, concocted with procedural generation and animated using a neural network AI...

Source of Madness is set in a twisted Lovecraftian inspired world

Source of Madness is a side-scrolling dark action roguelite set in the Loam Lands, a twisted Lovecraftian inspired world powered by procedural generation and AI machine learning.

It takes inspiration from many a past 2D platformer but the attention to detail is noteworthy.

It's not long before you settle into the gameplay and realise this is more of an open world crawler than it at first appears. Thankfully you're not spoon fed what is going on and why you're wandering around. These are plot points that are slowly revealed as the game moves ever forward.

This is more of an open world crawler than it at first appears

The numerous beasts you encounter on your travels are also unique in that they don't look or move like anything seen before in these sort of games. Some appear to be solid, others are made up of random parts, but all move with a mind of their own and working out how to dispatch them, or flee from them must be done so on a case by case basis.

Weapons and magic take a little getting used to using but once you get the hang of them it's second nature. The skill trees weren't something I was overly engaged with, if I'm being honest, and I'm not sure how much carefully planning where to upgrade your skills is really going to make that much difference as you progress through the game. But it's good that it's there for those who like to spend ages planning their overall gaming strategies.

This is a game for those that love side scrolling action roguelite adventures but have been waiting for something a little different to breath life into the genre.

7

Nick Smithson