Everyone has a drink they can’t live without. For me it’s a can of Monster Pipeline Punch. I know it has a lifetime’s worth of sugar in it, and ingesting just one makes me feel as though my heart is about to explode, but every sip is worth it. Sodaman is an all-new action roguelike built around this universal love for carbonated beverages, and it looks like a worthy successor to the best of the genre. With cybernetic augmentations, alien lifeforms, and a neon-drenched aesthetic, Sodaman is out now in Steam Early Access.
In Sodaman, the worst has happened: every single soda in existence has gone flat, making them bland, tasteless, and not even worth the effort of drinking. Entity-X caused this Sodacalypse, and my worst nightmare, because it means there’s no fizzy Dr Pepper anymore. Rumor has it that there are still some drinkable sodas out there, though, you just need to find them.
This is where the titular Sodaman comes in. In this bullet-heaven roguelike game that takes cues from Enter The Gungeon and Vampire Survivors, you need to blast through levels of aliens in the hope of finding that sweet carbonated nectar. There are foreign biomes to explore, bosses to defeat, and an awful lot of builds to craft.
As you blast through the levels, there are an array of weapons to find, cybernetic augmentations to infuse yourself with, and a handful of long-lost sodas to drink. Combined, these help you come up with loads of unique builds, which you can tailor to your playstyle. Think of it like all the different options you get in Hades between the Infernal Arms and boons, just in a future built around sodas instead.
The team at Tape Corps also lets you choose between power up cards, which it says are directly inspired by Balatro’s joker system. These cards can give you even more abilities, enhancements, and build opportunities. From what I’ve seen so far, Sodaman wears its roguelike inspirations on its genetically engineered sleeve, but that’s why I like it so much.
Now that the early access launch is here, Tape Corps has many new maps and soda types planned before the 1.0 launch. Sodaman’s story will also be wrapped up in the full release, with mechanics also being refined throughout the development process.
Tape Corps has released Sodaman into Steam Early Access, with a demo from last year also available to play now. You can get involved here.
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